cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Simulation of non-Gaussian stochastic processes and fields with applications to structural engineering problems

Three classes of non-Gaussian functions are defined and Monte Carlo algorithms are developed for generating samples of the random functions in these classes. These classes consist of translation random functions, diffusion processes and memoryless transformations of these processes, and spectral representation based non-Gaussian processes. A translation random function X(t) Rd, t Rd, is defined by $$ \begin{array}{*{20}c} {X_i \left( t \right) = F_i ^{ - 1} \circ \Phi \left( {G_i \left( t \right)} \right) = h_i \left( {G_i \left( t \right)} \right),} & {i = 1, \ldots ,d,} \\ \end{array} $$ where F is the distribution of the standard Gaussian variable N(0, 1) and G(t), t Rd, is an Rd- valued stationary Gaussian function with coordinates Gi(t),i=1,...,d, of mean 0, variance 1, and covariance functions \( \rho _{ij} \left( \tau \right) = E\left[ {G_i \left( {t + \tau } \right)G_j \left( t \right)} \right],\tau \in \mathbb{R}^{d'} \). Hence, X is specified by its marginal distribution and second-moment properties. Diffusion processes can be viewed as outputs of dynamic systems to Gaussian white noise. For example, X is said to be a diffusion process if it is defined by the stochastic differential equation $$ d\begin{array}{*{20}c} {X\left( t \right) = a\left( {X\left( t \right)} \right)dt + a\left( {X\left( t \right)} \right)d\underline ( t),} & {t \geqslant 0,} \\ \end{array} $$ where a and b denote the drift and diffusion of X and B is a Brownian motion. Spectral representation based non-Gaussian real-valued processes are defined by $$ \begin{array}{*{20}c} {X\left( t \right) = \int_0^\infty {\left[ {\cos \left( {\nu t} \right)dM_1 \left( \nu \right) + \sin \left( {\nu t} \right)dM_2 \left( \nu \right)} \right]} ,} & {t \geqslant 0,} \\ \end{array} $$ where M1 and M2 are square integrable martingale. Monte Carlo simulation algorithms are developed for all non-Gaussian functions considered in the paper. The algorithms are simple, efficient, and can be based onMATLAB functions. Numerical examples are used to illustrate the implementation of some of the Monte Carlo simulation algorithms presented in the paper. It is shown that translation functions are versatile and their construction involves relatively relatively simple concepts.
Mechanism of the Resynchronization of Out-of-Step Generator Sets

The experience of generator resynchronization in China is presented by some appropriate control measures to keep the integrity of power systems after the power system lost synchronism and is under the asynchronous oscillations.By the strict theoretical derivation,the mechanism and the necessary conditions to resynchronize the generators under asynchronous operation are also presented.Some examples are shown to illustrate the process of the resynchronization.Base on above mentioned the paper proposed a suggestion for optimizing the generator protection and control scheme to realizing the resynchronization.
Use of glycemic index(GI)in new biscuits products

This paper introduced the currently research and development of biscuits,and the necessity of developing biscuits using the glycemic index as an indicator.The core technology was discussed about development of biscuits using the glycemic index as an indicator,such as the ingredients and production process of biscuits.In short,the application of glycemic index was a new path for development of biscuits.
Radical Craft: Exhibiting Homelands in Rochester, New York

This article looks at the Homelands Exhibition in Rochester, New York which took place in the spring of 1920. Placing the craft objects on display, as well as their makers and their creative labor, into a larger constellation of local and national history, I focus on how the material culture of the show acted simultaneously as a stand-in and an extensions of their makers, to trouble the boundaries between author and reader, art and work, producer and spectator, the quotidian and the exceptional, and ultimately to question what it meant to be American at this particular moment in time.
Epilogue: domestic space and social organisation in Classical Antiquity

From ancient times the house has been understood as a microcosmos. Norberg-Schultz 1985, 91 The preceding chapters highlight the broad spectrum of different scales which can be explored from a domestic perspective, ranging from the intra-household level such as the topic of the Classical Greek symposium or the relative (in)visibility of women and slaves at Pompeii, up to issues spanning whole communities or even regions, such as the self-presentation of elites in late Roman Africa, interaction between cultures in early Roman Delos, or the development of polis society in Early Iron Age Greece. Juxtaposing these different sets of issues and evidence highlights a number of recurrent themes and offers insights, both about the societies discussed and about the strengths and weaknesses of domestic material as a source of information on ancient social life more generally. The character of houses as buildings clearly varies considerably through space and time within the ancient world, but there are some parallels between the different case studies considered here. Activities prominently represented in the archaeological record are the storage, preparation and consumption of food and drink. Relevant evidence comes from all the locations and periods where finds have been recorded since the most numerous objects preserved tend to be pottery vessels, the majority of which were used for these purposes. In Early Iron Age Greece, in houses where household space was even minimally subdivided, one of the primary, archaeologically visible, functional distinctions drawn was between living areas and those used for food storage.
Cohesive Zone Model

Publisher Summary The cohesive zone fracture model was introduced partially to remove the stress singularity in the classical continuum crack model and partially to incorporate the physically more realistic material separation mechanisms at the atomic scale. The cohesive zone model adds a zone of vanishing thickness ahead of the crack tip with the intention of describing more realistically the fracture process without the use of stress singularity. The cohesive zone is idealized as two cohesive surfaces, which are held together by a cohesive traction. The material failure is characterized by the complete separation of the cohesive surfaces and the separation process is described by a cohesive law that relates the cohesive traction and the relative displacement of the cohesive surfaces. Hence, a physical crack extension occurs when the separation displacement at the tail of the cohesive zone (physical crack tip) reaches a critical value. One of the key advantages offered by the cohesive zone model is that it has an intrinsic fracture energy dissipation mechanism in contrast to the classical continuum based fracture mechanics for which such a mechanism is absent.
Assessment and Treatment of Childhood Gender Problems

Sex-role development and the normal processes of gender identification have been investigated by child psychologists for several decades (Maccoby, 1966; Maccoby & Jacklin, 1974; Mischel, 1970; Mussen, 1969). Normal boys occasionally display behaviors that are socially assigned to girls and women, such as using cosmetics or wanting to nurse and bear children. Similarly, but with considerably less risk of social disapproval in our American society, girls sometimes behave as boys and will be referred to as tomboys. This exploration and flexibility of sex-typed behavior, typical of many boys and girls, is a part of the normal socialization process. On rare occasions, however, behavior that may have begun as a curiosity-induced exploration of sex-role stereotypes becomes a compulsive, excessive, and persistent pattern. One such example is the pathological hypermasculinity of boys who are destructive, independent, belligerent, uncontrolled, or aggressive to the point of interpersonal violence and lack gentleness or sensitivity to others (Harrington, 1970). These exaggeratedly “masculine” boys may come to the attention of the child clinical psychologist and require psychological intervention.
Engineering Education: Departments, Degrees and Directions*

The idea that effective reform in engineering and science education should be guided throughsystematic research and outcomes assessment should be self-evident; however, historically, theeducationalpracticesandbeliefsheldbyfacultyinhighereducationhavebeenlargelyanecdotalandbased on personal experience. There is growing acceptance of discipline-based education as avaluable research enterprise, on the same level as research into, say, mechanical engineering ororganicchemistry.Evidenceofinnovativewaysthatdiscipline-basededucationprogramsaretakingroot in higher education include the establishment of cross-disciplinary departments in science,technology, and engineering education. These departments bring together faculty whose researchareaiseducation,whocantacklelarge-scaleproblemsacrossthecurriculuminadditiontodiscipline-specificresearchprojects.Thesedepartmentsseek to ensure that: 1)faculty engagedin engineeringandscienceeducationresearchconductrigorous,scholarlywork,2)educationresearchisaccessibleand valued by faculty in ‘traditional’engineering and science disciplines, and 3) the next generationofengineeringandscienceeducatorswillpromoteandapplyeducationresearch.Inthispaper,wewillreview the details behind the formation of departments that include engineering education,specifically highlighting their roots, structures and purpose. We will also provide information ontypical courses, programs and degrees offered by these departments, and career paths for theirgraduates.Finally,weofferexamplesofhowthedisciplineofengineeringeducationhasbeenfosteredat institutions without a dedicated department, such as centers and other ‘hybrid’ models.
Gentrification and Failing Schools: The Unintended Consequences of School Choice under NCLB

We examine the housing market and residential mobility changes that occur soon after a Title 1 school fails to achieve adequate yearly progress (AYP) in Charlotte, North Carolina. Students within attendance zones of failing schools are given priority in lotteries for oversubscribed schools, potentially increasing the attractiveness of living in a failing school attendance zone. We find that housing prices, home buyer income, and the probability of attending a nonassigned school increase in the highest-quality neighborhoods within failing school attendance zones. Our results are driven largely by the behavior of new residents.
Extending the ACEs Framework: Examining the Relations Between Childhood Abuse and Later Victimization and Perpetration With College Men:

Research has revealed that forms of violence are interconnected, but less work focuses on the interconnection of victimization and perpetration, particularly with men. Subsequently, our understandi...
Tornado Damage Rating Probabilities Derived from WSR-88D Data

AbstractPrevious work with observations from the NEXRAD (WSR-88D) network in the United States has shown that the probability of damage from a tornado, as represented by EF-scale ratings, increases as low-level rotational velocity increases. This work expands on previous studies by including reported tornadoes from 2014 to 2015, as well as a robust sample of nontornadic severe thunderstorms [≥1-in.- (2.54 cm) diameter hail, thunderstorm wind gusts ≥ 50 kt (25 m s−1), or reported wind damage] with low-level cyclonic rotation. The addition of the nontornadic sample allows the computation of tornado damage rating probabilities across a spectrum of organized severe thunderstorms represented by right-moving supercells and quasi-linear convective systems. Dual-polarization variables are used to ensure proper use of velocity data in the identification of tornadic and nontornadic cases. Tornado damage rating probabilities increase as low-level rotational velocity Vrot increases and circulation diameter decreases....
Experimental thermochemistry of neptunium oxides: Np2O5 and NpO2

Abstract Neptunium (Np) compounds are important in the nuclear fuel cycle because of the buildup and long half-life (2.14 Ma) of Np-237 in nuclear waste, especially during long-term disposal in a geological repository. Neptunium in environmental conditions exists mainly in two oxidation states (+5 and + 4) and can substitute for uranium and/or rare earths in solid phases. Yet thermochemical data for solid neptunium compounds are scarce, despite being critical for evaluating the environmental transport of this radioactive and toxic element. Although high temperature oxide melt solution calorimetry has proven very useful in obtaining thermodynamic data for the formation of uranium and thorium oxide materials, it has not yet been applied to transuranium compounds. Continuing a program at Notre Dame to study the thermodynamics of transuranium compounds, we report the first determination of the enthalpies of drop solution of well-characterized neptunium oxides (Np2O5 and NpO2) using oxide melt solution calorimetry in molten sodium molybdate solvent at 973 K. The enthalpy of the decomposition reaction, Np2O5(cr) = 2NpO2(cr) + 1/2O2(g) at 298 K, is determined to be 7.70 ± 5.86 kJ/mol, and this direct measurement is consistent with existing thermodynamic data. The calorimetric methodology is straightforward and produces reliable data using milligram quantities of radioactive materials, and can be applied to many other transuranium compounds.
Hemorrhagic Fever Virus Budding Studies.

Independent expression of the VP40 or Z matrix proteins of filoviruses (marburgviruses and ebolaviruses) and arenaviruses (Lassa fever and Junin), respectively, gives rise to the production and release of virus-like particles (VLPs) that are morphologically identical to infectious virions. We can detect and quantify VLP production and egress in mammalian cells by transient transfection, SDS-PAGE, Western blotting, and live cell imaging techniques such as total internal reflection fluorescence (TIRF) microscopy. Since the VLP budding assay accurately mimics budding of infectious virus, this BSL-2 assay is safe and useful for the interrogation of both viral and host determinants required for budding and can be used as an initial screen to identify and validate small molecule inhibitors of virus release and spread.
Opposing expression gradients of calcitonin‐related polypeptide alpha (Calca/Cgrpα) and tyrosine hydroxylase (Th) in type II afferent neurons of the mouse cochlea

Type II spiral ganglion neurons (SGNs) are small caliber, unmyelinated afferents that extend dendritic arbors hundreds of microns along the cochlear spiral, contacting many outer hair cells (OHCs). Despite these many contacts, type II afferents are insensitive to sound and only weakly depolarized by glutamate release from OHCs. Recent studies suggest that type II afferents may be cochlear nociceptors, and can be excited by ATP released during tissue damage, by analogy to somatic pain-sensing C-fibers. The present work compares the expression patterns among cochlear type II afferents of two genes found in C-fibers: calcitonin-related polypeptide alpha (Calca/Cgrpα), specific to pain-sensing C-fibers, and tyrosine hydroxylase (Th), specific to low-threshold mechanoreceptive C-fibers, which was shown previously to be a selective biomarker of type II versus type I cochlear afferents (Vyas et al., ). Whole-mount cochlear preparations from 3-week- to 2-month-old CGRPα-EGFP (GENSAT) mice showed expression of Cgrpα in a subset of SGNs with type II-like peripheral dendrites extending beneath OHCs. Double labeling with other molecular markers confirmed that the labeled SGNs were neither type I SGNs nor olivocochlear efferents. Cgrpα starts to express in type II SGNs before hearing onset, but the expression level declines in the adult. The expression patterns of Cgrpα and Th formed opposing gradients, with Th being preferentially expressed in apical and Cgrpα in basal type II afferent neurons, indicating heterogeneity among type II afferent neurons. The expression of Th and Cgrpα was not mutually exclusive and co-expression could be observed, most abundantly in the middle cochlear turn.
Paradoxes of Teaching Mindfulness in Business

This chapter is dedicated to exploring the efficacy and ethical considerations of teaching mindfulness in business. The emergence of mindfulness as a popular means of enhancing workplace skills has come under some scrutiny and criticism. Particularly, teaching mindfulness in business without the foundation in ethics and wisdom poses unique challenges and consequences. Drawing from Buddhist teachings, mindfulness research, management theory, and experiences of corporate mindfulness instructors, this chapter looks at two paradoxes of teaching mindfulness in business: (1) Mindfulness programs seek to reduce stress at work without changing work conditions that cause stress and (2) Mindfulness is grounded in ethics but applied in business without ethical considerations. The chapter offers mindful inquiry of our circles of influence as a comprehensive framework to guide our intentions and work of integrating mindfulness in business to enhance the well-being of all its stakeholders. The lens of mindful inquiry is expanded to include not only mindful awareness but also wisdom and ethical considerations. Mindfulness instructors can utilize this expanded framework as a pragmatic approach to navigate the challenges of teaching corporate mindfulness, without compromising the integrity and efficacy of their programs.
The Empire Comes Home: Thomas Law’s Mixed-Race Family in the Early American Republic

Thomas Law was a high-ranking administrator with the British East India Company. In 1791, he left India, bringing with him his three illegitimate sons, born of his native concubine, or bibi. After a brief stay in London, he sought a more congenial environment in which to raise his mixed-raise children, In 1794, he, along with his sons, moved to the young United States where he became a key figure in early Washington, DC society. This essay examines the fate of Law’s mixed race sons. Although their high social class tended to mitigate racial prejudice, racial animosity surfaced at key moments in their lives. Like British India, the early American republic was experiencing a hardening of racial boundaries during the early decades of the nineteenth century.
Effect of undergraduate research output on faculty scholarly research impact

Abstract Objective – In the context of the ongoing discourse about the role of Institutional Repositories (IRs), the objective of the study is to investigate if there is any evidence of a relation between undergraduate student activity in an IR and the impact of faculty research. Methods – The data used for the study is representative of six academic departments of the College of Science and Mathematics (CSM) at California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly). Digital Commons@Cal Poly (DC) is the IR supported by the library. Regression analysis was used to investigate the interdependence between faculty research impact (dependent variable) and undergraduate student repository activity (independent variable). For each department, faculty research impact was quantified as a measure of the citation counts for all faculty publications indexed in Web of Science (WoS) between January 2008 and May 2017. Student repository activity was quantified for each department in two ways: (1) total number of student projects deposited in DC since 2008 (Sp) and (2) total number of student project downloads from DC (Sd). The dependent variable was regressed against each of the two elements of student repository activity (Sp and Sd), and the resulting statistics (sample correlation coefficients, coefficients of determination, and linear regression coefficients) were calculated and checked for statistical significance. Results – The statistical analysis showed that both components of student repository activity are positively and significantly correlated with the impact of faculty research quantified by a measure of the citation counts. It was also found that faculty repository activity, although positively correlated with faculty research impact, has no significant effect on the correlation between student repository activity and faculty research impact. Conclusion – The analysis considers two distinct groups of publications: one group of student publications (senior projects) from six academic departments, which are deposited in an open repository (DC), and one group of publications (not necessarily represented in DC) of faculty affiliated with the same six departments and whose citation impact is believed to be affected by the first group. The statistical correlation between student repository activity and faculty research impact can be seen as an indication that an active, open IR centered on collecting, preserving, and making discoverable student research output has a positive impact on faculty’s research impact. More research that includes additional factors and uses a larger data set is necessary to arrive at a definitive conclusion.
Nutritional assessment of the hospitalized patient.

Nutritional assessment is a technique by which malnutrition can be identified. The importance of identifying malnourished patients has greatly increased in the recent past because of our increased ability to alter the nutritional state. Significant malnutrition remains a term which is difficult to define because it implies that nutritional intervention is mandated to improve clinical outcome.
An Adaptive Artificial Viscosity Method for the Saint-Venant System

We develop an adaptive artificial viscosity method for the one-dimensional Saint-Venant system of shallow water equations. The proposed method is a semi-discrete finite-volume method based on an appropriate numerical flux and a high-order piecewise polynomial reconstruction. The latter is utilized without any computationally expensive nonlinear limiters, which are typically needed to guarantee nonlinear stability of the scheme. Instead, we enforce stability by adding an adaptive artificial viscosity, whose coefficients are proportional to the size of the weak local residual. Our method is capable to preserve the “lake at rest” steady state and the positivity of water depth. We test the proposed scheme on a number of benchmarks. The obtained numerical results clearly demonstrate that our method is well-balanced, positivity preserving and highly accurate.
Personality Assessment in the Schools: Issues and Procedures for School Psychologists.

The present article discusses issues and procedures that make school-based personality assessment a unique process. A conceptual model for personality assessment, ways to integrate both behavioral ...
The Rule of Recognition and the U.S. Constitution

The Rule of Recognition and the U.S. Constitution is a volume of original essays that discuss the applicability of Hart's rule of recognition model of a legal system to U.S. constitutional law. The contributors are leading scholars in analytical jurisprudence and constitutional theory, including Matthew Adler, Larry Alexander, Mitchell Berman, Michael Dorf, Kent Greenawalt, Richard Fallon, Michael Green, Kenneth Einar Himma, Stephen Perry, Frederick Schauer, Scott Shapiro, Jeremy Waldron, and Wil Waluchow. The volume makes a contribution both in jurisprudence, using the U.S. as a "test case" that highlights the strengths and limitations of the rule of recognition model; and in constitutional theory, by showing how the model can illuminate topics such as the role of the Supreme Court, the constitutional status of precedent, the legitimacy of unwritten sources of constitutional law, the choice of methods for interpreting the text of the Constitution, and popular constitutionalism.
Reared in Religion

Religion falls on an individual when he or she grows up in the world of commonsense. On the one hand, one faces uncertainty, danger, and fear as one explores surroundings. One wishes luck, fortune, and miracle as one experiments with things. One seeks guidance, direction, and protection as one lives commonsensical life step by step through trial and error. On the other hand, parents pass beliefs on to children naturally when they assume parental roles. Teachers cultivate faiths in children automatically when they teach them. Elders influence children with customs and traditions habitually when they watch, follow, and monitor the latter. This chapter explores individuals and individual life in religious dimension. For example, religious “scripts” radiate from classical texts such as the Bible in Christianity and the Quran in Islam. They address both origination and operation of the secular or commonsensical world. They provide teachings about morality, with particular attention to personal thoughts and individual behaviors. They prescribe what religious organizations do and perform. They dictate how religious personnel live and serve.
Modeling and experimental investigation of transverse mode dynamics in VECSEL

We present a new method to simulate the formation of transverse modes in VECSELs. An expression for the gain as a function of carrier density and temperature is derived from a simulation of the structure reflectivity, while the field propagation in the cavity is computed with the Huygens-Fresnel integral. A rate equation model is employed to calculate the field and gain dynamics over numerous round-trips. The optimal mode size for single mode operation for a given pump shape is calculated and compared to experimental results. The effect of pump geometry, thermal lensing and structure design will be discussed.
Predicting Failure of Intravenous Access in Adults: The Value of Prior Difficulty.

Abstract Background When intravenous access cannot be established using traditional methods of inspection/palpation, advanced methods are often required, leading to substantial delays in care. Knowing the likelihood of intravenous access failure can improve emergency department (ED) efficiency. Objective Our aim was to validate prior need for an advanced technique to establish intravenous access as a predictor of failure to achieve access via traditional methods and to estimate the risk difference associated with this finding. Methods We re-analyzed data collected for a clinical trial that randomized ED patients requiring intravenous access to one of two types of intravenous catheter; gauge size was selected by the inserter. The re-analysis pools data from both groups to examine predictors of failure to establish intravenous access by traditional methods, with failure defined as abandonment or use of an advanced technique (ultrasound guidance or external jugular vein catheterization). Confidence intervals for the difference between proportions were calculated using a normal binomial approximation. Results We obtained data from 600 patients, with a median age of 52 years (interquartile range 36–63 years). We noted failure of traditional methods in 28 (4.7%) patients, including 17 of 109 (16%) with prior need for advanced techniques. The risk difference for prior need for advanced techniques versus no prior difficulty was 14% (95% confidence interval 7–22). Conclusions Patients with a prior need for advanced techniques were 14% more likely to have failure of intravenous access by traditional methods than those without prior difficulty.
A 12-b 1-GS/s 31.5-mW Time-Interleaved SAR ADC With Analog HPF-Assisted Skew Calibration and Randomly Sampling Reference ADC

This paper presents a 12-b, 1-GS/s ADC array, realized by time-interleaving four 250-MS/s pipelined SAR ADCs, with integrated on-chip reference voltage buffers. A reference ADC-based calibration algorithm treats static nonlinearity, gain, and offset errors in the array. Timing-skew errors between the sub-ADCs are distinguished from those of the gain mismatches by the assistance of an analog high-pass filter (HPF) for input slope information and subsequently corrected by digitally controlled delay lines (DCDLs). Directly driven off the on-chip 50- $\Omega $ termination resistors without any dedicated input buffer, the 65-nm CMOS prototype ADC array also employs a frequency-hopped, randomly-sampling scheme for the ref. ADC, eliminating the spectral effect of its interference to the main array. The core ADC consumes 31.5 mW and occupies an area of 0.27 mm2, including nine on-chip reference voltage buffers, the ref. ADC, and the HPF path. The measured peak signal to noise and distortion ratio of the array is 65.3 dB, and the measured spurious-free dynamic range is >70 dB from dc to 500 MHz at 1 GS/s with calibration. The prototype ADC chip achieves an figure of merit of 20.9 and 59.7 fJ/step (the latter is limited by the jitter of an off-chip clock source) for a low-frequency input and a Nyquist input, respectively.
An Analysis of Ultrasonic Flaw Scattering Amplitude as a Random Variable

The use of prior information is an important component in the ultrasonic detection, classification, and characterization of flaws. In order to take full advantage of advanced digitally based approaches to flaw detection, classification, and characterization, use of prior information will be critical. Some advanced techniques involve probabilistic approaches which start with a stochastic model for a flaw signal in which the flaw’s scattering amplitude is assumed to be an uncorrelated, Gaussian random variable with zero mean and known variance [1–4]. The goal of the work presented here was to analyze scattering amplitude as a random variable with emphasis on evaluation of these assumptions.
A G2-period of a Fourier coefficient of an Eisenstein series on E6

We calculate a G2-period of a Fourier coefficient of a cuspidal Eisenstein series on the split simply-connected group E6, and relate this period to the Ginzburg-Rallis period of cusp forms on GL6. This gives us a relation between the Ginzburg-Rallis period and the central value of the exterior cube L-function of GL6.
Contribution of cathepsin B-dependent Nlrp3 inflammasome activation to nicotine-induced endothelial barrier dysfunction

Recent studies indicate that endothelial Nlrp3 inflammasome is critically involved in the development of cardiovascular complications. However, it remains unknown whether endothelial inflammasome is involved in endothelial barrier dysfunction associated with smoking. This study aims to investigate the role of endothelial Nlrp3 inflammasome in nicotine-induced disruption of inter-endothelial tight junctions and consequent endothelial barrier dysfunction. The confocal microscopic analysis demonstrated that mice treated with nicotine exhibited disrupted inter-endothelial tight junctions as shown by decreased ZO-1 and ZO-2 expression in the coronary arterial endothelium, whereas the decreases in ZO-1/2 were prevented by Nlrp3 gene deficiency. In cultured endothelial cells, nicotine caused Nlrp3 inflammasome complex formation and enhances the inflammasome activity as shown by increased cleavage of pro-caspase-1, and interleukin-1β (IL-1β) production. Further, nicotine disrupted tight junction and increased permeability in an endothelial cell monolayer, and this nicotine-induced effect was prevented by silencing of Nlrp3 gene, inhibition of caspase-1, or blockade of high mobility group box 1 (HMGB1). Nicotine increased endothelial cell lysosomal membrane permeability and triggered the lysosomal release of cathepsin B, whereas these events were prevented by pretreating cells with a lysosome stabilizing agent, dexamethasone. Collectively, our data suggest that nicotine enhances cathepsin B-dependent Nlrp3 inflammasome activation and the consequent production of a novel permeability factor HMGB1, which causes disruption of inter-endothelial tight junctions leading to endothelial hyperpermeability. Instigation of endothelial inflammasomes may serve as an important pathogenic mechanism contributing to the early onset of vasculopathy associated with smoking.
Informed decision-making by integrating historical on-road driving performance data in high-resolution maps for connected and automated vehicles

Connected and automated vehicles (CAVs) are already part of the surface transportation system. In order for a CAV to operate safely, it needs information such as static data (high-resolution naviga...
Atomically Engineered Transition Metal Dichalcogenides for Liquid Polysulfide Adsorption and Their Effective Conversion in Li-S Batteries.

Curtailing the polysulfide shuttle by anchoring the intermediate lithium polysulfides (LiPS) within the electrode structure is essential to impede the rapid capacity fade in lithium-sulfur (Li-S) b...
Imaging diagnosis of the duplex kidney in children

Objective To investigate the diagnosis value of ultrasound in the duplex kidney and duplication of ureter,which compared with intravenous urography (IVU),computed tomography ureter (CTU) and magnetic resonance urter (MRU) and realize the superior or inferior in those imaging examinations.Methods In 40 cases randomly selected who were confirmed suffering from the duplex kidney by operation,their image results were collected and retrospectively analyzed.Results In those randomly selected patients,the accuracy rate of diagnosis of ultrasound was 80.85％ and the IVU was 73.91％,CTU and MRU was 83.78％ and 100％.Conclusions In the diagnosis of ultrasound in the duplex kidney and duplication of ureter,four kinds of imaging examinations can have complementary advantages and improve the accuracy of diagnosis.And ultrasound is a reliable and accurate method for the diagnosis in clinic. Key words: Duplex kidney ; Duplication of ureter; Ultrasound ; Intravenous urography ; Computed tomography; Magnetic resonace urter
Facilitators and Barriers to Preparing and Selling Whole Grain Snack Packs in New York City Corner Stores Participating in a Healthy Retail Program

Innovative strategies are needed to encourage whole grain intake, especially in low-income communities. This study examined facilitators and barriers to preparing and selling a novel product, whole...
End-of-Life Care among Nursing Home Residents with Dementia Varies by Nursing Home and Market Characteristics

Abstract Objectives Nursing homes (NHs) are critical end-of-life (EOL) care settings for 70% of Americans dying with Alzheimer's disease/related dementias (ADRD). Whether EOL care/outcomes vary by NH/market characteristics for this population is unknown but essential information for improving NH EOL care/outcomes. Our objectives were to examine variations in EOL care/outcomes among decedents with ADRD and identify associations with NH/market characteristics. Design Cross-sectional. Outcomes Place-of-death (hospital/NH), presence of pressure ulcers, potentially avoidable hospitalizations (PAHs), and hospice use at EOL. Key covariates were ownership, staffing, presence of Alzheimer's units, and market competition. Setting and Participants Long-stay NH residents with ADRD, age 65 + years of age, who died in 2017 (N = 191,435; 14,618 NHs) in NHs or hospitals shortly after NH discharge. Methods National Medicare claims, Minimum Data Set, public datasets. Descriptive analyses and multivariable logistic regressions. Results As ADRD severity increased, adjusted rates of in-hospital deaths and PAHs decreased (17.0% to 6.3%; 11.2% to 7.0%); adjusted rates of dying with pressure ulcers and hospice use increased (8.2% to 13.5%; 24.5% to 40.7%). Decedents with moderate and severe ADRD had 16% and 13% higher likelihoods of in-hospital deaths in for-profit NHs. In NHs with Alzheimer's units, likelihoods of in-hospital deaths, dying with pressure ulcers, and PAHs were significantly lower. As ADRD severity increased, higher licensed nurse staffing was associated with 14%‒27% lower likelihoods of PAHs. Increased NH market competition was associated with higher likelihood of hospice use, and lower likelihood of in-hospital deaths among decedents with moderate ADRD. Conclusions and Implications Decedents with ADRD in NHs that were nonprofit, had Alzheimer's units, higher licensed nurse staffing, and in more competitive markets, had better EOL care/outcomes. Modifications to state Medicaid NH payments may promote better EOL care/outcomes for this population. Future research to understand NH care practices associated with presence of Alzheimer's units is warranted to identify mechanisms possibly promoting higher-quality EOL care.
Path-space differentiable rendering

Physics-based differentiable rendering, the estimation of derivatives of radiometric measures with respect to arbitrary scene parameters, has a diverse array of applications from solving analysis-by-synthesis problems to training machine learning pipelines incorporating forward rendering processes. Unfortunately, general-purpose differentiable rendering remains challenging due to the lack of efficient estimators as well as the need to identify and handle complex discontinuities such as visibility boundaries. In this paper, we show how path integrals can be differentiated with respect to arbitrary differentiable changes of a scene. We provide a detailed theoretical analysis of this process and establish new differentiable rendering formulations based on the resulting differential path integrals. Our path-space differentiable rendering formulation allows the design of new Monte Carlo estimators that offer significantly better efficiency than state-of-the-art methods in handling complex geometric discontinuities and light transport phenomena such as caustics. We validate our method by comparing our derivative estimates to those generated using the finite-difference method. To demonstrate the effectiveness of our technique, we compare inverse-rendering performance with a few state-of-the-art differentiable rendering methods.
Mechanistic computational modeling of the kinetics and regulation of NADPH oxidase 2 assembly and activation facilitating superoxide production.

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) play a crucial role in many physiological processes. However, ROS overproduction leads to oxidative stress, which plays a critical role in cell injury/death and the pathogenesis of many diseases. Members of NADPH oxidase (NOX) family, most of which are comprised of membrane and cytosolic components, are known to be the major nonmitochondrial sources of ROS in many cells. NOX2 is a widely-expressed and well-studied NOX family member, which is activated upon assembly of its membrane subunits gp91 phox and p22 phox with its cytosolic subunits p40 phox , p47 phox , p67 phox , and Rac, facilitating ROS production. NOX2 activation is also enhanced by GTP and inhibited by GDP. However, there remains a lack of a mechanistic, quantitative, and integrated understanding of the kinetics and regulation of the assembly of these subunits and their relative contributions toward NOX2 activation and ROS production. Toward this end, we have developed a mechanistic computational model, which incorporates a generalized random rapid equilibrium binding mechanism for NOX2 assembly and activation as well as regulations by GTP (activation), GDP (inhibition), and individual subunits enhancing the binding of other subunits (mutual binding enhancement). The resulting model replicates diverse published kinetic data, including subunit concentration-dependent NOX2 activation and ROS production, under different assay conditions, with appropriate estimates of the unknown model parameters. The model provides a mechanistic, quantitative, and integrated framework for investigating the critical roles of NOX2 subunits in NOX2 assembly and activation facilitating ROS production in a variety of physiological and pathophysiological conditions. However, there is also a need for better quantitative kinetic data based on current understanding of NOX2 assembly and activation in order to test and further develop this model.
Exploring spatial datasets with histograms

As online spatial datasets grow both in number and sophistication, it becomes increasingly difficult for users to decide whether a dataset is suitable for their tasks, especially when they do not have prior knowledge of the dataset. In this paper, we propose browsing as an effective and efficient way to explore the content of a spatial dataset. Browsing allows users to view the size of a result set before evaluating the query at the database, thereby avoiding zero-hit/mega-hit queries and saving time and resources. Although the underlying technique supporting browsing is similar to range query aggregation and selectivity estimation, spatial dataset browsing poses some unique challenges. In this paper, we identify a set of spatial relations that need to be supported in browsing applications, namely, the contains, contained and the overlap relations. We prove a lower bound on the storage required to answer queries about the contains relation accurately at a given resolution. We then present three storage-efficient approximation algorithms which we believe to be the first to estimate query results about these spatial relations. We evaluate these algorithms with both synthetic and real world datasets and show that they provide highly accurate estimates for datasets with various characteristics.
A Dyadic Exploration of Marital Satisfaction as a Mediator between Religiosity and Depressive Symptoms

Substantial research has established that religiosity can be a protective factor against depression. However, little research has explored these associations within couples. Theory and previous res...
Extraordinary permittivity modulation in zinc oxide for dynamic nanophotonics

Dynamic control over the permittivity of materials enables control over the amplitude, phase, and polarization of light. Thus, to realize practical tunable devices, it is important to perform a detailed dynamic characterization of technology-relevant materials with substantially tunable optical properties. In this work, we demonstrate extraordinarily large, unity-order permittivity modulation in zinc oxide through interband pumping. The large permittivity changes actively enable large reflectance modulation in both lithography-free mirrors (70% at 31.6 mJ/cm2 pump) and nanodisk resonators (55% at 7.6 mJ/cm2 pump fluence). The relaxation time for this response is 20 ps. We explore the physical origins of the permittivity modulation and determine the physical limits. The results of this study will advance the realization of ultrafast dynamic optical devices for optical switching, beam-steering, and spectroscopy.
From Electricity to Fuels: Descriptors for C 1 Selectivity in Electrochemical CO 2 Reduction

Electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide (CO2) over transition metals follows a complex reaction network. Even for products with a single carbon atom (C1 products), two bifurcated pathways exist: initially between carboxyl (COOH*) and formate (HCOO*) intermediates and the COOH* intermediate is further bifurcated by pathways involving either formyl (CHO*) or COH*. In this study, we combine evidence from the experimental literature with a theoretical analysis of energetics to rationalize that not all steps in the reduction of CO2 are electrochemical. This insight enables us to create a selectivity map for two-electron products (carbon monoxide (CO) and formate) on elemental metal surfaces using only the CO and OH binding energies as descriptors. In the further reduction of CO*, we find that CHO* is formed through a chemical step only whereas COH* follows from an electrochemical step. Notably on Cu(100), the COH pathway becomes dominant at an applied potential lower than −0.5V vs. RHE. For the elemental metals selective towards CO formation, the variation of the CO binding energy is sufficient to further subdivide the map into domains that predominantly form H2, CO, and ultimately more reduced products. We find Cu to be the only elemental metal capable of reducing CO2 to products beyond 2e− via the proposed COH pathway and we identify atomic carbon as the key component leading to the production of methane. Our analysis also rationalizes experimentally observed differences in products between thermal and electrochemical reduction of CO2 on Cu.
LncGSEA: a versatile tool to infer lncRNA associated pathways from large-scale cancer transcriptome sequencing data.

Background Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are a growing focus in cancer research. Deciphering pathways influenced by lncRNAs is important to understand their role in cancer. Although knock-down or overexpression of lncRNAs followed by gene expression profiling in cancer cell lines are established approaches to address this problem, these experimental data are not available for a majority of the annotated lncRNAs. Results As a surrogate, we present lncGSEA, a convenient tool to predict the lncRNA associated pathways through Gene Set Enrichment Analysis of gene expression profiles from large-scale cancer patient samples. We demonstrate that lncGSEA is able to recapitulate lncRNA associated pathways supported by literature and experimental validations in multiple cancer types. Conclusions LncGSEA allows researchers to infer lncRNA regulatory pathways directly from clinical samples in oncology. LncGSEA is written in R, and is freely accessible at https://github.com/ylab-hi/lncGSEA .
Integration of ab-initio nuclear calculation with derivative free optimization technique

Optimization techniques are finding their inroads into the field of nuclear physics calculations where the objective functions are very complex and computationally intensive. A vast space of parameters needs searching to obtain a good match between theoretical (computed) and experimental observables, such as energy levels and spectra. Manual calculation defies the scope of such complex calculation and are prone to error at the same time. This body of work attempts to formulate a design and implement it which would integrate the ab initio nuclear physics code MFDn and the VTDIRECT95 code. VTDIRECT95 is a Fortran95 suite of parallel code implementing the derivative-free optimization algorithm DIRECT. Proposed design is implemented for a serial and parallel version of the optimization technique. Experiment with the initial implementation of the design showing good matches for several single-nucleus cases are conducted. Determination and assignment of appropriate number of processors for parallel integration code is implemented to increase the efficiency and resource utilization in the case of multiple nuclei parameter search.
Increasing Effectiveness in Teaching Ethics to Undergraduate Business Students

Undergraduate business students present special needs and challenges in respect to the teaching of ethics. Traditional methods of teaching this topic are the subject of criticism in the literature. This paper considers the nature of the target audience while advancing the complementary goals of convincing undergraduate business students that ethical behavior in business is important and increasing the likelihood that these students will make ethical choices in the future. Shortcomings of approaches commonly used to teach this topic are discussed. Specific instructional techniques to supplement or replace traditional pedagogy are suggested.