cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The Differential Impact of User‐Fee Exemption Compared to Conditional Cash Transfers on Safe Deliveries in Nepal

Objective To assess the differential impact of a copayment exemption compared to a cash incentive on increasing skilled birth attendance (i.e., birth attended by a skilled health worker) in Nepal. Data Sources/Study Setting This study used data on 8,785 children born between July 2005 and December 2008, obtained from the nationally representative Demographic and Health Surveys, 2006 and 2011. Study Design Twenty-five districts received both the policy interventions, and the remaining 50 control districts received only the cash incentive. We employed a difference-in-differences model to compare children born in districts with both interventions to those in districts with conditional cash transfers only. Average marginal effects of the difference-in-difference coefficient on skilled birth attendance measures are estimated. Principal Findings Skilled birth attendance in districts with both interventions was no higher on average than in districts with only the cash incentive. In areas with adequate road networks, however, significantly higher skilled birth attendance was observed in districts with both interventions compared to those with only the cash incentive. Conclusions The added incentive of the user-fee exemption did not significantly increase skilled birth attendance relative to the presence of the cash incentive. User-fee exemptions may not be effective in areas with inadequate road infrastructure.
Camp Ellis, Maine: A small beach community with a big problem…its jetty

This paper is a case history of coastal development at Camp Ellis, Saco, Maine. It begins in 1867 with dredging and jetty construction at the mouth of the Saco River to facilitate commercial navigation. Beach accretion, resulting from tidal delta collapse, was followed by residential development before the ephemeral nature of the shoreline was recognized. A misunderstanding of the riverine source of beach sand and the net, northward direction of longshore transport confounded U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACOE) efforts to maintain navigation and the adjacent beach. Beach erosion at Camp Ellis claimed dozens of properties before the role of the north jetty at the mouth of the Saco River became apparent to state and university scientists. Erosion also led to sand migration to the north and to the closure of the Little River inlet and growth of Pine Point spit. This spit was later developed and a jetty was placed at its tip to preclude continued accretion into the Scarborough River inlet. Despite numerous studies, the USACOE failed to recognize the connection between beach erosion at Camp Ellis and beach accretion at Pine Point. Under political pressure, the USACOE recently conducted detailed modeling studies and has proposed construction of breakwaters seaward of Camp Ellis to solve the problem. A discussion of the pros and cons of this proposal is presented in light of the long history of development at Camp Ellis. spe460-01 page 1
Pedagogy and Climate Change

Anthropologists teaching about climate change today face the challenge, in the spirit of the sociological imagination, of connecting biography with history and grappling with problems of ethnocentrism. When it comes to climate change, almost everyone has something to teach and to learn. Pedagogies which can connect personal experiences to wider politics, ignite senses of purpose and encourage effective action must be collaborative, requiring not only an engagement with a range of knowledges but a repertoire of communication skills. In this chapter, we highlight multiple forms of pedagogy, drawing on examples across scales and space to address climate change and education writ-large, including questions about misinformation. Examples range from pedagogy in schools, including the need for trans-paradigmatic thinking, to the international, including issues of epistemic cultures. Finally we note the importance of practical knowledge, social movements, and tactical uses of humor for addressing serious climate problems.
A fragile assemblage: Mutant bird flu and the limits of risk assessment.

This paper examines the recent public controversy sparked by the laboratory creation of a strain of highly pathogenic avian influenza transmissible among mammals. The contours of the controversy ca...
LAS TRANSFORMACIONES DEL RÉGIMEN DE INTERVENCIÓN ADMINISTRATIVA EN EL PROCEDIMIENTO DE EVALUACIÓN DE INCIDENCIA AMBIENTAL DE ACTIVIDADES. EL SUPUESTO PARTICULAR DE LA LEGISLACIÓN GALLEGA

El trabajo tiene como objeto el examen de algunas de las principales cuestiones relacionadas con el nuevo procedimiento para la evaluacion de incidencia ambiental de actividades, el cual se estructura, tras la aprobacion de la Ley 9/2013, de 19 de diciembre, del emprendimiento y de la competitividad economica de Galicia, en dos fases. En primer lugar, el interesado debe solicitar la emision de una declaracion de incidencia ambiental al organo autonomico competente en medio ambiente y, una vez obtenida esta, debe presentar una comunicacion previa ante el ayuntamiento donde prevea implantar la actividad. Despues de un estudio pormenorizado del articulado aplicable a esta materia, la parte final del trabajo se dedica a analizar la intervencion de las entidades de conformidad municipal como mecanismo de reforzamiento de las tecnicas de control ex post para garantizar que la eliminacion del control previo no se traduzca en transgresiones de la normativa.
Forging Theatre and Community: Challenges and Strategies for Serving Two Missions

At the age of personal computers, the Internet, cell phones, video games, and I-pods, how can individuals be enticed to emerge from their electronic silos and actually engage others in meaningful discourse as members of a community with common interests and problems? One organizational response to this challenge is the activities of community-based organizations. Such organizations are widely recognized for their ability to promote and facilitate creative face-to-face human interactions that serve as a counterweight to the forces of individuation and declining trust in public institutions, while playing a niche role in the process of building and sustaining community solidarity. Through an in-depth examination of one organization that strives to build community through face-to-face interaction—Live Arts community theatre in Charlottesville, Virginia—the authors discuss what they believe to be critical concerns of the nonprofit sector at large. In particular, they examine how Live Arts seeks to preserve and balance its mission of achieving artistic excellence that challenges and engages the community, the need for financial sustainability, and more efficient production and management systems.
Creating sustainable tourism ventures in protected areas: An actor-network theory analysis

Abstract Sustainable tourism is a growing segment of tourism worldwide. If such ventures are to thrive in society, we have to learn more about how they are created and sustained. Specifically, one has to explore, not only the attributes of the founders, but the actions that they deploy in creating such ventures. This paper investigated how a principal actor created a sustainable tourism business in the Amazon forest. The analysis showed that the actor deployed the phases that were proposed by actor-network theory (ANT) framework. Interestingly, the study found that the actor created her network by using what we called an orchestration modus instead of the unification approach that is widely known in ANT literature. Finally, the analysis showed that the ability of the principal actor to learn new things, to adapt to change and her acts of creating spaces for global experts played a significant role in her success.
Position, Personality, and Leadership

This paper examines the methodological consequences of communication network studies, pointing out that the use of partitions removes the possibility of either personality differences or deviance from effecting leadership. In a face to face network, high centrality incumbents are found to emerge as leaders immediately only when no personality liability is present. In groups of all types, however, the impact of centrality upon leadership—defined as influence and control—is found to diminish as problem solving proceeds. The conclusion is that the previously observed relationship between leadership and spatial position is due, in large part, to the physical enclosure of participants.
Trends in Red Blood Cell, Plasma, and Platelet Transfusions in the United States, 1993-2014.

This study uses National Inpatient Sample survey data to characterize trends in red blood cell, plasma, and platelet transfusions in the United States between 1993 and 2014, a period of time during which trials were demonstrating the safety of restrictive red blood cell transfusion strategies.
Quadriceps tendon rupture

Acute knee pain is a frequently encountered problem in the clinical settings. In 2003, American Orthopedic Association recorded that 19.4 million people visited a physician because of a knee problem. Knee pain due to injuries is increasing even among the older population, as a greater number of persons are participating in recreational activities. The quadriceps tendon rupture is not a common condition among acute causes of knee pain. However, it can be quite debilitating. The usual clinical presentation includes a middle-aged person presenting with a history of fall accompanied by swelling and inability to extend the knee. Providers who are faced with this clinical situation should be able to recognize this condition sooner than later. It is very important that precise clinical decisions be made, so as to achieve best outcomes. This article reviews the etiology, epidemiology, clinical presentation, differential diagnosis, and management of quadriceps tendon rupture.
Spurzheim, Johann Gaspar

Johann Gaspar Spurzheim (1776–1832) was a student and associate of Franz Gall. Spurzheim popularized Gall's concept that one could identify certain traits and abilities (faculties) by examining the skull. The prominent areas of the skull represented the enlarged areas of the underlying brain faculties. Spurzheim added to Gall's cranioscopy the concept that one could strengthen or weaken one's ‘faculties,’ a concept he called phrenology. Spurzheim lectured extensively, especially in England, France, and the US, and in consequence, phrenology became a widespread fad. Although phrenology was not scientifically accepted, it was a milestone in the later development of cerebral localization.
Teaching Structured Analytical Thinking with Data Using Visual-Analytic Tools

The skills of analytical thinking is highly valuable for many professionals who need to form judgment from complex and incomplete data. This essay is a reflection of my experience with teaching visual analytic methods for thinking with data. Visual analytics is about the development and use of interactive visual representations and processing tools to explore patterns and processes from data. The presented approach has been refined through multiple redesigns and is proven to be workable. The question of how to balance the need of learning tools and the structured method in actual course offerings remains to be answered through more experiments.
Rent Seeking Activity: A Mechanism that Distorts Economic Growth

This study looks at how rent seeking activity hobbles economic growth by giving us a good understanding of the current economic situation. It enables us to see why the existence of multiple exchange rates in developing countries have negative effects on their economic growth pattern such as misallocation of resources, rent seeking and budget problems. It helps to see how market privilege rent seeking affects the economic growth by restricting competition in the production and or sale of product or service. This research study examines the social cost of monopoly as measured by the welfare effect on the gross national product of the United States, in the early part of twentieth century. Finally, the study examines the role of lobbying activities and how resources are diverted from productive use to rent seeking results.
Semi-supervised learning by mixed label propagation

Recent studies have shown that graph-based approaches are effective for semi-supervised learning. The key idea behind many graph-based approaches is to enforce the consistency between the class assignment of unlabeled examples and the pairwise similarity between examples. One major limitation with most graph-based approaches is that they are unable to explore dissimilarity or negative similarity. This is because the dissimilar relation is not transitive, and therefore is difficult to be propagated. Furthermore, negative similarity could result in unbounded energy functions, which makes most graph-based algorithms unapplicable. In this paper, we propose a new graph-based approach, termed as "mixed label propagation" which is able to effectively explore both similarity and dissimilarity simultaneously. In particular, the new framework determines the assignment of class labels by (1) minimizing the energy function associated with positive similarity, and (2) maximizing the energy function associated with negative similarity. Our empirical study with collaborative filtering shows promising performance of the proposed approach.
Undergraduate cognitive psychology students' evaluations of scientific arguments in a contrasting-essays assignment

This study investigated upper-level college students' understanding of evidence use in quality scientific arguments. Responses to a required online 'contrasting-essays' assignment provided instructors with quick access to formative information about students' capacity to evaluate the quality of argument and the use of evidence therein. Students inconsistently applied criteria for strong and weak evidence, focusing on superficial aspects of writing quality and ease of comprehension instead of the need for relevant, empirical, and disconfirming evidence.
Evaluating natural antimicrobials for use in food products

Disclaimer: Mention of trade names or commercial products in this article is solely for the purpose of providing specific information and does not imply recommendation or endorsement by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.
Nanofabrication of Zone Plates for X-Ray Microscopy

High resolution electron beam lithography (EBL) has been developed to make zone plates on Si3N4 membranes. The highest resolution zone plates to date use gold as the absorber and have nominal outer zone widths as small as 30 nm for use in imaging x-ray microscopy. Their characteristics have been measured in collaboration with the Gottingen x-ray microscopy group at BESSY [1]; small features (≈ 30 nm) in test patterns were resolved. For scanning instruments both gold and nickel zone plates have been made; the latter show improved efficiency due to their phase shift and attenuation characteristics. Nickel zone plates for the water window with nominal outer zone widths as small as 40 nm have been made; an efficiency >10% at λ = 3.6 nm was measured at the SUNY/NSLS microscope. In addition, high efficiency (≈ 15% at 2.5 nm) zone plates for photoelectron microscopy have been made with 100 nm finest zone widths using 300 nm of electroplated nickel.
Detection of phenobarbital in bloodstains, semen, seminal stains, saliva, saliva stains, perspiration stains, and hair.

Low nanogram quantities of phenobarbital were detected in a 10-μL dried blood stain and in other physiological fluids by using radioimmunoassay. The age of the stain versus detectability of phenobarbital and the cross-reactivity of vaginal secretions were investigated.
Dual-Battery Enabled Profit Driven User Association in Green Heterogeneous Cellular Networks

With awareness of the potential harmful effects to the environment and climate change, on-grid brown energy consumption of information and communications technology (ICT) has drawn much attention. Cellular base stations (BSs) are among the major energy guzzlers in ICT, and their contributions to the global carbon emissions increase sustainedly. It is essential to leverage green energy to power BSs to reduce their on-grid brown energy consumption. However, in order to furthest save on-grid brown energy and decrease the on-grid brown energy electricity expenses, most existing green energy related works only pursue to maximize the green energy utilization, while compromising the services received by the mobile users. In reality, dissatisfaction of services may eventually lead to loss of market shares and profits of the network providers. In this paper, we propose a dual-battery enabled profit driven user association scheme by jointly considering the traffic delivery latency and green energy utilization to maximize the profits for the network providers in heterogeneous cellular networks. Since this profit driven user association optimization problem is NP-hard, we further propose some heuristics to solve the problem with low computational complexity. Finally, the performance of the proposed algorithm has been validated through extensive simulations.
Abstract 353: Chronic Polarization of Low-grade Inflammatory Monocytes During the Pathogenesis of Atherosclerosis

Background: Chronic inflammation mediated by low-grade inflammatory monocytes may serve as a key culprit for atherosclerosis. However, the cellular and molecular mechanisms responsible for the low-...
Introduction: The Biotech Century, Human Capital, and Genre

This introduction begins by exploring the scientific, political, and legal narratives that have framed the twenty-first century as the biotech century. While these narratives have responded to major developments in bioscience, the story of a biotech future has increasingly relocated “the human” as standing behind or emerging after biotechnological interventions. This is due, in part, to the key role human capital theory has played in developing neoliberal definitions of the human as never-human-enough. I argue that the directive to “be more [than] human” sits comfortably at the intersection of neoliberal and transhumanist models of human belonging. I then preview how contemporary novels engage the biotech future. While these works recognize biotechnological and economic accounts of human belonging in the twenty-first century, they also expose and interrupt the linkages between apocalyptic fear and dystopian depression, genres that shape and limit our collective capacity to imagine an alternative, posthuman, or utopian future.
Overexpression of Sirtuin 1 protein in neurons prevents and reverses experimental diabetic neuropathy

In diabetic neuropathy, there is activation of axonal and sensory neuronal degeneration pathways leading to distal axonopathy. The nicotinamide-adenine dinucleotide (NAD+)-dependent deacetylase enzyme, Sirtuin 1 (SIRT1), can prevent activation of these pathways and promote axonal regeneration. In this study, we tested whether increased expression of SIRT1 protein in sensory neurons prevents and reverses experimental diabetic neuropathy induced by a high fat diet (HFD). We generated a transgenic mouse that is inducible and overexpresses SIRT1 protein in neurons (nSIRT1OE Tg). Higher levels of SIRT1 protein were localized to cortical and hippocampal neuronal nuclei in the brain and in nuclei and cytoplasm of small to medium sized neurons in dorsal root ganglia. Wild-type and nSIRT1OE Tg mice were fed with either control diet (6.2% fat) or a HFD (36% fat) for 2 months. HFD-fed wild-type mice developed neuropathy as determined by abnormal motor and sensory nerve conduction velocity, mechanical allodynia, and loss of intraepidermal nerve fibres. In contrast, nSIRT1OE prevented a HFD-induced neuropathy despite the animals remaining hyperglycaemic. To test if nSIRT1OE would reverse HFD-induced neuropathy, nSIRT1OE was activated after mice developed peripheral neuropathy on a HFD. Two months after nSIRT1OE, we observed reversal of neuropathy and an increase in intraepidermal nerve fibre. Cultured adult dorsal root ganglion neurons from nSIRT1OE mice, maintained at high (30 mM) total glucose, showed higher basal and maximal respiratory capacity when compared to adult dorsal root ganglion neurons from wild-type mice. In dorsal root ganglion protein extracts from nSIRT1OE mice, the NAD+-consuming enzyme PARP1 was deactivated and the major deacetylated protein was identified to be an E3 protein ligase, NEDD4-1, a protein required for axonal growth, regeneration and proteostasis in neurodegenerative diseases. Our results indicate that nSIRT1OE prevents and reverses neuropathy. Increased mitochondrial respiratory capacity and NEDD4 activation was associated with increased axonal growth driven by neuronal overexpression of SIRT1. Therapies that regulate NAD+ and thereby target sirtuins may be beneficial in human diabetic sensory polyneuropathy.
Diagnosis and evaluation of Sjögren's syndrome

Abstract Sjogren's syndrome (SS) can be confused with a wide variety of other conditions that have similar clinical features. Diagnosis requires a thoughtful and comprehensive assessment to look for objective evidence of dry eyes, salivary gland involvement, and proof of autoimmunity. A complete history and physical examination are also necessary to exclude other diagnoses and to screen for SS-related internal organ involvement.
Chronic inhibition of phosphodiesterase 5 with tadalafil affords cardioprotection in a mouse model of metabolic syndrome: role of nitric oxide

Patients with metabolic syndrome (MetS) often exhibit generalized endothelial and cardiac dysfunction with decreased nitric oxide (NO) production and/or bioavailability. Since phosphodiesterase 5 (PDE5) inhibitors restore NO signaling, we hypothesized that chronic treatment with long-acting PDE5 inhibitor tadalafil may enhance plasma NO levels and reduce cardiac dysfunction following ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury in C57BL/6NCrl-Leprdb−lb/Crl mice with MetS phenotypes. Adult male MetS mice were randomized to receive vehicle solvent or tadalafil (1 mg/kg,i.p.) daily for 28 days and C57BL/6NCrl mice served as healthy wild-type controls. After 28 days, cardiac function was assessed by echocardiography and hearts from a subset of mice were isolated and subjected to 30 min of global ischemia followed by 60 min of reperfusion (I/R) in ex vivo Langendorff mode. Body weight, blood lipids, and glucose levels were elevated in MetS mice as compared with wild-type controls. The dyslipidemia in MetS was ameliorated following tadalafil treatment. Although left ventricular (LV) systolic function was minimally altered in the MetS mice, there was a significant diastolic dysfunction as indicated by reduction in the ratio of peak velocity of early to late filling of the mitral inflow, which was significantly improved by tadalafil treatment. Post-ischemic cardiac function, heart rate, and coronary flow decreased significantly in MetS mice compared to wild-type controls, but preserved by tadalafil treatment. Myocardial infarct size was significantly smaller following I/R, which was associated with higher plasma levels of nitrate and nitrite in the tadalafil-treated MetS mice. In conclusion, tadalafil induces significant cardioprotective effects as shown by improvement of LV diastolic function, lipid profile, and reduced infarct size following I/R. Tadalafil treatment enhanced NO production, which may have contributed to the cardioprotective effects.
Driverless cars, urban parking and land, by Robert A. Simons: New York, Routledge, 2020

Driverless Cars, Urban Parking and Land, by Robert (Roby) A. Simons (aided in some chapters by coauthors), is about a topic that is near and dear to my heart. I began looking at this area of driver...
Outsourcing glucose management to AI

An automated decision support tool could expand access to intensive insulin therapy for patients with type 1 diabetes.
Single-Session Dance/Movement Therapy for People with Acute Schizophrenia: Development of a Treatment Protocol

People experiencing acute symptomatology associated with schizophrenia require interventions that support stabilization. Dance/movement therapy (DMT) can be a promising treatment option for this population due to the potential for verbal communication difficulties, alternative reality bases, and movement dysfunctions associated with schizophrenia. However, due to the improvisational nature of DMT, it is often difficult to identify the specific interventions or components of the therapeutic process that may support stabilization and symptom reduction. Moreover, as inpatient lengths of stay decrease, it is imperative that we implement shorter treatment protocols. This inquiry analyzed 14 single-session DMT group sessions for people with acute schizophrenia on an inpatient psychiatric unit to determine the components of the DMT process common amongst each session. Data analysis of therapist field notes informed the development of a single-session DMT treatment protocol to outline the four phases of a single-session DMT group: warm-up, thematic development, cool down, and verbal discussion. Results of this inquiry determined that there were repeated components of the 14 sessions. A systematic content analysis of the therapy process is potentially useful for the examination of what may specifically contribute to symptom reduction in DMT groups.
Isolated Antineutrophil Cytoplasmic Antibody-Associated Coronary Vasculitis and Valvulitis.

A 30-year-old woman presented with angina pectoris. Coronary angiography revealed severe stenosis in the left main and right coronary arteries that did not improve with intracoronary nitroglycerin. Coronary computed tomography angiography and positron emission tomography revealed coronary ostia inflammation and aortic root fat stranding. She was diagnosed with vasculitis and valvulitis and received immunotherapy and coronary bypass. (Level of Difficulty: Advanced.).
Analysis of Perceptual Hashing Algorithms in Image Manipulation Detection

Abstract Perceptual image hashing is a family of algorithms that generate content-based image hashes. Unlike cryptographic hashes, perceptual hashes are designed to not change much when an image undergoes minor modifications such as compression, color-correction, and brightness. Therefore, these algorithms have been found useful in detecting redundant images, perform reverse image search, and flagging/filtering inappropriate imagery by comparing image hashes with a dataset of known perceptual hashes. While these applications have been served well, there is a new threat to visual information in the form of misinformation through content changing image manipulation using techniques such as object addition/removal and copy-move. While perceptual hashing algorithms can very accurately identify copies of similar images and their legitimately modified versions, their effectiveness in detecting content changing manipulations is not studied well. Existing research and advanced image libraries propose various image hashing algorithms, and several datasets of manipulated images are available in the public domain. In this work, a review and performance analysis of several perceptual hashing algorithms against two such datasets is presented. Results show less than ideal performance in distinguishing maliciously manipulated images from legitimate ones. Based on the results, limitations of perceptual hashing algorithms are identified, and future research directions are proposed.
Inflammation-type dysbiosis of the oral microbiome associates with the duration of COVID-19 symptoms and long-COVID.

The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) caused the pandemic Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) and now many face the burden of prolonged symptoms-long-lasting COVID-19 symptoms or "long-COVID". Long-COVID is thought to be linked to immune dysregulation due to harmful inflammation, with the exact causes being unknown. Given the role of the microbiome in mediating inflammation, we aimed to examine the relationship between the oral microbiome and the duration of long-COVID symptoms. Tongue swabs were collected from patients presenting with symptoms concerning for COVID-19. Confirmed infections were followed until resolution of all symptoms. Bacterial composition was determined by metagenomic sequencing. We used random forest modeling to identify microbiota and clinical covariates that associated with long-COVID symptoms. Of the patients followed, 63% (17/27) developed ongoing symptomatic COVID-19 and 37% (10/27) went on to long-COVID. Patients with prolonged symptoms had significantly higher abundances of microbiota that induce inflammation, such as members of the genera Prevotella and Veillonella. Of note are species that produce lipopolysaccharides and the similarity of long-COVID patients' oral microbiome to those of patients with chronic fatigue syndrome. All together, we our findings suggest an association with the oral microbiome and long-COVID revealing the possibility that dysfunction of the oral microbiome may contribute to this draining disease.
Charge Density Waves

Upon cooling, a charge density wave (CDW) spontaneously develops in certain metallic crystals. It is characterized by a spatially modulated condensate of electrons and a periodic distortion of lattice ions, both of which break the original translational symmetry of the crystal. CDW compounds provide an excellent model system to study the interaction between an ultrafast light pulse and a broken-symmetry state because the complex CDW order parameter—involving an amplitude and a phase—can be well monitored by several time-resolved probes, which have access to both structural and electronic degrees of freedom. This chapter lays the theoretical foundation of CDW formation, describes the characteristics of its complex order parameter, and connects the theoretical pictures with experimental observables in diffraction and photoemission measurements. The discussions are concluded by an introduction of two CDW materials, rare-earth tritellurides, and tantalum disulfide, which are investigated in detail in this dissertation.
WineFS: a hugepage-aware file system for persistent memory that ages gracefully

Modern persistent-memory (PM) file systems perform well in benchmark settings, when the file system is freshly created and empty. But after being aged by usage, as will be the normal mode in practice, their memory-mapped performance degrades significantly. This paper shows that the cause is their inability to use 2MB hugepages to map files when aged, having to use 4KB pages instead and suffering many extra page faults and TLB misses as a result. We introduce WineFS, a novel hugepage-aware PM file system that largely eliminates this effect. WineFS combines a new alignment-aware allocator with fragmentation-avoiding approaches to consistency and concurrency to preserve the ability to use hugepages. Experiments show that WineFS resists the effects of aging and outperforms state-of-the-art PM file systems in both aged and un-aged settings. For example, in an aged setup, the LMDB memory-mapped database obtains 2x higher write throughput on WineFS compared to NOVA, and 70% higher throughput compared to ext4-DAX. When reading a memory-mapped persistent radix tree, WineFS results in 56% lower median latency than NOVA.
Land Treatment of Wastewater

Publisher Summary This chapter describes land treatment of wastewater and discusses the selection and design of system for land treatment. Minimum impact on the environment and minimum total cost of operation are the two main design criteria for land treatment of liquid waste. The choice of system is largely controlled by soil and hydrogeologic conditions and by the availability of land. The chapter divides land treatment systems into three types: overland flow systems, low-rate application systems, and high-rate application systems. Overland flow systems are used where the soil is too impermeable or the suspended solids content of the wastewater is too high to allow significant infiltration rates, causing most of the wastewater to run off. With low-rate application systems, all wastewater apply infiltrates into the soil, but the dosages are rather small and of the same order as the water requirements of the crop or vegetation. With high-rate application systems, all wastewater again infiltrates into the soil, but the dosage is much greater than that necessary for crop growth.
Local Field Gaussian Measures

A pervasive undercurrent in the study of Gaussian measures is that they are the class of probability measures which it is natural to study if one requires that we see probabilistic properties which are consonant with the linearity and orthogonality properties of the spaces on which the measures are defined. For instance, one entry point into the theory of Gaussian random variables on an arbitrary real vector space with suitable measurable structure is to define a random variable X as being Gaussian if whenever X1, X2 are two independent copies of X, then the pair (α11X1 + α12X2, α21X1+ α22 X2) has the same law as (X1, X2) for each pair of orthonormal vectors (α11, α12), (α21,α22) ∈ ℝ2. It can be shown that, in the appropriate special cases, this abstract definition is equivalent to the usual concrete definitions for ℝn-valued Gaussian random variables and Gaussian stochastic processes.
Real-time computing cornerstones: a system engineer's view

Common attributes are found in both military and commercial real-time systems. The existence of these common threads suggests that there may be key quantitative system design considerations that undergird large scale, real-time system design. Identifying and quantifying these key aspects early in a program is important in insuring the success of a design. This paper suggests a candidate list of such computing properties, or cornerstones, by which every real-time system is defined and constrained. >
Frequency degenerate two-beam coupling in organic media using a single nanosecond pump

We present degenerate two-beam coupling in a organic dye solution using a single nanosecond beam where the probe originates from a Fresnel reflection and the phase and frequency shifts are the result of transient self-phase modulation.
Impact of programmatic system interdependencies on system-of-systems development

The acquisition/development of complex systems that are driven, in part, by system-of-systems requirements remains a challenge in the defense sector due to complexities in both program management and engineering design. This paper explores the role played by the structure of system interdependencies in achieving successful system-of-system integration. The research is conducted using an exploratory computer simulation that models the relationship between requirement dependencies, risk profiles of the project, and management parameters like span-of-control of SoS engineers and managers. A case study quantifies the impact of system interdependencies using time as the primary outcome. However, insights from the case study suggest additional metrics that merit further study as well as additional parameters in the model that would enhance the exploratory model's value as a venue for experimentation to develop insights that will underpin successful acquisition of SoS-oriented defense capabilities.
Self-Insured Health Plans: State Variation and Recent Trends by Firm Size

This paper examines recent trends in self-insurance. Data come from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) and are presented by establishment size among private-sector employers. State-level data are also presented, along with the correlation between state mandates and the prevalence of self-insurance. Offering a self-insured plan means the employer assumes the financial risk related to offering health insurance (as opposed to a fully insured plan, where the insurance company assumes the risk). Large employers are much more likely to offer health benefits on a self-insured basis than small employers. However, there is speculation that passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (PPACA) will result in an increasing number of smaller employers offering self-insured plans. Employers think that components of PPACA, such as the strict grandfathering requirements; the minimum-creditable-coverage requirement; the breadth of essential health benefits; taxes on insurers, medical-device manufacturers, and pharmaceutical companies; affordability requirements; and reinsurance fees will all drive up the cost of health coverage. Small employers concerned about the rising cost of providing health coverage may view self-insurance as a more attractive means to mitigate any expected cost increases. Some key findings include the following: The percentage of workers in private-sector self-insured health plans has been increasing. In 2011, 58.5 percent of workers with health coverage were in self-insured plans, up from 40.9 percent in 1998. Large employers (with 1,000 or more workers) have driven the upward trend in overall self-insurance. The percentage of workers in self-insured plans in firms with fewer than 50 employees has been close to 12 percent in most years examined. The prevalence in self-insured plans varies by state, with Massachusetts having the third-highest prevalence of self-insurance in the small-group market (behind Hawaii and Alaska). Overall, 58.5 percent of workers were in self-insured plans in 2011, but the percentage ranged by state, from a low of 30.5 percent to a high of 73.8 percent. Massachusetts, the only state to have enacted health reform similar to PPACA, has seen an increase in the percentage of workers in self-insured plans among all firm-size cohorts, except among workers in firms with fewer than 50 employees. The PDF for the above title, published in the November 2012 issue of EBRI Notes, also contains the fulltext of another November 2012 EBRI Notes article abstracted on SSRN: “All or Nothing? An Expanded Perspective on Retirement Readiness.”
Hormonal control of transmitter plasticity in insect peptidergic neurons. II. Steroid control of the up-regulation of bursicon expression

Each abdominal ganglion of the central nervous system of the tobacco hawkmoth, Manduca sexta contains four individually identified lateral neurosecretory cells (LNCs) that undergo a postembryonic transmitter switch in vivo. In the embryonic and caterpillar stages, the primary LNC transmitter is cardioacceleratory peptide 2 (CAP2), a myoregulatory peptide. During metamorphosis, these cells stop expressing CAP2 and instead produce bursicon, a classic insect peptide hormone responsible for cuticular tanning. We have previously reported that this transmitter plasticity is under the control of the insect steroid hormone 20-hydroxyecdysone (20-HE), which surges twice during the last larval instar. In that report we showed that the CAP2 decline is indirectly regulated by the first 20-HE rise, the commitment pulse (CP). Here we provide evidence that the rise in bursicon levels in the LNCs is directly triggered by the second 20-HE surge, the prepupal peak (PP). We performed several experimental manipulations that exposed LNCs to the PP without the CP; cells treated in this manner exhibited a significant rise in bursicon content. In contrast, bursicon levels remained unchanged in those LNCs exposed only to the CP. Exposure to the PP triggered a precocious increase in bursicon expression in LNCs from the penultimate larval stage. Increased bursicon levels in the LNCs were also induced by direct infusion of 20-HE. Taken together, the results of these experiments suggest that the rise in bursicon in the LNCs during metamorphosis is due to the direct action of the PP on the LNCs. Thus, the two 20-HE surges combine to regulate the CAP2-to-bursicon switch in the LNCs, the first acting indirectly to cause a decline in CAP2 levels and the second triggering a rise in bursicon expression, possibly by a direct action on the LNCs.
ACAPELLA, a capillary-based submicroliter automated sample preparation system for genome analysis

The Genomation Laboratory in the Electrical Engineering Department at the University of Washington has been developing an automated, high-throughput submicroliter-scale reaction preparation system for use in molecular biology, especially as part of the Human Genome Project and other high-throughput DNA sequencing endeavors. Small glass capillaries enable the preparation, handling and monitoring of one-microliter reaction volumes. The Genomation Laboratory, with corporate partners Orca Photonic Systems, Inc. and Engineering Arts, has developed modules for aspiration, dispensing, mixing, transport and rapid thermal treatment of biological samples contained in glass capillaries. The "ACAPELLA 1K" is the first integration of these modules, designed to process 1000 samples in an 8-hour day. It has served as a test bed for the technologies as well as for performing biological experiments in conjunction with the University of Washington Genome Center. The Genomation Laboratory is presently developing the next-stage "ACAPELLA 5K" system based on the results of the ACAPELLA 1K system.
A wideband Injection Locked Frequency Divider based on a process and temperature compensated ring oscillator

We describe a divide-by-4 injection-locked frequency divider (ILFD) based on a novel process and temperature compensation technique. The ILFD possesses a wide locking range over process corners and a wide temperature range due to the proposed compensation technique. The core of the ILFD consists of ring oscillator based on a modified version of symmetric load (Maneatis) delay elements. A calibration circuitry can be used to further enhance the locking range. Measurement results show that the proposed ILFD functions as a divide-by-4 circuit for an input frequency range from 1.8 GHz to 3.2 GHz for a power level as low as -3 dBm. The worst-case power consumption was approx. 2 mW from a 1.8 V power supply. The proposed ILFD can be used as a low-power prescaler for multi-band applications.
Application of the hypernetted chain approximation to the electrical double layer for 2:1 and 1:2 electrolytes

The equations needed to estimate the potential drop across the diffuse layer according to the hypernetted chain approximation (HNCA) are derived in this paper for 2:1 and 1:2 electrolytes at the restricted primitive level. It is shown that HNCA results can be expressed in the same format as the corresponding Gouy-Chapman equations with inclusion of two modifying functions. One function depends on the fraction of the solution volume occupied by the ions, and the other depends on the reciprocal thickness of the ionic atmosphere surrounding each ion. In addition, an expression for the potential profile in the diffuse layer for 2:1 and 1:2 electrolyte solutions is derived according to Gouy-Chapman theory. The modifying functions in the HNCA are then estimated using the Henderson-Blum approach for solutions containing ions with diameters of 300 and 400 pm for concentrations in the range from 0.1 to 2 M. It is shown that the Henderson-Blum approach is inadequate for systems with multivalent ions except for charge densities very close to the point of zero charge.
STAPHYLOCOCCUS EPIDERMIDIS BACTEREMIA IN NEONATES: THE OCCURRENCE OF FOCAL INFECTION

The frequency and clinical significance of Staphylococcus epidermidis isolates from blood cultures of neonates collected over a 17 month period in The New York Hospital neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) were reviewed. Twenty-three episodes of clinically significant S. epidermidis bacteremia were identified using the criteria of isolation from 3 of 3 blood culture bottles from a single culture (6 episodes), or isolation from two or more blood cultures taken at different times (9 episodes), or simultaneous isolation from blood and fluid, pus, or vascular catheter (8 episodes). Of these 23 episodes, 10 were associated with colonized vascular catheters and four occurred in infants with necrotizing enterocolitis. Focal S. epidermidis infection occurred in 10 episodes and persistent bacteremia occurred in 7 of these episodes. S. epidermidis was the most frequent cause of bacteremia occurring in 1.2% of the neonates admitted to the NICU during the period reviewed. As assessed by disc method, 74% of the isolates determined to be clinically significant were resistant to methicillin and cephalothin and 91% were resistant to gentamicin. All isolates were sensitive to vancomycin. In addition to removing vascular catheters suspected of being colonized and searching for potential sites of focal infection, an antibiotic regimen which includes vancomycin should be initiated once clinically significant S. epidermidis bacteremia has been recognized.
Intermediate temperature water vapor electrolysis

Abstract This paper describes a novel electrochemical double-cell concept for water vapor electrolysis at intermediate temperatures (600–700 K) near the thermoneutral voltage, and separation of the hydrogen through a permeable metallic membrane. It involves the use of a combination of liquid electrolytes and inexpensive hydrogen-transparent metal membrane materials. Preliminary experiments have verified the overall concept and are very encouraging for further exploration.
Analysis of pulse pile-up effects in a pulse-counting system

Abstract In a pulse-counting system such as illustrated in the block diagram of Fig. 1, the counting device may give spurious counts caused by the pile-up or superposition of small pulses originated by background radiation, so that the equivalent of a pulse characteristic of the radiation under examination is approximated. This paper analyzes the rate of spurious counts as influenced by the average rate of occurrence of the small background pulses, the discriminator setting in terms of the height of such pulses, the resolving time of the amplifier-discriminator combination, and the resolving time of the counting device.
Quantitative Tests for Off-Axis Parabolic Mirrors

Quantitative methods for examining and describing the surfaces of off-axis parabolic mirrors are given, together with practical suggestions for the most effective use of such mirrors. Included are tests with, and without, an optical flat. In each case the theory and experimental procedure are illustrated by application to a particular mirror. The quality of a mirror is given in terms of the minimum slit width that can be profitably used with it.
First-principles linear combination of atomic orbitals method for the cohesive and structural properties of solids: Application to diamond

We present a new method for the ab initio calculation of the cohesive and structural properties of solids. The method is based upon a linear combination of atomiclike orbitals (LCAO). Thus it possesses the physical appeal of traditional LCAO approaches. The method is a "first principles" one in the sense that no adjustable parameters enter the calculation. The required overlap integrals are calculated directly in real space. The one-electron potentials are derived from atomic properties and correspond to "ab initio" pseudopotentials. Another aspect of the method is that it does not involve a fully-self-consistent-field solution of the Schr\"odinger equation. Rather, the total energy of the system is obtained by using a noniterative approach based explicitly on the variational principle in the density-functional formalism. The method is applied to an archtypical covalent system: the diamond crystal. Several ground-state properties---including the cohesive energy, lattice constant, the bulk modulus, and the derivative of the bulk modulus with pressure---are computed. The computed lattice constant and bulk modulus are within 1-2% of the experimental values and the computed cohesive energy is within 10% of the experimental value. Also, we present a frozen-phonon calculation for the optical phonons at the Brillouin-zone center and obtain agreement to within 1% of the experimental value.