cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Initialization techniques for 3D SLAM: A survey on rotation estimation and its use in pose graph optimization

Pose graph optimization is the non-convex optimization problem underlying pose-based Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM). If robot orientations were known, pose graph optimization would be a linear least-squares problem, whose solution can be computed efficiently and reliably. Since rotations are the actual reason why SLAM is a difficult problem, in this work we survey techniques for 3D rotation estimation. Rotation estimation has a rich history in three scientific communities: robotics, computer vision, and control theory. We review relevant contributions across these communities, assess their practical use in the SLAM domain, and benchmark their performance on representative SLAM problems (Fig. 1). We show that the use of rotation estimation to bootstrap iterative pose graph solvers entails significant boost in convergence speed and robustness.
Modeling and Evaluating Trust Network Inference

The growth in knowledge sharing enabled by the (Semantic) Web has made trust an increasingly critical issue. Based on explicit inter-agent trust relations, a trust network emerges on the (Semantic) Web in the knowledge sharing context. The concept of a trust network and its application to knowledge sharing have received recent attention but neither their structural properties (e.g. dynamics, complexity) nor inference mechanisms (e.g. trust discovery, trust evolution, trust propagation) have been well addressed. This paper formalizes trust network inference notions, providing both data and computational models, and suggests an evaluation model for benchmarking. The data model clari- ﬁes the data (context, restriction, output) used by trust network inference for knowledge sharing. It also elaborates trust network representation and articulates different types of trust. The computational model reviews graph theory and referral network interpretations of trust network inference and proposes a new one that treats trust network as an emergent property. This new model supports both trust evolution and trust propagation. The evaluation model describes metrics as well as methods to generate test scenarios and data. We argue that this approach is more customizable, ﬂexible and scalable than traditional approaches such as public reputation systems and collaborative ﬁltering.
Examining the Logic Behind the Self‐Help, Self‐Taxing Movement: Business Improvement District Formation

An institution that has shown great promise in addressing the revitalization of declining central cities is Business Improvement Districts (BIDs). These private governments provide supplemental municipal services such as sanitation, security, and marketing to independent businesses in underserved commercial areas. By 1999, 44 U.S. states had legislation that enables and dictates the formation process and structure of BIDs. The surprising element of this legislation is the wide variation in approval needed to form a BID over a proposed geographical area. Some states require as little as 20 percent approval of proposed members and others as much as 75 percent approval to allow formation of a BID. This variation in state statutes likely influences the use of BIDs. Results highlight that relatively easier state enabled collective action positively impacts the creation of BIDs, the limited effects of tax expenditure limitations on the formation of BIDs and the positive impacts that new development has on the number of BIDs per state.
Feedback-Based Alcohol Interventions for Mandated Students: An Effectiveness Study of Three Modalities

The present study used a randomized clinical trial design to examine the effectiveness of personalized alcohol feedback delivered individually, in a group and via computer on alcohol use and related negative consequences in a sample of 173 college students referred for alcohol-related violations. Findings revealed statistically significant reductions in alcohol use and related harms for the individually delivered intervention, with significant reductions in alcohol-related harms for the electronically delivered intervention. No statistically significant results were found for the group-delivered intervention or between groups, and a main effect of time was noted for all outcome variables. This study adds to the literature by being the first randomized clinical trial to include analyses of an empirically supported individually delivered personalized alcohol feedback intervention with more cost-effective group-delivered and electronically delivered feedback formats within a single research design, by expanding the range of participant drinking habits reported at baseline to include all drinking levels and not solely those classified as 'heavy drinking' and by providing anonymity pre-intervention and post-intervention given the potential demand characteristics to underreport illegal and/or illicit behaviours in this vulnerable population. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. KEY PRACTITIONER MESSAGE: Personalized alcohol feedback delivered in a one-on-one, face-to-face format serves to decrease both alcohol use and harms in mandated college students. The use of web-delivered personalized alcohol feedback may be clinically useful when working with a mandated student population to reduce alcohol-related harms. Personalized alcohol feedback delivered in a group setting may not be indicated for use with a mandated student population as it does not demonstrate decreases in either alcohol use or harms, possibly because of the normalization of deviant behaviour. Language: en
A Critical Performance Evaluation of Four Single Loop Self Tuning Control Products

This paper presents a critical evaluation of four low cost single loop self-tuning controls. They are manufactured by Bailey, Foxboro, Turnbull, and L&N under the trade names of "LOOP COMMAND", "EXACT", "AUTOTUNER", and "ELECTROMAX V+" respectively. The products are examined for: (i) set point change which occurs in a cascade loop, (ii) disturbance rejection which is quite common in process control loops, (iii) measurement noise which may be confused with measured process value. The process used was of high order and different time delays with a ratio of time delay/dominant time constant to be between .1 and 5. Each unit is examined per the performance expectations stated in product literature. The main purpose of the work is to inform and guide the potential users. The performance of each product is described and evaluated for its expected use in various applications. The performance results are selectively presented in graphical form.
A bivariate mixed distribution with a heavy‐tailed component and its application to single‐site daily rainfall simulation

This paper presents an improved brivariate mixed distribution, which is capable of modeling the dependence of daily rainfall from two distinct sources (e.g., rainfall from two stations, two consecutive days, or two instruments such as satellite and rain gauge). The distribution couples an existing framework for building a bivariate mixed distribution, the theory of copulae and a hybrid marginal distribution. Contributions of the improved distribution are twofold. One is the appropriate selection of the bivariate dependence structure from a wider admissible choice (10 candidate copula families). The other is the introduction of a marginal distribution capable of better representing low to moderate values as well as extremes of daily rainfall. Among several applications of the improved distribution, particularly presented here is its utility for single-site daily rainfall simulation. Rather than simulating rainfall occurrences and amounts separately, the developed generator unifies the two processes by generalizing daily rainfall as a Markov process with autocorrelation described by the improved bivariate mixed distribution. The generator is first tested on a sample station in Texas. Results reveal that the simulated and observed sequences are in good agreement with respect to essential characteristics. Then, extensive simulation experiments are carried out to compare the developed generator more » with three other alternative models: the conventional two-state Markov chain generator, the transition probability matrix model and the semi-parametric Markov chain model with kernel density estimation for rainfall amounts. Analyses establish that overall the developed generator is capable of reproducing characteristics of historical extreme rainfall events and is apt at extrapolating rare values beyond the upper range of available observed data. Moreover, it automatically captures the persistence of rainfall amounts on consecutive wet days in a relatively natural and easy way. Another interesting observation is that the recognized ‘overdispersion’ problem in daily rainfall simulation ascribes more to the loss of rainfall extremes than the under-representation of first-order persistence. The developed generator appears to be a sound option for daily rainfall simulation, especially in particular hydrologic planning situations when rare rainfall events are of great importance. « less
Reversible Inactivation of the Deoxyribonucleic Acid Polymerase of Rauscher Leukemia Virus

Rauscher leukemia virus deoxyribonucleic acid polymerase is reversibly inactivated by 6 m guanidine-hydrochloride. Gel filtration in 6 m guanidine-hydrochloride reveals that the viral deoxyribonucleic acid polymerase consists of a single polypeptide chain of approximately 70,000 molecular weight.
Angular dependence of the critical currents in Mo77Ge23/Ge multilayers.

We examine the critical current densities of superconducting/insulating ${\mathrm{Mo}}_{77}$${\mathrm{Ge}}_{23}$/Ge multilayers in magnetic fields applied at arbitrary angles with respect to the superconducting layers. In these measurements, we demonstrate the existence of a threshold field, below which the critical current is governed only by the perpendicular component of the applied field. Also, we observe that there exists a critical angle that divides two different regimes of vortex pinning. Finally, we relate these results to existing theories of vortices in layered superconductors.
What do we know about monetary policy that Friedman did not know

This paper offers a personal review of the current state of knowledge on monetary policy. In a nutshell, what Friedman knew-have survived, but that modern monetary policy departs in some important ways from older principles? The older wisdom that monetary policy determines inflation in the long run but can have systematic shorter run effects has survived a major challenge. Most of the new ideas stem from the recognition of the crucial role of expectations. In today's world, this observation lies behind the spectacular trend toward ever greater central bank transparency. Then it is more than likely that ideas will change in the wake of the global financial crisis. Early debates challenge the old wisdom that central banks ought to be mainly concerned with price stability. In particular, financial stability has always been part of a central bank's mission, but it has occupied limited space in theoretical and empirical studies.
Home Range and Movement Patterns of Toucans: Implications for Seed Dispersal

Toucans (Ramphastidae) are highly frugivorous, widespread throughout the Neotropics, and travel long distances, thus likely providing dispersal for many tropical trees. Despite being large conspicuous members of the canopy and subcanopy bird community, their movement ecology has been little studied. To understand how these frugivores move through a lowland tropical forest, I tracked the movements of Ramphastos tucanus (White-throated Toucan), Ramphastos vitellinus (Channel-billed Toucan), and Pteroglossus pluricinctus (Many-banded Aracari) in Yasuni National Park, Ecuador. The objectives of this study were to use radiotelemetry to estimate toucan home ranges, movement patterns, and potential seed dispersal distances. Using canopy nets, a total of 20 P. pluricinctus and three Ramphastos toucans were captured, radio-tagged, and tracked over a 4-yr period from 2001 to 2005. Average home range sizes were 191 and 86 ha for P. pluricinctus and Ramphastos toucans, respectively. The maximum travel distance in a single 30-min tracking interval was 3665 m for P. pluricinctus and 3027 m for Ramphastos. Estimated dispersal distances of medium-sized seeds ranged from 269 to 449 m. Large home range size and long-distance movements indicate that toucans likely disperse seeds over a scale of hundreds of meters. This study is the first to estimate home range size of any toucan species in intact closed-canopy forests. Abstract in Spanish is available at http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/loi/btp.
Are Non-intellectually Disabled Black Youth with ASD Less Impaired on Parent Report than Their White Peers?

There is a lack of research examining differences in functioning in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) across ethnicity, particularly among those without intellectual disability (ID). This study investigated ethnic differences in parent-reported impairment in executive function, adaptive behavior, and social–emotional functioning. White and Black youth (n = 64; ages 6–17) with ASD without ID were compared on each of these domains. Black youth had significantly lower levels of impairment on all three domains. Findings may reflect better daily functioning among Black youth with ASD and/or cultural differences in parent response to questionnaires. Regardless, these findings raise concern about the sensitivity of commonly used measures for Black children with ASD and the impact of culture on daily functioning and symptom manifestation.
Myeloperoxidase -463 (G-->A) polymorphism associated with lower risk of lung cancer.

Objective To study the association of the myeloperoxidase ( MPO ) -463 (G®A) polymorphism with lung cancer risk. Patients and Methods We performed a paired case-control analysis of 307 patients with primary lung cancer and an equal number of age-, sex-, and ethnicity-matched controls to evaluate the effect of the MPO -463 (G®A) polymorphism on disease susceptibility. We also performed conditional logistic regression analyses to evaluate the effect of the polymorphism adjusted for smoking status and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, 2 established risk factors. We used 2 models for these analyses: one to compare homozygous (AA) genotypes with wild type (GG) and heterozygous (GA) genotypes and one to compare carriers (heterozygotes and AA homozygotes) with GG genotypes. Finally, we combined the results from the published studies of this putative association and performed a stratified analysis. Results The AA genotype was inversely associated with susceptibility to lung cancer (odds ratio [OR], 0.39; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.15-1.00). There was no association in heterozygotes. However, in the stratified analysis, we found an association between patients with the AA (OR, 0.44; 95% CI, 0.27-0.68) and GA (OR, 0.77; 95% CI, 0.64-0.93) genotypes vs the GG genotype. Conclusion Our results are consistent with previous reports and show that homozygotes of the less common A allele of MPO -463 polymorphism have a 2.6-fold lower risk of lung cancer.
Effects of ethanol volume percent on fluorescein-labeled spinach apo- and holocalmodulin.

We report the effects of EtOH volume percent (0−70%) on spinach apo- and holocalmodulin that have been site-selectively labeled with fluorescein (F). In these experiments, calmodulin (CaM) has one F reporter group attached to Cys-26, and this site is located immediately adjacent to one of the four primary Ca2+-binding sites (EF hands). The optimum analytical CaM-F sensitivity to Ca2+ occurs between ∼10 and 30% EtOH. Our results also show that added EtOH causes changes in CaM and these changes are surprisingly different for apo- and holo-CaM. Apo-CaM-F appears to lose one of its two waters of hydration at ∼20% EtOH and retains one water of hydration between ∼20 and 70% EtOH. In apo-CaM-F, the semiangle that describes the range over which the fluorescein reporter group can precess remains essentially constant (42 ± 2°) between 0 and 70% EtOH. This shows that the fluorescein reporter group precessional freedom in apo-CaM-F is not affected significantly by EtOH. Holo-CaM-F also appears to lose one water of hy...
STRATEGIES FOR DECLINING INDUSTRIES

How should your company respond to the complex competitive challenge of declining demand? The model described here can increase your prospects of success.
Current Understanding of the Pathophysiology of Allergic Rhinitis

The immune response to an allergen depends on an initial sensitization process, with future exposures triggering a 2-part allergic response including an early and late phase. The process by which an allergen is recognized has become clearer. Similarly, the roles of the preformed mediators responsible for many of the signs and symptoms of the early-phase response have been elucidated. Recent work also has shed some light on the cells and mediators involved in the late-phase reactions. This article discusses some of this recent work and reviews the basics behind of all of the stages of the allergic response.
Optical characterization of a photo-orthotropic material

Abstract Multiaxial testing is performed on a photo-orthotropic material with initial birefringence. The characterization is done in terms of both a three coefficient orthotropic law and a two coefficient law. Both seem to be adequate. The experimental data is collected using a loading jig that allows all the tests to be performed on one specimen.
Ettringite formation following chemical neutralization treatment of acidic coal mine drainage

This paper reports an unusual occurrence of the rate mineral ettringite, which formed as a result of acid mine drainage treatment at a surface coal mine in northern West Virginia, USA. Ettringite, a hydrated basic sulfate of calcium and aluminum [Ca6Al2(SO4)3OH12 26H2O], forms in high pH environments under oxidizing conditions where sufficient disssolved calcium, aluminum, and sulfate are present. When viewed in relation to the overall goal of mine drainage treatment, namely to produce an effluent that is less detrimental to aquatic biota, ettringite formation documents severe overtreatment of acidic mine waters to the point of producing a highly alkaline effluent that may have adverse effects upon aquatic life.
Conditional Agglomeration Externalities in Lodging Markets

Citing the intense competition among products of similar quality, studies to date have largely advocated for the favorable effects of differentiated agglomeration on hotels. However, limited eviden...
The Significance of Carotid Canal Involvement in Basilar Cranial Fracture

OBJECTIVE:Basilar cranial fractures have been associated with injury to the carotid artery. We sought to determine whether fracture through the carotid canal was a significant risk factor for carotid injury.METHODS:A retrospective chart review was performed, and 230 patients with basilar cranial fra
Education on the Internet: Anonymity vs. Commitment

Abstract Many claim that the Internet will produce a new superior form of education open to anyone anywhere. In 1850 Soren Kierkegaard condemned the Press for contributing to the nihilism of his age by cultivating risk-free anonymity and idle curiosity thereby leveling all meaningful differences. He would surely have denounced the Internet for the same reasons. Kierkegaard would have seen that World Wide Web promotes his two nihilistic spheres of existence—the aesthetic and the ethical spheres—and repels the third, nonhilistic, religious sphere. In the religious sphere, nihilism is overcome by making a risky, unconditional, commitment, but the Net, which promises a risk-free, simulated world, tends to undermine rather than support such commitments. I point out that learning a skill requires the kind of commitment which is undermined by the Internet and, furthermore, that education at its best depends on apprenticeship. The proximity required by apprenticeship, however, is impossible in cyberspace.
The effects of material parameters and drive field on the magnetization angles of implanted garnet films

The magnetization angles θ and φ for an implanted garnet film were computed by solving simultaneously the two torque equations obtained from the minimization of energy. Effects of implant anisotropy, cubic anisotropy and in-plane field on these angles are presented.
'A look at the chief complaints' revisited: Current obstacles and opportunities for decision analysis

In 1979, Dr. William Schwartz wrote a "Sounding Board" article in the New England Journal of Medicine entitled: "Decision Analysis. A Look at the Chief Complaints". In it, he listed the major concerns of practicing physicians, academicians, and students about decision analysis. As an educator and an advocate of the technique, he then replied to each of these concerns and objections. Dr. Schwartz's article is an excellent and thoughtful discussion and one that we routinely recommend to our students to prepare them for real-world reactions to the zeal with which they often leave our classrooms. Now, more than four years later, I would like briefly to review the "chief complaints" outlined by Dr. Schwartz and to update them to 1984. My purpose is to consider the cognitive and practical obstacles to the dissemination of decision analysis, and to discuss alternative approaches to surmounting these obstacles. To do this, I have engaged four "consultants" from different fields.
Use of AVHRR NDVI time series and ground-based surveys for estimating county-level crop biomass

Crop biomass and residue production are major components of cropland carbon dynamics that can be estimated using yield data from ground-based surveys. In the USA, surveyed yield data are available at county level and have been widely used for various research, economic and policy purposes, in addition to biomass estimation. However, survey data may be unavailable for certain times and/or locations and thus biomass estimates using remotely sensed data might be used to fill in any missing biomass data for estimating residue production and carbon dynamics in croplands. Compared to ground-based surveys, remotely sensed data are collected on a regular schedule and may also provide more spatially resolved data. We analysed composite biweekly Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) data obtained using the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) sensor and crop aboveground biomass (AGBM) estimated from available county-level yield data reported by the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) for three crops (corn, soybean and oats) during 1992, 1997 and 2002. The aim of the study was to explore the relationships between NDVI and crop biomass to complete the missing biomass data in counties where no NASS-reported yields are available for biomass estimation. AGBM was estimated from Pathfinder biweekly NDVI, using canonical correlation analysis (CCA) and best subset multiple regressions incorporating canonical variates from NDVI time series. Cross-validation of model estimates was performed by randomly splitting the dataset into training and application subsets, simulating a 10-40% range of missing values. NDVI and crop biomass in Iowa during a given year were well correlated, with coefficient of determination (R2) values > 0.8 in most cases. Using the available (training) data from a single year or a combination of years to derive models for filling the missing (validation) data within the same time period yielded a mean estimated biomass with < 1% relative error and bias. However, models applied to out-of-sample years had lower (< 0.4) R2 values for the relationships between biomass and NDVI, although the mean residuals were low.
Evidence-based instruction integration: a syllabus analysis project

Purpose – The purpose of this research paper was to establish a replicable method of gathering and analyzing data using course syllabi to enable instruction librarians to strategically embed information literacy instruction within a disciplinary curriculum. Design/methodology/approach – A set of syllabi from the School of Business was evaluated for information literacy learning outcomes and library use requirements using a set of rubric-based content analysis questions. The questions were normed prior to coding to ensure reliability, and interrater reliability was established using two measures: the per cent agreement method and Krippendorff’s alpha. Findings – The results revealed strategic opportunities for scalable, curriculum-integrated instruction in the School of Business: a group of 28 courses that could be targeted for in-depth instruction, and eight courses whose outcomes could be met through more tailored instruction focused on information access skills. Originality/value – The reported research...
Synthesis of Atactic and Isotactic Poly(1,2-glycerol carbonate)s: Degradable Polymers for Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Applications

The synthesis and characterization of atactic and isotactic linear poly(benzyl 1,2-glycerol carbonate)s are reported. The poly(benzyl 1,2-glycerol carbonate)s were obtained via the ring-opening copolymerization of rac-/(R)-benzyl glycidyl ether with CO2 using [SalcyCoIIIX] complexes with high carbonate linkage selectivity and polymer/cyclic carbonate selectivity (>99%). Deprotection of the resultant polymers afforded poly(1,2-glycerol carbonate)s with a functionalizable pendant primary hydroxyl group. Poly(1,2-glycerol carbonate) showed a remarkable increase in degradation rate compared to poly(1,3-glycerol carbonate) with a t1/2 ≈ 2–3 days. These polymers fulfill an unmet need for a readily degradable biocompatible polycarbonate.
Approaches to Product Design in Kenya: Is Design Practice Universal?

Design discussions and debates tend to be focused in and on more industrialized economies (MIEs). In this paper, product design approaches in Kenya are investigated and questions relating to the universality and applicability of design process are explored. Data on informal sector, formal sector and donor-funded design were analyzed in the context of interviews with local producers. Emerging patterns of detailed design acquisition resulted in the delineation of four observed approaches to the design of common-use products in Kenya: imitated design, imported design, basic original design and specialty design. Of the 200+ products examined, a negligible number might be considered original designs targeted specifically at the local market. Most designs originate outside the country or are imitated from imported products. The approaches to product design and findings regarding design activity are discussed with comment made regarding the appropriateness of the MIE-style model to design in less industrialized economies.Copyright © 2004 by ASME
Boundary-Spanning Employees and Relationships with External Stakeholders: A Social Identity Approach

Boundary-spanning employees can have a substantial impact on organizational performance based on the relationships they build with external stakeholders. Yet there is currently no theoretical lens through which to understand the nature of—and psychological contributors to—these employee-stakeholder relationships at the individual level. Drawing on social identity theory, the proposed framework reveals that when an employee identifies strongly with the organization, this affects the way the employee views external stakeholders in the social landscape at work, resulting in some surprising consequences. Specifically, when organizational identification is heightened, an employee’s engagement with external stakeholders will paradoxically become more adversarial and less collaborative. This effect can be attenuated, or even reversed, to the extent that (a) the employee construes that the stakeholder is an organizational member and (b) the organization’s identity orientation is collectivistic. The proposed frame...
Cholesterol nucleates rapidly from mixed micelles in the prairie dog.

Abstract Current theory suggests that the nucleation of cholesterol in human bile requires the aggregation and fusion of cholesterol-enriched phospholipid vesicles. This theory is based on observations which do not exclude the precipitation of cholesterol from mixed micelles. The present study examines the role of mixed micelles and vesicles in the formation of cholesterol monohydrate crystals in the prairie dog. The intermicellar bile salt concentration of prairie dog gallbladder bile was determined using equilibrium dialysis. Model bile equivalent to gallbladder bile from cholesterol-fed prairie dogs was used as dialysant yielding the intermicellar (dialysate) concentration of 9 mM. Cholesterol carriers in gallbladder bile from 11 cholesterol-fed animals were then separated by Sephacryl S200 gel filtration chromatography using eluant buffer containing the intermicellar bile salt concentration. Gel filtration chromatography of fresh bile demonstrated that 100% of cholesterol was carried in the mixed micellar fraction with no vesicles observed in any of the 11 animals. The gallbladder bile nucleation time was 2.0 ± 0.3 days for the cholesterol-fed animals. Gel filtration chromatography immediately after nucleation again revealed a single mixed micellar peak. These data indicate that cholesterol is carried exclusively in and nucleates rapidly from mixed micelles in the cholesterol-fed prairie dog and that cholesterol-phospholipid vesicles are not required in this process.
Insight into finite element shell discretizations by use of the basic shell mathematical model

Abstract The objective of this paper is to gain insight into finite element discretizations of shells using the basic shell mathematical model and, in particular, regarding the sources of “locking”. We briefly review the “basic shell mathematical model” and present a formulation of shell finite elements based on this model. These shell finite elements are equivalent to the widely-used continuum mechanics based shell finite elements. We consider a free hyperboloid shell problem, which is known to be difficult to solve accurately. Using a fine mesh of MITC9 elements based on the basic shell mathematical model, a detailed analysis is performed giving the distributions of all strain terms. A similar analysis using the MITC6 shell element shows why this element locks when the shell thickness is very small.
REVIEW ■ : How Glutamate Receptors Are Built

Glutamate was shown to excite central neurons almost 40 years ago, but it was not until the mid-1980s that it was widely accepted as a neurotransmitter in the mammalian CNS. In the past decade, the ability to make high-resolution electrophysiological recordings from CNS neurons and the application of molecular biology techniques to the study of glutamate receptors has begun to elucidate the relationship between the structure of these receptors and their functional characteristics. Somewhat surprisingly, these investigations have shown that the ionotropic glutamate receptors make up a novel family of ligand-gated ion channels. Recent work has revealed the protein domains involved in ion permeation and ligand binding, and has begun to identify structural elements involved in channel gating, especially receptor desensitization. Additional se quence motifs have been found that are important for the synaptic localization of glutamate-receptor sub units. Although the subunit composition and stoichiometry of nat...
Accounting Students' Performance and Personality Types

Abstract This article reports on a study of the relationship between the performance of 103 students majoring in accounting and their gender and personality types. The grades of students in various accounting classes, together with overall grade point average (GPA) for those graduated, were collected. SAT scores were also analyzed when available. We identified personality types of accounting students by using the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator questionnaire. Further, the sample was dichotomized based on gender. Using analysis of variance (ANOVA), we examined the hypothesis of no differences between the means of any two groups of students. The null hypothesis was rejected for sensing versus intuitive individuals but could not be rejected in all other cases. Gender appeared to be an insignificant variable except for one accounting course grade and quantitative and total SAT scores. Male students outperformed female students in those cases.
Establishment and Initial Impact of the Leaf-Beetle Gratiana boliviana (Chrysomelidae), First Biocontrol Agent Released Against Tropical Soda Apple in Florida

ABSTRACT Gratiana boliviana Spaeth (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), the first biocontrol agent introduced against tropical soda apple, Solanum viarum Dunal (Solanaceae), was released in Florida in the summer 2003. Post-release evaluations have focused on insect population changes and the impact of insect feeding damage on the plant defoliation and fruit production of the target weed. Gratiana boliviana quickly established in the release sites, and dispersed causing extensive defoliations to tropical soda apple plants and significant reduction of fruit production. Plant defoliation during the first growing season was directly associated with the increase in number of beetles observed on the tropical soda apple plants. Beetles showed a dispersal ability from the release sites of 1.6 km per year. Two years after the beetle release, most of the tropical soda apple plants at the 3-ha release site in Polk County and at the release site in Okeechobee County, Florida have been replaced by other plant species, resulti...
Usable object management approaches for online social networks

Online social networks have seen tremendous adoption and growth in recent years. Most attention, in access control literature, has been placed on abstracting and managing the large numbers of subjects or friends within these online social networks. Usable approaches for managing large amounts of objects, in the form of privacy information and content, have lagged. We introduce two approaches for object management. We extend our previous work to accommodate for object grouping and we introduce Same-As Object Management, which provides for a more usable object management approach that is effective, efficient and satisfying to the user. Same-As Object Management leverages a user's memory and perception of their objects for setting permissions for other similar objects. We implemented our model in an online social network and conducted a user study whose results are encouraging.
Structural influences on geomorphic processes and physiographic features, Texas Panhandle: Technical issues in siting a nuclear-waste repository

Deaf Smith County in the Texas Panhandle is being considered by the U.S. Department of Energy as a possible high-level nuclear-waste disposal site. Among the geologic issues being considered are the timing and processes of salt dissolution and related subsidence. Movement along northeast-trending Paleozoic faults in the Texas Panhandle appears to have influenced deposition during the late Paleozoic. Salt of the Upper Permian Seven Rivers Formation appears to have been dissolved preferentially along the same northeast trend. Structural features of post-Seven Rivers strata as well as segments of surface stream valleys overlie and are parallel to the zone of preferential salt dissolution. The association of structure, depositional features, dissolution, and physiographic features, ranging in age from Paleozoic to Neogene, suggests a persistent structural influence.
Interfacial sliding in Cu/Ta/polyimide high density interconnects as a result of thermal cycling

A scanning probe microscope was used to observe thermally induced deformation of 1 μm thick Cu/Ta/polyimide test structures on Si. Relative height changes in arrays of parallel Cu and polyimide lines of various aspect ratios were examined in air at room temperature before and after a 25-350-25°C thermal cycle conducted in gettered nitrogen. Grain elevation and hillock formation at grain boundaries were observed on the Cu surface as a result of the thermal cycling. It was also observed that significant sliding occurs at the Cu/Ta interface with 1 μm wide Cu lines. Less or no sliding was observed at the interface with 10 μm wide Cu lines.
Association between maternal inflammatory bowel disease and adverse perinatal outcomes.

To examine whether inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is associated with ischemic/inflammatory conditions during pregnancy. A retrospective cohort study using the 2000 to 2012 Kaiser Permanente Southern California maternally-linked medical records (n=395 781). The two major subtypes of IBD, ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s diseases were studied. Adjusted odds ratios (ORs) were used to quantify the associations. A pregnancy complicated by IBD was associated with increased incidence of small-for-gestational age birth (OR=1.46, 95% confidence interval (CI)=1.14 to 1.88), spontaneous preterm birth (OR=1.32, 95% CI=1.00 to 1.76) and preterm premature rupture of membranes (OR=1.95, 95% CI=1.26 to 3.02). Further stratifying by IBD subtypes, only ulcerative colitis was significantly associated with increased incidence of ischemic placental disease, spontaneous preterm birth and preterm premature rupture of membranes. The findings underscore the potential impact of maternal IBD on adverse perinatal outcomes. Clinicians should be aware that the association between IBD and adverse perinatal outcome varies by IBD subtypes.
Structure, Wettability, and Frictional Properties of Phenyl-Terminated Self-Assembled Monolayers on Gold

Alkanethiols possessing terminal phenyl groups (C6H5(CH2)nSH, n = 12−15) were adsorbed onto the surface of gold to afford phenyl-terminated self-assembled monolayers (SAMs). The SAMs were character...
Frequency-Resolved Optical Gating on a Silicon Photonic Chip

We implement frequency-resolved optical gating using four-wave mixing in CMOS-compatible silicon nanowaveguides and demonstrate sensitive characterization in the C-band for a 10-GHz train of 3.7-ps pulses.
Aggregation of VoIP streams in a 3G mobile network: a teletraffic perspective

The ubiquity and convergence of mobile telephony and the Internet leads many to believe that future isochronous telephony data will be transported in the form of voice-over-IP (VoIP) datagrams. This paper investigates the modelling and aggregation of multiple VoIP streams. The relationship between the number of VoIP sources, output link rate and certain teletraffic metrics is investigated. Thereafter, an exemplar network consisting of a small cluster of wireless cells is considered and a number of different handover strategies enacted. The frequency and duration of handovers are varied to investigate the effects on system performance when VoIP calls are ongoing. The findings in this paper could be extremely useful when dimensioning networks as they provide insight into the QoS obtainable for the individual streams. This is a critical issue for real-time applications such as VoIP.
A Practical Guide for the Study of Malformed Amphibians and Their Causes

Abstract Reports of severely malformed amphibians in the 1990s prompted researchers to examine the causes and extent of the issue. However, disparities in survey methods and a shortage of baseline data have hindered standardization among investigations. Here, we review field-based surveys and experimental approaches used over the last decade to address this complex ecological issue. We offer specific recommendations regarding amphibian-sampling techniques, including methods to capture and examine amphibians, with the aim of enhancing the accessibility of this topic to scientists, students, and educators of diverse backgrounds. Based on established approaches from epidemiology, we provide recommendations regarding methods to identify proximate causes(s) of abnormalities with a focus on using “multiple lines of evidence,” including large-scale field surveys, comparing malformation “signatures” between field and laboratory studies, and using of manipulative experiments at multiple spatial scales. As an examp...
A Modified SI Epidemic Model for Combating Virus Spread in Wireless Sensor Networks

We study the dynamics of virus spread in wireless sensor networks (WSNs). We first analyze the susceptible-infective (SI) epidemic model for WSNs. In the SI model, once a sensor node is attacked by a virus, the infective node then, using normal communications, spreads the virus to its neighboring nodes, which further spread the virus to their neighbors, the process continues until the whole network fails. To combat this drawback, we propose a modified SI model by leveraging the sleep mode of WSNs to perform system maintenance. The modified SI model can improve the network anti-virus capability and flexibly adapt to different types of virus, without causing any additional hardware effort and signaling overhead. We derive the explicit analytical solutions for the modified SI model, which can capture both the spatial and temporal dynamics of the virus spread process. Extensive numerical results are presented to validate our analysis. The proposed model and analysis method are expected to be used for analysis and design of information (including virus) propagation mechanisms in distributed wireless or computer networks.
A simple example from flat-ship theory

Etude de la distribution de pression, des ondes de surface libre, de l'ecoulement tourbillonnaire et de la trainee d'onde d'une solution exacte de la theorie du bateau plat
Automatically identifying the sources of large Internet events

The Internet occasionally experiences large disruptions, arising from both natural and manmade disturbances, and it is of significant interest to develop methods for locating within the network the source of a given disruption (i.e., the network element(s) whose perturbation initiated the event). This paper presents a near real-time approach to realizing this logical localization objective. The proposed methodology consists of three steps: 1.) data acquisition/preprocessing, in which publicly available measurements of Internet activity are acquired, “cleaned”, and assembled into a format suitable for computational analysis, 2.) event characterization via tensor factorization-based time series analysis, and 3.) localization of the source of the disruption through graph theoretic analysis. This procedure provides a principled, automated approach to identifying the root causes of network disruptions at “whole-Internet” scale. The considerable potential of the proposed analytic method is illustrated through a computer simulation study and empirical analysis of a recent, large-scale Internet disruption.
Land mine detection using fuzzy clustering in DARPA backgrounds: data collected with the Geo-Center ground-penetrating radar

Fuzzy Clustering is applied to the problem of detecting landmines in Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR). The DARPA Backgrounds Data provides a rich source of signatures derived from a cluttered environment with a variety of sensors. One sensor used in the Backgrounds collection was the GPR developed and fielded by Geo-Centers, Inc. This GPR provides a three-dimensional array of intensity returns corresponding to a volume underneath the ground. In this paper, a novel approach to processing that GPR is described. The approach relies on computing edge direction and magnitude features in the volume and comparing them to prototypes generated using fuzzy c-means clustering. A confidence map is generated corresponding to the surface traversed by the system. The confidence map is thresholded to produce detections. Experimental results show a reduction in false alarm rates from about 40% using the standard processing method to about 4% using the three-dimensional, fuzzy clustering method.
Prehatch entrainment of circadian rhythms in the domestic chick using different light regimes.

The onset of circadian rhythms in many animals occurs during prenatal development. We conducted four experiments, using the domestic chick as a model, to assess when these rhythms can first be entrained and the type of light zeitgeber necessary. In Experiment 1, the presence of circadian rhythms was assessed using tonic immobility, an antipredator behavior, whereas in Experiments 2 to 4 body temperature was studied. We demonstrate that (a) circadian rhythms can be entrained during the late stage of the chick's 21-day incubation period (prehatch Days 13–18), (b) only 1 day of light cues [12:12 hr light:dark (12L:12D)] on prehatch Day 13 is necessary for entrainment, and (c) short bouts of light, which simulate the light cues embryos typically experience during natural incubation, can act as zeitgebers although they are not as effective as 12L:12D. The onset of entrainment is earlier than predicted and suggests that the brain structures mediating circadian rhythms mature sooner than proposed by previous research. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Dev Psychobiol 45: 174-186, 2004.
Thematic review series: The Pathogenesis of Atherosclerosis. An interpretive history of the cholesterol controversy, part V: The discovery of the statins and the end of the controversy

The first four reviews in this series (Steinberg, D. 2004. J. Lipid Res. 45: 1583-1593; Steinberg, D. 2005. J. Lipid Res. 46: 179-190; Steinberg, D. 2005. J. Lipid Res. 46: 2037-2051; Steinberg, D. 2006. J. Lipid Res. 47: 1-14) traced the gradual accumulation of evidence, evidence of several different kinds, supporting the lipid hypothesis. They tracked the history from Anitschkow's 1913 classic work on the cholesterol-fed rabbit model to the breakthrough 1984 Coronary Primary Prevention Trial, the first large, randomized, double-blind primary intervention trial showing that decreasing blood cholesterol (using cholestyramine) significantly reduces coronary heart disease events. At that point, for the first time, decreasing blood cholesterol levels became an official national public health goal. Still, only a small fraction of patients at high risk were getting appropriate cholesterol-lowering treatment, and a number of important clinical questions remained unanswered. This final review in the series traces the early studies that led to the discovery of the statins and briefly reviews the now familiar large-scale clinical trials demonstrating their safety and their remarkable effectiveness in reducing coronary heart disease morbidity and mortality.
Expectations and the asset-market approach to the exchange rate

Abstract This paper advances the following arguments concerning that portion of the literature characterized by deterministic models in which asset markets adjust quickly relative to the commodity market: (i) Overshooting of the exchange rate in response to exogenous shocks is not inherent. (ii) Perfect foresight and stability are incompatible. (iii) An alternative trade-balance approach is free of this incompatibility and also illustrates that two competing theories of the exchange rate are consistent. The analysis is general enough to include all interesting assumptions about expectations formation and therefore embraces many recent contributions as special cases.