cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
No Boundaries: Genomes, Organisms, and Ecological Interactions Responsible for Divergence and Reproductive Isolation

Revealing the genetic basis of traits that cause reproductive isolation, particularly premating or sexual isolation, usually involves the same challenges as most attempts at genotype–phenotype mapping and so requires knowledge of how these traits are expressed in different individuals, populations, and environments, particularly under natural conditions. Genetic dissection of speciation phenotypes thus requires understanding of the internal and external contexts in which underlying genetic elements are expressed. Gene expression is a product of complex interacting factors internal and external to the organism including developmental programs, the genetic background including nuclear–cytotype interactions, epistatic relationships, interactions among individuals or social effects, stochasticity, and prevailing variation in ecological conditions. Understanding of genomic divergence associated with reproductive isolation will be facilitated by functional expression analysis of annotated genomes in organisms with well-studied evolutionary histories, phylogenetic affinities, and known patterns of ecological variation throughout their life cycles. I review progress and prospects for understanding the pervasive role of host plant use on genetic and phenotypic expression of reproductive isolating mechanisms in cactophilic Drosophila mojavensis and suggest how this system can be used as a model for revealing the genetic basis for species formation in organisms where speciation phenotypes are under the joint influences of genetic and environmental factors.
Transmission of Influenza: Implications for Control in Health Care Settings

Annual influenza epidemics in the United States result in an average of >36,000 deaths and 114,000 hospitalizations. Influenza can spread rapidly to patients and health care personnel in health care settings after influenza is introduced by visitors, staff, or patients. Influenza outbreaks in health care facilities can have potentially devastating consequences, particularly for immunocompromised persons. Although vaccination of health care personnel and patients is the primary means to prevent and control outbreaks of influenza in health care settings, antiviral influenza medications and isolation precautions are important adjuncts. Although droplet transmission is thought to be the primary mode of influenza transmission, limited evidence is available to support the relative clinical importance of contact, droplet, and droplet nuclei (airborne) transmission of influenza. In this article, the results of studies on the modes of influenza transmission and their relevant isolation precautions are reviewed.
Outcomes of Aminopenicillin Therapy for Vancomycin-Resistant Enterococcal Urinary Tract Infections

Vancomycin-resistant urinary tract infections are often challenging to treat. This retrospective cohort study compared outcomes between patients treated for vancomycin-resistant enterococcal urinary tract infection with an aminopenicillin and those treated with a non-β-lactam antibiotic. Inpatients treated with an enterococcus-active agent for their first symptomatic vancomycin-resistant enterococcal urinary tract infection between 1 January 2012 and 31 December 2013 were considered for inclusion. Patients with colonization, on hospice, or receiving comfort care only were excluded. The primary endpoint of clinical cure was defined as resolution of clinical symptoms, or symptom improvement to the extent that no additional antibacterial drug therapy was necessary, and lack of microbiologic persistence. Secondary endpoints of 30-day readmission or retreatment and 30-day all-cause mortality were also compared. A total of 316 urinary isolates were screened, and 61 patients with symptomatic urinary tract infection were included. Twenty (35%) of the 57 isolates tested were ampicillin susceptible. Thirty-one patients received an aminopenicillin, and 30 received a non-β-lactam. Rates of clinical cure for aminopenicillin versus non-β-lactam treatment were 26/31 (83.9%) and 22/30 (73.3%) (P = 0.315), respectively. Rates of 30-day readmission (6/31, or 19.4%, versus 9/30, or 30%, respectively; P = 0.334), 30-day retreatment (4/31, or 12.9%, versus 4/30, 13.3%, respectively; P = 0.960), and 30-day all-cause mortality (2/31, or 6.5%, versus 1/30, or 3.3%, respectively; P = 0.573) were also not significantly different between groups. Aminopenicillins may be a viable option for treating vancomycin-resistant urinary tract infection regardless of the organism's ampicillin susceptibility. Prospective validation with larger cohorts of patients should be considered.
Neuroimaging and Neuropsychological Assessment

Within the first 30 years of this century, patients with various forms of brain damage began to be evaluated with test instruments designed to assess “mental abilities” (Anastasi, 1988). In 1935 Ward Halstead began his systematic research in brain—behavior relationships which, in turn, led one of his students, Ralph Reitan, to initiate his clinical research and standardization of tests designed specifically to evaluate brain function through behavior (Reitan & Wolfson, 1985). During this period, the typical methodology in defining “brain damaged” or “organic” groups under investigation was to take cases with objective physical exam criteria (e.g., paralysis on one side of the body following a stroke or head injury, specific type of EEG abnormality, etc.) or patients who had been operated on neurosurgically wherein the brain could be directly inspected (see review by Bigler, Yeo, & Turkheimer, 1989). The obvious limitations of such methodologies lie with their inability to specifically quantify exact areas/regions of structural brain damage. What this fostered early in this century and through the decades up until the 1970s was a unitary concept of “brain damage” or “organicity” (see Bigler & Erfurth, 1983). During this era this conceptualization of “brain injury” resulted in a clear lack of precision in defining independent variables (IV) for the study of brain—behavior relationships in humans. This restriction in what could be defined as an IV in the classification of brain injury was due to the lack of any standardized in vivo method to quantify structural brain damage. For example, in 1964 Reitan stated: Even though a surgeon’s instruments may impose themselves upon the situation in one way or another, the underlying condition of pathology is inevitably difficult to describe in complete or fully accurate terms. Consequently, many unknowns are undoubtedly present to influence the variance of psychological measurements even in the best-designed investigations. (pp. 295–296)
Family Chaos and Child Functioning in Relation to Sleep Problems Among Children at Risk for Obesity

This study evaluated the influence of child and family functioning on child sleep behaviors in low-income minority families who are at risk for obesity. A cross-sectional study was utilized to measure child and family functioning from 2013 to 2014. Participants were recruited from Head Start classrooms while data were collected during home visits. A convenience sample of 72 low-income Hispanic (65%) and African American (32%) families of preschool-aged children were recruited for this study. We assessed the association of child and family functioning with child sleep behaviors using a multivariate multiple linear regression model. Bootstrap mediation analyses examined the effects of family chaos between child functioning and child sleep problems. Poorer child emotional and behavioral functioning related to total sleep behavior problems. Chaos associated with bedtime resistance significantly mediated the relationship between Behavioral and Emotional Screening System (BESS) and Bedtime Resistance. Families at high risk for obesity showed children with poorer emotional and behavioral functioning were at higher risk for problematic sleep behaviors, although we found no link between obesity and child sleep. Family chaos appears to play a significant role in understanding part of these relationships. Future longitudinal studies are necessary to establish causal relationships between child and family functioning and sleep problems to further guide obesity interventions aimed at improving child sleep routines and increasing sleep duration.
Boundary Element Solutions to an Inverse Groundwater Problem

Recently, a rather unique inverse groundwater problem has been suggested to the author: If the groundwater table in a confined aquifer basin (piezometric heads) is determined from the records of many observation wells, is it possible to estimate the amount of groundwater being pumped out of the aquifer at certain wells? The reason for posing this question is because some hotels and factories within the groundwater basin have been suspected of pumping groundwater illegally, thus causing a rather serious decrease in the groundwater table and associated land subsidence problems. It would be interesting to develop a scientific tool for identifying the guilty parties. In this paper a numerical scheme is developed to answer the question. For simplicity, only the steady state flow in a confined homogeneous aquifer is discussed. The numerical scheme is then checked with an idealized example. It shows that the method can calculate the pumping rate accurately. Applications of this scheme to field problems will be reported in the near future.
In situ Measurements of Ethylene and Methyl Radical by using the Radar REMPI technique

In situ measurements of ethylene (C2H4) and methyl radical (CH3) were conducted in a quartz cell and an ethylene/air flame, respectively, by using coherent microwave Rayleigh scattering (Radar) from Resonance Enhanced Multi-Photon Ionization (REMPI). The (2+1) REMPI ionizations of ethylene (C2H4, 1 1 B3u(π,3p) Rydberg manifold) and methyl radical (CH3, 0 0 " 2 2 0 3 A p band) were selectively induced at 292─298nm, 310─325nm and 333.6 nm,
Reliability method and subentry coefficients of fatigue design for military bridge

In order to improve the performance of military bridge,the resistances and loads were analysed by calculating the security level of eight bridges based on the theory of structural reliability. With the method of weighting average,index of goal reliability for fatigue was dealt with. Formula of fatigue design for military bridge was presented. Subentry coefficients were suggested. The results show that the method is feasible and applicable in recension of design criterion.
Messaging Affects the Behavior of African American Parents with Regards to Soft Bedding in the Infant Sleep Environment: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Objective To evaluate the impact of specific health messages on the decisions of African American parents regarding soft bedding use, specifically related to the high degree of self-efficacy that African American parents have with regards to preventing infant suffocation vs low self-efficacy with regards to sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) risk reduction. Study design We conducted a randomized, controlled clinical trial of African American mothers of infants. The control group received standard messaging emphasizing safe sleep practices recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics for the purposes of SIDS risk reduction. The intervention group received enhanced messaging emphasizing safe sleep practices for both SIDS risk reduction and suffocation prevention. Participants completed interviews at 2-3 weeks, 2-3 months, and 5-6 months after the infant's birth. Results Of 1194 mothers enrolled, 637 completed all interviews. The use of soft bedding both in the past week and last night declined with age ( P P = .006) and last night ( P = .013). Mothers who received the enhanced message were more likely to state that they avoided soft bedding to protect their infant from suffocation. Conclusions African American mothers who receive an enhanced message about SIDS risk reduction and suffocation prevention are less likely to use soft bedding in their infant's sleep environment. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT01361880.
Social Cognition and Melodic Persistence: Where Metadata and Content Diverge.

The automatic retrieval of members of a tune family from a database of melodies is potentially complicated by well documented divergences between textual metadata and musical content. We examine recently reported cases of such divergences in search of musical features which persist even when titles change or the melodies themselves vary. We find that apart from meter and mode, the rate of preservation of searchable musical features is low. Social and gestural factors appear to play a varying role in establishing the “melodic” identity of widely transmitted songs. The rapid growth of social computing bring urgency to better understanding the different ways in which “same” or “similar” can be defined.
The biomechanical research on the changes of pressures in the C7/T1 intervertebral space after C5/6 cervical artificial disc replacement

Objective To explore the stress changes of C7/T1 intervertebral space pre-and post C5/6 discectomy and artificial disc replacement.Method Eleven healthy adult fresh muhisegmental cadaveric cervical spine segments were utilized in this investigation and biomechanically evaluated under the following C5/6 conditions:intact spine,discectomy,and Bryan Disc prosthesis implantation.The load,of neutrality and pure moments of axial,flexion,extension,and lateral bending were applied on each group.The stress changes of the inferior (C7/T1)interverlebral space was detected by modified cyclo-shaped miniature transducer.Result Under axial,anteflexion,and lateral bending loading,the discectomy indicated a significant increase in the stress of the inferiorer(C7/T1)intervertebral space,compared to intact condition and CADR(P＜0.05).Under extension loading,the discectomy indicated an increase in the stress of the inferiorer(C7/T1)intervertebral space,compared to intact condition(P＞0.05).Under axial,flexion,extension and lateral bending loading,the Bryan Disc prosthesis implantation indicate minor increase of the stress in the inferior(C7/T1)intervertebral space to intact condition(P＞0.05).Conclusion There was no difference between the C5/6 ADR and intact spine group.The discectomy of the Cs/6 can increase the stress of the C7/T1 intervertebral spaoe. Key words: Intervertebral disk/SU; Cervical spondylosis/SU; Cervical vertebrae/SU; Biomechanics
Masses and widths of N and Delta resonances.

A simple approximation is derived to relate the complex pole in a resonant partial-wave T-matrix amplitude to the conventional Breit-Wigner parameters that describe the scattering resonance. The approximation is tested by using well-established resonance parameters for the \ensuremath{\Delta}(1232)3/${2}^{+}$. This new result facilitates a comparison of both Breit-Wigner parameters and pole positions for 17 resonances described by four major analyses of \ensuremath{\pi}N scattering.
Building recurrent networks by unfolding iterative thresholding for sequential sparse recovery

Historically, sparse methods and neural networks, particularly modern deep learning methods, have been relatively disparate areas. Sparse methods are typically used for signal enhancement, compression, and recovery, usually in an unsupervised framework, while neural networks commonly rely on a supervised training set. In this paper, we use the specific problem of sequential sparse recovery, which models a sequence of observations over time using a sequence of sparse coefficients, to show how algorithms for sparse modeling can be combined with supervised deep learning to improve sparse recovery. Specifically, we show that the iterative soft-thresholding algorithm (ISTA) for sequential sparse recovery corresponds to a stacked recurrent neural network (RNN) under specific architecture and parameter constraints. Then we demonstrate the benefit of training this RNN with backpropagation using supervised data for the task of column-wise compressive sensing of images. This training corresponds to adaptation of the original iterative thresholding algorithm and its parameters. Thus, we show by example that sparse modeling can provide a rich source of principled and structured deep network architectures that can be trained to improve performance on specific tasks.
Carnap, Quine, and Putnam on Methods of Inquiry

Carnap, Quine, and Putnam held that in our pursuit of truth we can do no better than to start in the middle, relying on already-established beliefs and inferences and applying our best methods for re-evaluating particular beliefs and inferences and arriving at new ones. In this collection of essays, Gary Ebbs interprets these thinkers' methodological views in the light of their own philosophical commitments, and in the process refutes some widespread misunderstandings of their views, reveals the real strengths of their arguments, and exposes a number of problems that they face. To solve these problems, in many of the essays Ebbs also develops new philosophical approaches, including new theories of logical truth, language use, reference and truth, truth by convention, realism, trans-theoretical terms, agreement and disagreement, radical belief revision, and contextually a priori statements. His essays will be valuable for a wide range of readers in analytic philosophy.
Das margens do império: Raça, género e sexualidade em Recordações d’uma colonial (memórias da Preta Fernanda)

Este artigo analisa as representacoes de raca, genero e sexualidade em Recordacoes d’uma colonial ( memorias da preta Fernanda ) (1912), de A. Totta e F. Machado, iluminando o processo atraves do qual tais categorias, em conjunto com a imaginacao imperial portuguesa, se inter-relacionam na constituicao do sujeito colonial feminino, Fernanda—uma cocote africana da boemia lisboeta da viragem do seculo XIX para o XX. A leitura destas memorias ficcionais, que ainda nao tinham sido objeto da critica pos-colonial, procura contribuir para a analise das relacoes entre a politica e o imaginario coloniais portugueses, as configuracoes do Outro e os varios discursos sobre raca, genero e sexualidade do inicio do seculo em Portugal. Este artigo argumenta ainda que e necessario ter em conta a categoria raca e a imaginacao colonial portuguesa na forma como as identidades de genero e sexuais normativas emergiram na modernidade portuguesa.
Law versus Norms: The Impact of Human Rights Treaties on Constitutional Rights

Many view constitutional incorporation of international human rights treaties as the most effective way to enforce treaty rights domestically. Three competing theories seek to explain why this incorporation occurs or does not occur: (1) states constitutionalize treaty rights because treaties offer authoritative norms that are emulated through the power of their example; (2) states constitutionalize treaty rights because the treaties themselves demand constitutional incorporation; and (3) states only constitutionalize treaty rights when it is in their interest to do so; the treaty does not change state behavior. If the first, norm-based explanation is at work, treaty rights should be emulated widely once a treaty enters into force, regardless of ratification. If the second, law-based explanation is at work, states should constitutionalize their treaty obligations only upon ratification. If the third, interest-based explanation is at work, there should be no independent impact of human rights treaties on constitutional commitments.This paper examines empirically to what extent eighteen international and regional human rights treaties have altered rights commitments in national constitutions, through either the treaties’ ratification or their mere entry into force. Analyzing 103 constitutional rights in 186 countries over a sixty-one-year period, the paper finds that most treaties do not impact constitutional commitments. There are several exceptions. Two treaties, the CAT and the ECHR, have been emulated everywhere regardless of ratification. Two other treaties changed constitutional commitments among ratifiers only; ratification of the second optional protocol to the ICCPR and the thirteenth optional protocol to the ECHR (both abolishing the death penalty) increase the probability that the ratifying states constitutionally prohibit the death penalty.The paper also finds that the law-driven impact of human rights treaties is dependent upon the status of international law in the domestic legal system. In dualist systems, where treaties require implementation to have domestic effect, treaty ratification often spurs countries to constitutionally commit to the equivalent treaty rights. In contrast, in countries with a monist system of international law, where international law works directly and automatically in the domestic legal order, ratifying states are less likely to repeat treaty rights in their constitutions. Monist systems are thus characterized by a substitution effect, whereby treaty rights substitute constitutional rights. A similar substitution effect exists within the European and Inter-American regional human rights system, where treaties also work directly in the domestic legal order.
Methodological Perspectives on British Commercial Telegraphy and the Colonial Struggle over Democratic Connections in Gibraltar, 1914–1941

This article examines the privatization of telegraphy in the British Empire from the perspective of Gibraltar, an overseas territory in the Mediterranean. While the history of international telegraphy is typically written from a world-systems perspective, this article presents a key methodological critique of the use of collections spread across many institutions and colonies: archival satellites are not simply reducible to parts of a scattered whole, as archival collections are themselves curations of socially-positioned understandings of Empire. This is especially true of the “girdle round the world” that was British telegraphy. At a meta-historical level, individual archival collections of the global British telegraphy system can be read as histories of colonial administrators’ geographically- and socially- situated perspectives on Empire—namely through what archives have, and have not, preserved. I demonstrate how the documents about telegraphy collected and maintained in the Gibraltar National Archives reflect pre- and post-World War I English, anti-Liberal colonial administrators’ and military officials’ fear that privatization was an opening salvo against the democratic web that held the last vestiges of Empire together.
Are ADHD Screeners Safe to Use

Objective: To investigate whether administration of a common ADHD screener followed by generic feedback would affect college students' subsequent symptom reports and cognitive performance. Method: Participants were 157 college students randomly assigned to an experimental group-which completed the World Health Organization Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale screener and received standard generic feedback-or a control group. All participants then completed a battery of cognitive tasks and a long-form symptom rating scale. Results: The experimental and control groups did not differ significantly in terms of their subsequent symptom reports or their performance on any cognitive tasks. These null results remained after considering possibilities such as unequal group variances and interactions between screening effects and gender. Conclusion: When administered judiciously alongside generic feedback in a group setting, this common ADHD screener does not appear to affect college students' self-perceptions or cognitive abilities.
Do paternal semen parameters influence the birth weight or BMI of the offspring? A study from the Utah Population Database

To study the role of individual semen parameters on the offspring birth weight and body mass index (BMI) from a population of men evaluated in an assisted reproduction technology (ART) clinic compared to fertile controls. We performed a retrospective study using a cohort with fertile, age-matched controls of men evaluated with semen analysis at the University of Utah Andrology Clinic from 1996 to 2011 and Intermountain Healthcare from 2002 to 2011. We use the offspring from both our sub-fertile cohort and controls using the Utah Population Database. The two main outcomes of interest were offspring birth weight and adolescent BMI. The offspring of men with impaired sperm parameters had significantly lower birth weight compared to fertile control offspring. Low-concentration offspring weighed 158 g less (95% CI − 278~− 38; p = 0.01), low total count weighed 172 g less (95% CI − 294~− 51; p = 0.005), and low total motility weighed 155 g less (95% CI − 241~− 69; p < 0.001) compared to those of the controls. When we controlled for the use of ART within the sub-fertile group, we found that there was a significant trend of increasing birth weight across levels of total motile count and total sperm count compared to the azoospermic group. We did not find any consistent significant differences between the subject and control adolescence BMI based on semen parameters. Despite limitations within our population-based dataset, we found that poor quality semen analysis parameters pointed towards an association with low birth weight in the offspring of sub-fertile men compared to the offspring of normal fertile controls. However, in contrast to studies of ART effects on offspring, we did not find evidence of long-term associations between semen quality and offspring BMI.
Building Supply in Thin Markets: Districts’ Efforts to Promote the Growth of Autonomous Schools

For well over three decades, policy analysts have preached the virtues of vouchers, tradeable permits and contracts to harness market forces to achieve public goals. At the same time, with unfettered markets a major culprit in the current global economic upheaval, policy analysts and public officials must consider systematically how government can help markets work most effectively. When markets work well, they offer benefits to individual decision makers and to society as a whole. While these benefits are appealing, markets also present risks as tools of public policy, including negative externalities, profit-taking at public expense, inequitable distribution of costs and benefits. Moreover, public policies often have difficulty realizing the benefits of markets. Complex public services such as national security, human services and education, among others, are especially prone to these imperfections due to uncertainty, asset specificity, and measurement difficulties. Moreover, governments seeking to take advantage of market forces by contracting out critical services often find that the available supply is weak, both in terms of quality and quantity.We need insights about how to enhance the benefits of markets while reducing their risks. To that end, this paper develops a framework that outlines the strategies that governments can use to build more robust pools of suppliers . It then investigates the use of those tactics by school districts in 10 cities that contract with non-traditional suppliers of public schools in hopes of improving the academic performance of students and schools.
FORMATION AND STABILITY OF SF5 AND S2F10

ABSTRACT The simulation of the dielectric breakdown of SF 6 through the use of computer modeling offers many advantages over more costly direct testing methods for determining the conditions under which potentially toxic by-products may be generated. A complete model calculation requires a knowledge of the rate constants or cross sections for all relevant processes. A complete data base of that nature has not yet been assembled. However enough data exist to begin to answer some of the pressing questions regarding the formation and stability of various proposed reaction intermediates. Computer modeling studies have been carried out for very simple systems in order to determine the conditions under which S 2 F 10 is formed and the role of water vapor in that process. Many other recombination products of undetermined toxicity such as S 2 F 4 , S 2 F 6 , and S 2 F 8 can be formed following the breakdown of SF 6 . The thermal stability of SF 5 and S 2 F 10 is discussed and the lifetimes of these species given as a function of temperature.
Metabolic Stress and Neuropsychiatric Disorders

The complications of metabolic disorders like diabetes, obesity, and the metabolic syndrome (MetS) are well characterized in peripheral tissues, but there is a growing appreciation that the complications of metabolic disorders extend to the central nervous system (CNS). Interestingly, the structural, electrophysiological, neurochemical, and anatomical underpinnings responsible for neuroplasticity deficits associated with metabolic disorders are strikingly similar to those observed in animals subjected to chronic stress, as well as in patients with stress-related psychiatric illnesses such as major depressive disorder. This has led to the hypothesis that diabetes, obesity, and MetS may be considered chronic metabolic stressors and led to the suggestion that common mechanistic mediators are responsible for the neurological complications associated with both metabolic disorders and neuropsychiatric disorders. The goal of this chapter is to provide an overview of stress neurobiology, with a particular emphasis on the causes and consequences of the metabolic stress in the CNS. This will include a discussion of the development and progression of mood disorders in patients with metabolic disorders, as well as a discussion of a novel model of obesity/MetS developed in our laboratory that is helping to elucidate the underlying mechanistic mediators of comorbid depression and obesity.
Chapter II – France

Publisher Summary This chapter presents an in-depth introduction to the French criminal justice system. It surveys the components of the system such as the police, judiciary, law, corrections, and juvenile justice. It highlights some of the historical antecedents and describes the organization and administration and the various roles of the practitioners. Some of the critical issues facing the system are also assessed. A central feature of French political thought as the enlightenment has been the desire to establish a political system that assures liberty for all. The political history of the country, with its curious juxtaposition of liberty and authority, has significant implications for the justice system. For the student of the Anglo-American justice system, the French model clearly illustrates the way the inquisitorial style of the Romano-Germanic law differs from that of the common law. Of particular interest is the role that the office of the judge plays in the criminal process. There is rationality to this system that is alien to the common law tradition. The Romano–Germanic legal system serves as a striking contrast to the methods employed in the common law tradition; it offers a new perspective from which to reflect upon the numerous procedural, policy, and personnel issues that confront the student of criminal justice.
What Can Departments Do to Increase Students’ Retention? A Case Study of Students’ Sense of Belonging and Involvement in a Biology Department:

The aim of this case study was to explore the sense of belonging to and involvement in a biology department for students participating in a biology program designed to create a strong sense of belo...
Cellular level of Abelson interactor-1 as a marker predicting chemoresistance.

7107 Background: In hematological malignancies, quiescent leukemic stem cells are responsible for persistence of minimal residual disease and relapse. Emerging evidence points to the involvement of...
Earth scan analog signal relationships in the tiros radiation experiment and their application to the problem of horizon sensing.

Horizon sensing system design and tiros iii radiation measurements of several spectral regions
Victory in War : Foundations of Modern Military Policy

1. Introduction 2. Historical origins of victory 3. Modern origins of victory 4. Foundations of victory 5. America's theory of victory 6. 1986 raid against Libya 7. 1989 Invasion of Panama 8. 1991 Persian Gulf War 9. Bosnia and Kosovo, 1992-9 10. 2001 invasion of Afghanistan 11. 2003 invasion of Iraq 12. Military power and victory 13. Conclusions.
Reconciling evolution: evidence from a biology and theology course

Many individuals reject evolutionary theory due to a perceived conflict with their religious beliefs. To bridge this gap, educators have attempted different approaches including approaching evolution rejection as a consequence of deficit thinking and teaching students the nature of science (including the scientific process and peer review process as well as questions that science can and cannot answer).Teaching the nature of science has shown promising gains in the acceptance of evolution, although acceptance rates remain low. We propose a further approach: the use of a reconciliatory model designed to help students accept evolution within the framework of their religious beliefs. We tested this approach in both biology and theology classrooms at a Nazarene-affiliated university. Both professors approached the subject in a reconciliatory fashion. This study found that by utilizing a reconciliatory approach, the students in both classrooms saw significant gains in evolution acceptance, with gains being greatest in the biology classroom. In addition, we saw no decrease in student religiosity. Implications of this are discussed. The results of this study confirm the effectiveness of a reconciliatory model, which opens several avenues for further research.
Estimation of the photovoltaic cells/modules parameters using an improved Rao-based chaotic optimization technique

Abstract One of the most important challenges issues while addressing the industrial applications of solar photovoltaic systems is to predict the performance of a photovoltaic system since the current–voltage and power-voltage characteristics are highly nonlinear. Note that the majority of manufacturer's data sheets do not provide full information about internal parameters of photovoltaic systems which are crucial to simulate an accurate photovoltaic module. As a major alternative for parameters' extraction of solar photovoltaic cells/modules, mathematical based optimization and global research techniques are more suitable compared with other methods. In this context, a new optimization method is proposed in this paper to extract the parameters of solar photovoltaic cells/modules of different technologies while providing an accurate representation of the current–voltage and power-voltage curves. For this purpose, the proposed optimization algorithm is based on a chaotic generator combined with the newly developed Rao-1 optimization algorithm to extract the photovoltaic parameters. A comparative performance analysis shows that the proposed optimization algorithm with a chaotic based search sequence has better performance in terms of robustness and accuracy while extracting the photovoltaic parameters than many recent well-known optimization algorithms. Further, comprehensive results show that the double diode model is more accurate to estimate the appropriate values of the model's parameters.
Disability and the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Survey of Individuals With Traumatic Brain Injury.

Abstract Objectives To identify the consequences of the coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic for individuals with traumatic brain injury (TBI), with particular attention to unique effects for individuals with chronic disability. Design Individuals with and without a history of TBI completed a web-based survey. Setting Participants were recruited from the Vanderbilt Brain Injury Patient Registry in Nashville, TN, and completed the survey from their homes between May and June 2020, during social distancing related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants Participants (N=47) in the chronic phase of moderate-severe TBI (>6mo postinjury) and 51 noninjured comparison (NC) peers completed the survey. Interventions Not applicable. Main Outcome Measures Participants, or respondents, answered a mix of multiple choice and free text questions about how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected their work, education, medical care, social communication, sources of information and decision making, and mental and physical well-being. Individuals with TBI also answered questions about how TBI has affected their experiences of the pandemic. Results As a group, respondents with TBI reported less pandemic-related behavior change (eg, daily habits, virtual social visits, and masking) than NC peers. Both NCs and respondents with TBI identified health care providers as trusted sources of public health information. One-third of individuals with TBI indicated that brain injury has made coping with the pandemic more difficult, and respondents identified mental health challenges and social isolation as key barriers. Conclusions These results suggest that health care providers should look for ways to provide tailored education and reduce social isolation for individuals with disability during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. We discuss several direct suggestions from participant responses.
Temporal Lobe Epilepsy and Psychosis: An Atypical Case of Post-ictal Psychosis

Background: Postictal psychosis (PIP) is a rare but potentially serious complication in patients with seizure disorders and is part of a group of psychotic disorders known as psychosis of epilepsy (POE). PIP often complicates chronic epilepsy, especially in patients with seizure clusters that include tonic–clonic seizures, bilateral cerebral dysfunction (e.g., bilateral epileptiform activity or history of encephalitis), and a family history of psychiatric illness. Psychosis includes delusions, auditory and visual hallucinations, mood changes, and aggressive and violent behavior. Case Presentation: We present the case of …
Smartbuf: An Agile Memory Management for Shared-Memory Switches in Datacenters

Important datacenter applications generate extremely bursty traffic patterns and demand low latency tails as well as high throughput. Datacenter networks employ shallow-buffered, shared-memory switches to cut cost and to cope up with ever-increasing link speeds. End-to-end congestion control cannot react in time to handle bursty, short flows that dominate datacenter traffic and they incur buffer overflows, which cause long latency tails and degrade throughput. Therefore, there is a need for agile, switch-local mechanisms that quickly sense congestion and provision enough buffer space dynamically to avoid costly buffer overflows. We propose Smartbuf, an online learning algorithm that accurately predicts buffer requirement of each switch port before the onset of congestion. Our key novelty lies in fingerprinting bursts based on the gradient of queue length and using this information to provision just enough buffer space. Our preliminary evaluations show that our algorithm can predict buffer demands accurately within an average error margin of 6% and achieve an improvement in the 99th percentile latency by a factor of 8x at high loads, while providing good fairness among ports.
The effect of water depth on passage success of arctic grayling through two Denil fishways

Arctic grayling (Thymallus arcticus) are found throughout parts of North America, Europe and Asia. Denil fishways are being used in efforts to recover populations and provide passage for grayling t...
A Study of Plane Stress Fracture in the Large-Scale Plastic Yielding Regime

Three independent methods for measuring plane stress fracture resistance in the large-scale plastic yielding regime were tested and were found to give equivalent results. The three methods were the J-integral technique, amethod based on the increase in compliance that accompanies the development of a plastic zone, and a method based on the direct measurement of the plastic work that must be done to cause fracture.
Low-complexity training for rapid timing acquisition in ultra wideband communications

Rapid timing acquisition with low complexity constitutes a major challenge in realizing the high potential ultra wideband (UWB) technology promises for indoor wireless communications. We design and test such a timing acquisition algorithm based on training symbols. Relying on a judiciously designed preamble, our algorithm achieves clock synchronization at the receiver using simple integrate-and-dump operations over the symbol duration. Analysis and simulations confirm that with a small number of training symbols, our scheme brings bit-error-rate (BER) performance close to that corresponding to the case with perfect timing.
Cold Reacting Antibody in NZB/Bl Mice

NZB/Bl mice produce throughout life cold reacting antibodies (CRA) with specificity to the I-erythrocyte antigen. These antibodies do not react with autologous erythrocytes since intact mouse erythrocytes do not carry reactive I-antigen. This antigen on the other hand is widely distributed in NZB/Bl mouse tissues. Newborn CF1 mice injected with cell-free filtrates of NZB/Bl mouse spleen produce CRA. The untreated offspring of these animals also synthesize this type of antibody suggesting that this immune response is induced by a self-replicating, ultrafilterable immunogen. CRA in NZB/Bl mice may, therefore, be another example of the induction of an auto-immune response by an infectious agent.
Nondestructive evaluation of turbine blades vibrating in resonant modes

The paper presents the analysis of the strain distribution of turbines blades. The holographic moire technique is used in conjunction with computer analysis of the fringes. The application of computer fringe analysis techniques reduces the number of holograms to be recorded to two. Stroboscopic illumination is used to record the patterns. Strains and stresses are computed.
Youth Depression and Suicide: Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors Treat the Former and Prevent the Latter

Can J Psychiatry. 2009;54(2):76-77. Dr David Healy raises 3 main points that require rebuttal: * antidepressants are associated with an increased risk of suicide in pediatric populations; * antidepressants are not effective; and * antidepressants offer no protection against suicide as per pharmacoepidemiologic studies. Efficacy of Antidepressants A recent meta-analysis shows that antidepressants are more likely than placebo to result in clinical improvement in depressed children and adolescents, with a number needed to treat (NNT) of 10.1 As Dr Healy notes, the placebo rate is high in these studies, and greater efficacy is found in studies that used fluoxetine, had fewer sites, and empanelled participants of greater severity.2 Exemplar of these characteristics is the Treatment of Adolescent Depression Study, which showed a risk difference of 27% between fluoxetine and placebo (NNT = 4), a moderate-to-large effect. Risk of Suicidality and Completed Suicide in Pediatric Populations Meta-analyses show that there is a higher rate of suicidal events in pediatric patients treated with antidepressants, compared with those treated with placeboes; such events include increases in suicidal ideation, suicidal threats, and attempts, but not in deaths by suicide in 4300 participants.1 The most parsimonious explanation is that antidepressants in pediatric populations are not associated with completed suicide. While it is possible, as suggested by Dr Healy, that suicides occurred that were not reported, one cannot base clinical guidelines and policy on this possibility in the absence of concrete evidence. A Protective Effect of Antidepressants Against Suicide? Pharmacoepidemiologic studies show an association between increased use of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors and a decline in the suicide rate. The simplest explanation for these findings is that greater detection and treatment of depression with antidepressants protects against completed suicide. This should be true even if, as suggested by Dr Healy, the suicidogenic effect of antidepressants only occurs in those 20% who are initiating antidepressants. Moreover, the highest risk period for a suicide attempt is in the month prior to initiation of an antidepressant, not afterwards, which contradicts Dr Healy's supposition.3 While pharmacoepidemiologic studies are correlative and not experimental, quasi-experimental studies in Sweden and Hungary showed a decrease in deaths by suicide in regions where general practitioners underwent extensive training in detection and pharmacological treatment of depression, compared with control regions where general practitioners did not receive extra training.4,5 A Favourable Risk-Benefit Ratio for Pediatric Antidepressants The NNT for antidepressant treatment of pediatric depression is 10, whereas the number needed to harm regarding suicidal events is 121, which means that 12 times more people will benefit from antidepressants than will experience a suicidal event. …
Advancing Pedagogy: Evidence for the Role of Online Instructor Training in Improved Pedagogical Practices

An Online Instructor Training program at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse provides a three-week asynchronous training, focused on design, delivery, and facilitation of online courses. OIT trainees from 2010 and 2011 participated in a three-phase evaluation of the OIT. In Phase I, common conceptions (myths) about online education were assessed both pre and post OIT. In Phase II, trainees provided data about how OIT influenced the implementation of new pedagogical strategies in their online courses, as well as in their face-to-face courses. In Phase III, trainees provided additional in-depth qualitative data about the pedagogical themes that surfaced in their courses as a result of the OIT. Results indicate that OIT significantly changed trainees’ beliefs about some common conceptions (myths) of online education, and that OIT led to a significant increase in the implementation of 21 of 21 pedagogical strategies in online courses, and 5 of 21 pedagogical strategies in face-to-face courses.
Common trends and common cycles in Latin America

. This paper analyzes the degree of short and long ruo comovement in GDP . per capita of three Latin American countries (Argentina, Brazil and Mexico) using a technique discussed in the newly established common featores literature. We find the data to display both short and long ruo comovement, although the degree of the fll'St is higher than that of the last. We also find permanent shocks to explain most of the variance of GDP per capita for the region, which suggests that externai factors such as foreign investment and externai debt may be important in determining the long run prospects for Latin American countries. Finally, we show that imposing short and long run comovement restrictions can dramatically improve forecasting.
Growth and Trade: Some Hypotheses About Long-Term Trends

The relationship between long-term trends in foreign trade and long-term trends in income has long been a source of fascinating speculation for scholars. As early as 1821, Robert Torrens observed that “as the several nations of the world advance in wealth and population, the commercial intercourse between them must gradually become less important and beneficial.” He believed that trade was founded on the exchange of manufactures for foodstuffs and materials; as land became scarcer as a result of population growth, the basis for trade would disappear.