cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Northern Large-River Benthic and Larval Fish Drift: St. Marys River, USA/Canada

Seasonal (summer, winter), diel (day, night), water column (surface, mid-depth, bottom), proximity to shore, weather (calm, windy), and among-transect differences in benthic and larval fish drift were measured during 1985 using 355 μm-mesh nets at three transects in the St. Marys River, the connecting channel between Lake Superior and Lake Huron. Overall, there were 65 benthic (x¯ density = 562/1,000 m3) and 5 larval fish (x¯ density = 383/1,000 m3) taxa collected. Occurrence of significantly higher densities of larval rainbow smelt at the middle transect, Lake Nicolet, indicates that areas above are important spawning sites for this species. Because densities declined at the downstream-most transect, Point aux Frenes, we concluded that rainbow smelt must be utilizing the Lake Munuscong area as a nursery area. Larval fish densities in summer were greater in the channel than nearshore, were greater at night than during the day, and higher in the upper half of the water column than near bottom. Densities of benthos and larval fish were greater in summer than winter. Chironomidae (52–82% of total) was the winter dominant, while Hydra (60%) dominated summer drift. Drift was greater at night than during the day for benthos and fish at two of the three transects, with benthic abundances greater at the bottom than at other depth strata. In summer, benthic drift was highest at shoreline stations and lowest in the channel; in winter there were minimal onshore/offshore differences. Current appeared to be the major factor causing elevated benthic drift rates in winter, while in summer, high winds with concomitant high waves and currents were the main factors producing significantly higher drift densities. High wind conditions produced a reversal of the usually observed diel trend of higher night benthic drift rates at one of the transects, and underscores the importance of wind in modulating drift rates in large river systems such as the St. Marys River. Overall, the multiple regression factors utilized were much more predictive of the drift of benthos than of larval fish.
Feature Reduction for Computationally Efficient Damage State Classification Using Binary Tree Support Vector Machines

This paper proposes a computationally efficient methodology for classifying damage in structural hotspots. Data collected from a sensor instrumented lug joint subjected to fatigue loading was preprocessed using a linear discriminant analysis (LDA) to extract features that are relevant for classification and reduce the dimensionality of the data. The data is then reduced in the feature space by analyzing the structure of the mapped clusters and removing the data points that do not affect the construction of interclass separating hyperplanes. The reduced data set is used to train a support vector machines (SVM) based classifier and the results of the classification problem are compared to those when the entire data set is used for training. To further improve the efficiency of the classification scheme, the SVM classifiers are arranged in a binary tree format to reduce the number of comparisons that are necessary. The experimental results show that the data reduction does not reduce the ability of the classifier to distinguish between classes while providing a nearly fourfold decrease in the amount of training data processed.Copyright © 2008 by ASME
Determining abnormal interocular latencies of multifocal visual evoked potentials.

Purpose: To describe methods for measuring interocular latency differences of multifocal visual evoked potentials (mfVEP) and for determining regions with abnormal interocular latencies in patients. Methods: The mfVEPs from 100 individuals with normal visual fields and normal fundus examinations were analyzed. Individuals ranged in age from 21.6 to 92.4 years. The stimulus was a 60 sector, pattern-reversing dartboard display. Each sector had 16 checks, 8 white (200 cd/m2) and 8 black (<1 cd/m2). Interocular latency was measured as the temporal shift producing the best cross-correlation value between the corresponding responses of each eye. The ‘corrected interocular latency’ was defined as the difference between this shift and the mean interocular latency (shift) for a particular sector and recording channel. Results: The variability of the corrected interocular latency decreased as the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the mfVEP responses increased. For example, the 95% confidence intervals decreased from over 16 ms to under 4 ms as SNR increased. Grouping and summing the responses also lead to an increase in SNR and a decrease in the confidence interval. The results of various cluster criteria were also derived. A cluster criterion (e.g. two or more contiguous points within a hemisphere exceeding a given confidence interval), can serve to increase the specificity for detection of eyes or individuals with abnormal interocular latencies. For example, while 21% of the eyes had 3 or more points exceeding the 5% confidence interval, only 1.8% of the eyes had a cluster of 3 or more of these points. Finally, interocular latency was only weakly correlated with age (r=0.26). Conclusion: In testing for abnormalities in interocular latencies, the confidence interval should be based upon the SNR of the response. Grouping and summing responses to increase SNR or employing a cluster test may also prove useful.
Data management in FEM-based optimization software

Abstract A programming approach for design of software system for FEM-based optimization techniques is presented. The main emphasis of the paper is on presentation of techniques for efficient data management. General organization pf a design software system, called SADDLE, is given which utilizes the data management system presented. Main features of the SADDLE system are: modularity, efficient data management, software portability and efficiency on virtual and non-virtual machines. Numerical results are presented which show relative efficiency of the SADDLE data manager for a large structural design problem compared to the PRIMOS virtual memory operating system.
NAFTA: Its effect on South Asia

Abstract Since FTAs discriminate in favor of member countries, other exporters are naturally concerned about their trade being displaced. This paper quantifies these adverse “third party” effects of the North American Free Trade Area (NAFTA) agreement on South Asia. The key finding is that, due to major differences in the types of goods exported by NAFTA and South Asia, any of the latter's trade that is displaced will occur in a very narrow range of products, i.e., in probably little more than 10 four-digit SITC groups. The textiles and clothing sector emerges as the principal sector for concern, given that the preferential removal of tariffs (in the 15 to 30 percent range) and MFA quotas could provide Mexico with a formidable competitive advantage in the US market. However, domestic supply constraints (as evidenced by Mexico's serious and consistent under-utilization of its textile and clothing quotas), as well as NAFTA's domestic import content regulations, should limit the amount of trade in these sectors that Mexico displaces. A partial equilibrium trade projection model developed by UNCTAD and the World Bank, is used to measure the trade diversion that South Asia could experience as a result of NAFTA. The results suggest that the total export decline could be in the neighborhood of one percent with the projections for Bangladesh slightly higher (due to the higher-than-average share of textiles and clothing in Bangladesh's total exports). The study argues that a successful completion of the Uruguay Round would considerably reduce South Asia's potential losses since it would lower the preference margins that NAFTA could provide member countries. To put the two events in perspective, this report notes that the trade gains South Asian countries could experience from a successful completion of the Uruguay Round are around 100 times greater than the losses they might incur from NAFTA.
Ultrahigh-Q toroidal microresonators for cavity quantum electrodynamics

We investigate the suitability of toroidal microcavities for strong-coupling cavity quantum electrodynamics (QED). Numerical modeling of the optical modes demonstrate a significant reduction of the modal volume with respect to the whispering gallery modes of dielectric spheres, while retaining the high-quality factors representative of spherical cavities. The extra degree of freedom of toroid microcavities can be used to achieve improved cavity QED characteristics. Numerical results for atom-cavity coupling strength g, critical atom number No, and critical photon number no for cesium are calculated and shown to exceed values currently possible using Fabry-Perot cavities. Modeling predicts coupling rates g/2π exceeding 700 MHz and critical atom numbers approaching 10^(-7) in optimized structures. Furthermore, preliminary experimental measurements of toroidal cavities at a wavelength of 852 nm indicate that quality factors in excess of 108 can be obtained in a 50-µm principal diameter cavity, which would result in strong-coupling values of (g/(2π),n(0),N-0) = (86 MHz, 4.6 x 10^(-4), 1.0 x 10^(-3)).
GEN04-3: Decision-Directed Timing Recovery Based on Maintaining Multiple Phase Trajectories

A decision-directed timing recovery scheme is proposed that maintains and updates a separate phase estimate path for each survivor data path in the maximum-likelihood sequence detection of intersymbol interference channels. For each survivor path, the phase estimate is updated recursively using symbol- decisions implied in the path. Unlike in the existing per-survivor timing recovery approach, there exists a single global timing loop that operates on a single stream of phase sequence released from the phase-estimating maximum-likelihood detector that is associated with the merged survivor path or the best up-to-date survivor path. The timing error detector itself is derived as a recursive formulation of the least square solution that minimizes error between the observation sequence and the clean expected signal sequence. Jitter analysis, stability analysis and tracking time simulation validate the proposed approach.
Recent warm and cold daily winter temperature extremes in the Northern Hemisphere

[1] The winters of 2009–2010 and 2010–2011 brought frigid temperatures to parts of Europe, Russia, and the U.S. We analyzed regional and Northern Hemispheric (NH) daily temperature extremes for these two consecutive winters in the historical context of the past 63 years. While some parts clearly experienced very cold temperatures, the NH was not anomalously cold. Extreme warm events were much more prevalent in both magnitude and spatial extent. Importantly, the persistent negative state of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) explained the bulk of the observed cold anomalies, however the warm extremes were anomalous even accounting for the NAO and also considering the states of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) and El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO). These winters' widespread and intense warm extremes together with a continuing hemispheric decline in cold snap activity was a pattern fully consistent with a continuation of the warming trend observed in recent decades.
Static analysis to mitigate soft errors in register files

With continuous technology scaling, soft errors are becoming an increasingly important design concern even for earth-bound applications. While compiler approaches have the potential to mitigate the effect of soft errors with minimal runtime overheads, static vulnerability estimation---an essential part of compiler approaches---is lacking due to its inherent complexity. This paper presents a static analysis approach for Register File (RF) vulnerability estimation. We decompose the vulnerability of a register into intrinsic and conditional basic-block vulnerabilities. This decomposition allows us to develop a fast, yet reasonably accurate, linear equation-based RF vulnerability estimation mechanism. We demonstrate its practical application to compiler optimizations. Our experimental results on benchmarks from MiBench suite indicate that not only our static RF vulnerability estimation is fast and accurate, but also compiler optimizations enabled by our static estimation can achieve very cost-effective protection of register files against soft errors.
On the measurement of parasitic capacitances of device with more than two external terminals using an LCR meter

A general methodology of directly measuring parasitic capacitance using an LCR meter in devices with more than two terminals is discussed. It is concluded that the accuracy of the measurement cannot be guaranteed in such devices since it is dependent on the internal structure of the device. This is demonstrated using the conventional (bulk silicon) MOSFET structure, showing that substrate or well resistance could be the dominant factor limiting measurement accuracy of parasitic capacitances, such as gate-to-drain (source), drain-to-source, and drain (source)-to substrate (well) capacitances. The authors also conclude that for the silicon-on-insulator (SOI) MOSFET structure, a direct and accurate measurement is difficult to achieve, since the measurement accuracy is impeded by the floating substrate in the structure. >
An interactive method to select a set of sustainable urban development indicators

Abstract The paper proposes a method for selecting a set of sustainable development indicators which can be used for various sustainability-related tasks, such as assessment of current condition, measure of progress toward specific goals of sustainable development, in general, and sustainable urban development, in particular. The method is based on variable clustering, selecting cluster representative, and multivariate linear regression in combination with experts and stakeholders’ input in an interactive process. The small set of indicators derived from the proposed method was able to account for a significant amount of information from the initial indicator set while effectively assisting stakeholders in making informed decision based on objective quantitative information and meeting their preference simultaneously.
Teaching GIS in Geography

Although numerous courses in geographic information systems (GIS) have been introduced into the geography curriculum over the past few years, there has been remarkably little debate over the issues involved. This paper first discusses the arguments for geography as an appropriate disciplinary setting for GIS teaching at the undergraduate level. This is followed by a discussion of the nature of GIS courses and their appropriate place in the undergraduate geography curriculum. The final section of the paper describes the NCGIA Core Curriculum project and examines its significance in this broader context.
Sulfur chemistry in the wake of comet Shoemaker‐Levy 9

A curious and unexpected result of the impact of P/Shoemaker Levy 9 with Jupiter was the production of enormous amounts of molecular sulfur (S2). Here we show that S2 is the natural product of disequilibrium chemistry at low pressures in shocked Jovian air, its formation a byproduct of hydrogen recombination. The species observed by the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) - S2, CS2, and H2S - imply that the G fragment penetrated the NH4SH cloud but did not reach the water table. A typical impact within or below the NH4SH clouds produces about 0.03 - 0.1 impactor masses of S2. Because comets are relatively hydrogen-poor, SO2, not S2, is the major product of shocking a water-rich comet, while S2, CS2 and OCS are major products of a dessicated comet. In all cases we find that as the gas cools, S2 converts to the stable low temperature allotrope S8, although other chemical fates not modeled here might intervene first.
Determination of heterogeneous electron transfer rate constants at microfabricated iridium electrodes

There has been an increasing use of both solid metal and microfabricated iridium electrodes as substrates for various types of electroanalysis. However, investigations to determine heterogeneous electron transfer rate constants on iridium, especially at an electron beam evaporated or dc magnetron sputtered surface, have not previously been performed. This paper compares the results of these microfabricated surfaces using ultramicroelectrode arrays and steady-state currents. Even though the dc magnetron sputtered iridium surface demonstrated a slightly more reversible electrochemical behavior than the electron beam evaporated surface, overall the microfabricated microelectrodes and ring electrode indicated similar reversibility to the polished metallic iridium disk electrode. q 1999 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.
Developing Health Care Clinic Partnerships in Resource-Limited Regions

Establishing a successful health care clinic is challenging anywhere in the world. Dr Collins has drawn on her personal experience working in those parts of our planet where people are living with less than their fair share of its resources. Unfortunately, this comprises the majority of the world’s population. Not surprisingly, establishing medical care services in such places requires attention to the total fabric and environment of the intended population. Clearly, the interrelationship between successful health care delivery and education, sanitation, food availability, and the massive negative effects of poverty in general should factor into understanding the potential benefits of such services in a clinic setting. For those wanting to make a difference that imbeds and persists in the community, the guidance provided in this column provides a brief introduction as to how to begin.Jay E. Berkelhamer, Section Editor Even in an era of robust globalization, in which interconnectedness of populations seems to demand that health care strategies be implemented on a global scale, the actual treatment of disease remains a highly local and individualized affair. At its core, health care is about doctors and other health care practitioners seeing patients, often in the poverty-stricken, war-ravaged, or ill-governed regions where the patients reside. To implement effective health care strategies in these settings requires more than medical expertise and good intentions. It requires an ongoing local presence—practitioners treating patients—and establishing such a presence requires a plan. In addition, US government funding for global health initiatives is now approaching $10 billion annually,1 and universities are demonstrating an ever-increasing interest in global health collaborations,2 so the quality and quantity of resources available to institutions seeking to launch overseas clinics is almost certain to improve over the next decade. Although the particulars of opening such clinics will vary markedly by country, … Address correspondence to Elizabeth Montgomery Collins, MD, MPH, Section of Retrovirology & Global Health, Feigin Center, Suite 630, Houston, TX 77030. E-mail: EGMontgomery{at}AAP.net
Uncertainty Models in Quasiconvex Optimization for Geometric Reconstruction

Geometric reconstruction problems in computer vision can be solved by minimizing the maximum of reprojection errors, i.e., the L\infty-norm. Unlike L2-norm (sum of squared reprojection errors), the global minimum of L\infty-norm can be efficiently achieved by quasiconvex optimization. However, the maximum of reprojection errors is the meaningful measure to minimize only when the measurement noises are independent and identically distributed at every 2D feature point and in both directions in the image. This is rarely the case in real data, where the positional noise not only varies at different features, but also has strong directionality. In this paper, we incorporate the directional uncertainty model into a quasiconvex optimization framework, in which global minimum of meaningful errors can be efficiently achieved, and accurate geometric reconstructions can be obtained from feature points that contain high directional uncertainty.
High-Density Lipoprotein Metabolism: Potential Therapeutic Targets

It is well recognized that the lowering of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol can substantially reduce coronary artery disease (CAD)-related morbidity and mortality. The prevention and management of CAD has chiefly focused on 1 component of the lipid profile: the reduction of LDL cholesterol. Yet, the majority of patients in both the primary and secondary prevention settings continue to experience significant residual risk for acute cardiovascular events even when their LDL cholesterol is lowered aggressively with combinations of lifestyle modification and pharmacologic intervention. As a result, there is increased focus on targeting and treating low serum levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol in an effort to further reduce risk for cardiovascular events, including myocardial infarction, unstable angina, ischemic stroke, and death. Epidemiologically high serum levels of HDL cholesterol are associated with reduced risk for the development of atherosclerotic disease. HDL particles are believed to be antiatherogenic secondary to their capacity to drive reverse cholesterol transport and antagonize pathways of inflammation, thrombosis, and oxidation. HDL cholesterol can be quite challenging to raise in many individuals because of the large number of polymorphisms in the genes, enzymes, cell surface receptors, and apoproteins that regulate the serum concentrations, functionality, and patterns of metabolism of HDL particles This article reviews HDL metabolism and established as well as emerging therapeutic approaches to raising serum concentrations of this fascinating and complex lipoprotein.
Dynamic response of rectangular foundations to obliquely incident seismic waves

A study is made of the harmonic response of a rigid massless rectangular foundation bonded to an elastic half-space and subjected to the action of both external forces and obliquely incident plane seismic waves. The associated mixed boundary value problem is discretized and solved numerically. The results obtained indicate that the angle of incidence of the seismic wave has a marked effect on the nature and magnitude of the foundation response.
Connection between almost everywhere stability of an ODE and advection PDE

A result on the necessary and sufficient conditions for almost everywhere stability of an invariant set in continuous-time dynamical systems is presented. It is shown that the existence of a Lyapunov density is equivalent to the almost everywhere stability of an invariant set. Furthermore, such a density can be obtained as the positive solution of a linear partial differential equation analogous to the positive solution of Lyapunov equation for stable linear systems.
Variability aware compact model characterization for statistical circuit design optimization

Variability modeling at the compact transistor model level can enable statistically optimized designs in view of limitations imposed by the fabrication technology. In this work we propose an efficient variabilityaware compact model characterization methodology based on the linear propagation of variance. Hierarchical spatial variability patterns of selected compact model parameters are directly calculated from transistor array test structures. This methodology has been implemented and tested using transistor I-V measurements and the EKV-EPFL compact model. Calculation results compare well to full-wafer direct model parameter extractions. Further studies are done on the proper selection of both compact model parameters and electrical measurement metrics used in the method.
Crossover trial of gabapentin and memantine as treatment for acquired nystagmus

We conducted a masked, crossover, therapeutic trial of gabapentin (1,200mg/day) versus memantine (40 mg/day) for acquired nystagmus in 10 patients (aged 28-61 years; 7 female; 3 multiple sclerosis [MS]; 6 post-stroke; 1 post-traumatic). Nystagmus was pendular in 6 patients (4 oculopalatal tremor; 2 MS) and jerk upbeat, hemi-seesaw, torsional, or upbeat-diagonal in each of the others. For the group, both drugs reduced median eye speed (p < 0.001), gabapentin by 32.8% and memantine by 27.8%, and improved visual acuity (p < 0.05). Each patient improved with 1 or both drugs. Side effects included unsteadiness with gabapentin and lethargy with memantine. Both drugs should be considered as treatment for acquired forms of nystagmus.
Synthesizing Research on the Contemporary Student-Athlete Experience: Implications and Recommendations for NCAA Student-Athlete Development Programming

AbstractIn the last 20 years, a unique but limited body of literature has surfaced focusing specifically on how student affairs professionals can assist student-athletes with critical transitional periods, specifically preparation for career fields. Considering Astin and Kuh’s theoretical discussion on student engagement, this article discusses the need to consider a more holistic model across NCAA divisions to guide campus-level student-athlete development programs. The authors synthesize findings from the literature on the unique elements of the student-athlete experience, which provide recommendations for NCAA student-athlete development policy. Finally, the authors provide implications for how campus-level student affairs practitioners who work with student-athletes can work to enhance campus and civic engagement, as well as prepare these individuals for life after college.
Transliteration of Arabizi into Arabic Orthography: Developing a Parallel Annotated Arabizi-Arabic Script SMS/Chat Corpus

This paper describes the process of creating a novel resource, a parallel Arabizi-Arabic script corpus of SMS/Chat data. The language used in social media expresses many differences from other written genres: its vocabulary is informal with intentional deviations from standard orthography such as repeated letters for emphasis; typos and nonstandard abbreviations are common; and nonlinguistic content is written out, such as laughter, sound representations, and emoticons. This situation is exacerbated in the case of Arabic social media for two reasons. First, Arabic dialects, commonly used in social media, are quite different from Modern Standard Arabic phonologically, morphologically and lexically, and most importantly, they lack standard orthographies. Second, Arabic speakers in social media as well as discussion forums, SMS messaging and online chat often use a non-standard romanization called Arabizi. In the context of natural language processing of social media Arabic, transliterating from Arabizi of various dialects to Arabic script is a necessary step, since many of the existing state-of-the-art resources for Arabic dialect processing expect Arabic script input. The corpus described in this paper is expected to support Arabic NLP by providing this resource.
Coronary Artery Disease in REDUCE - Letter

In a post hoc hypothesis-developing secondary analysis, Thomas and colleagues found that coronary artery disease was associated with a 35% increased risk of prostate cancer diagnosis ([1][1]). Thomas and colleagues suggest that if this association is confirmed in future studies, further analysis of
Silylation of the uranyl ion using B(C6F5)3-activated Et3SiH.

Addition of 2 equiv of HSiEt3 to UO2(Aracnac)2 (Aracnac = ArNC(Ph)CHC(Ph)O, Ar = 3,5-tBu2C6H3) in the presence of 1 equiv of B(C6F5)3 results in formation of the U(V) bis(silyloxide) complex [U(OSiEt3)2(Aracnac)2][HB(C6F5)3] (1) in 80% yield. Also produced in the reaction, as a minor product, is U(OSiEt3)(OB{C6F5}3)(Aracnac)2 (2). Interestingly, thermolysis of 1 at 85 °C for 24 h also results in formation of 2, concomitant with production of Et3SiH. Addition of 1 equiv of Cp2Co to 1 results in formation of U(OSiEt3)2(Aracnac)2 (3) and [Cp2Co][HB(C6F5)3] (4), which can be isolated in 61% and 71% yields, respectively. Complexes 1–3 have been characterized by X-ray crystallography, while the solution-phase redox properties of 1 have been measured with cyclic voltammetry.
Fuzzy Control Algorithm with Alterable Universe Based on Analytic Expression

a fuzzy control algorithm with alterable universe based on analytic expression is given.This algorithm can expand and compress universe flexibly.Finally,through simulation,the results prove that this algorithm has well control capability.
Differential Neighborhood Selection In Memory-Based Group Recommender Systems.

As recommender systems have become commonplace to support individual decision making, a need has also been recognized for systems that tailor and provide recommendations to a group of users together rather than individuals alone. Group recommender research to date has focused on evaluating strategies for aggregating profiles of group members to form a consolidated group profile or for aggregating recommendations to individual group members as a consolidated group recommendation list. This paper presents a novel neighborhood selection approach for group recommendation in the context of a neighborhood-based Collaborative Filtering system. We evaluate the performance of this approach with respect to group characteristics such as size and group member similarity. Results show that this approach can result in more accurate predictions for the group, particularly for groups that are more homoge-
Metacarpophalangeal joint arthroplasty utilizing the silicone rubber prosthesis

SUMMARY Metacarpophalangeal joint arthroplasty using flexible silicone rubber prostheses is a reliable and effective method for the treatment of various painful and deforming conditions affecting the metacarpophalangeal joint. Although it is used primarily for the treatment of rheumatoid hand deformities, the prosthesis has been found helpful in the treatment of various traumatic conditions affecting the metacarpophalangeal joints. This paper discusses the principles of arthroplasty and describes the surgical technique and postoperative management used at the Robert Breck Brigham Hospital. We have attempted to state our indications for metacarpophalangeal joint arthroplasty and to define its place in the over-all management of the severely crippled rheumatoid patient. In addition, a simple classification has been devised that has been helpful in the preoperative evaluation of the rheumatoid patient and in predicting a realistic postoperative result from metacarpophalangeal joint arthroplasty.
New-Sum: A Novel Online ABFT Scheme For General Iterative Methods

Emerging high-performance computing platforms, with large component counts and lower power margins, are anticipated to be more susceptible to soft errors in both logic circuits and memory subsystems. We present an online algorithm-based fault tolerance (ABFT) approach to efficiently detect and recover soft errors for general iterative methods. We design a novel checksum-based encoding scheme for matrix-vector multiplication that is resilient to both arithmetic and memory errors. Our design decouples the checksum updating process from the actual computation, and allows adaptive checksum overhead control. Building on this new encoding mechanism, we propose two online ABFT designs that can effectively recover from errors when combined with a checkpoint/rollback scheme. These designs are capable of addressing scenarios under different error rates. Our ABFT approaches apply to a wide range of iterative solvers that primarily rely on matrix-vector multiplication and vector linear operations. We evaluate our designs through comprehensive analytical and empirical analysis. Experimental evaluation on the Stampede supercomputer demonstrates the low performance overheads incurred by our two ABFT schemes for preconditioned CG (0.4% and 2.2%) and preconditioned BiCGSTAB (1.0% and 4.0%) for the largest SPD matrix from UFL Sparse Matrix Collection. The evaluation also demonstrates the flexibility and effectiveness of our proposed designs for detecting and recovering various types of soft errors in general iterative methods.
Stability of human binocular alignment in the dark and under conditions of nonfixation

Purpose To evaluate the stability of human binocular alignment under conditions of altered fixation and luminance. Methods Horizontal binocular alignment in 8 healthy orthotropic subjects was measured using infrared video-oculography (VOG) under conditions of binocular fixation and luminance change. Each testing condition was preceded by a binocular fixation period in room light (475 lux) to define the baseline binocular alignment. Binocular alignment was then measured in darkness without fixation, in room light through a semitranslucent filter that precluded fixation, and in darkness with a distant fixational target. We used the signed rank test to determine statistically whether these experimental conditions induced significant binocular alignment change from each baseline binocular alignment. Results The mean horizontal binocular alignment in the dark without fixation was similar to baseline binocular alignment (0.2° ± 2.8°; P = 0.4). The mean horizontal binocular alignment without fixation in room light was also similar to baseline binocular alignment (−1.4° ± 1.6°; P = 0.08). The mean horizontal binocular alignment in the dark when a fixational target was provided showed an exodrift compared to baseline alignment (2.3° ± 1.0°; P = 0.0004). Conclusions The human brain does not require visual input to maintain binocular alignment on a short-term basis. The resilience of binocular alignment probably reflects the presence of phoria adaptation.
A Phylogenetic Perspective on Molecular Epidemiology

Molecular epidemiology is a discipline that uses molecular or genetic markers to trace the development of a disease in a population and to understand transmission, as well as the population structure and evolution of bacterial pathogens. Phylogenetic analysis of molecular markers allows the determination of the genetic relatedness of strains from different sources, geographic locations and/or even different time periods and inferring evolutionary relationships. Molecular epidemiology has grown rapidly in the past couple of decades with the advances in DNA-based molecular typing techniques. Next-generation sequencing technologies have allowed remarkable advances in molecular epidemiological studies. This chapter reviews classical molecular typing schemes and introduces more advanced typing tools. Exemplar applications on a few extensive phylogenetic studies are also provided to demonstrate the usefulness of molecular typing and phylogenetic analysis in epidemiological investigations of bacterial infectious disease.
The Activation of Stat3 by the Stk Receptor Tyrosine Kinase Requires Src Kinases and Gab2, and Is Essential for Friend Virus Induced, Epo-Independent Growth of Primary Erythroid Cells.

Friend virus-induced erythroleukemia is a model for the study of the multi-stage nature of carcinogenesis. The early stage of the disease is characterized by a polyclonal expansion of infected erythroid precursor cells, and the later stage is marked by the emergence of fully transformed cells in the spleen, blood, bone marrow and liver, leading to the development of erythroleukemia. Previous findings have demonstrated that a naturally occurring, N-terminally truncated form of the stk receptor tyrosine kinase (Sf-stk) provides signals necessary for the polycolonal expansion of infected cells. Signal transducer and activator of transcription (Stat) proteins play an important role in normal and malignant hematopoiesis. Moreover it has been shown that growth factors can induce Stat3 in a Src family kinase (SFK)-dependent manner. Here we show that dominant negative Stat3 and c-Src significantly inhibit the BFU-e and CFU-e colony number induced by friend virus. In addition, the non-specific SFK inhibitor PP1 also abrogated Epo-independent colony formation. Moreover we found that the inhibition of SFKs by PP1 suppresses Stat3 tyrosine phosphorylation activated by Sf-stk. To elucidate the signaling mechanism by which Sf-stk activates Stat3, we mutated the docking site tyrosines to phenylalanine. Our results indicated that the mutation of Y436F eliminates Sf-stk-induced Stat3 tyrosine phosphorylation. Studies from our lab have further demonstrated that tyrosine 436 of Sf-stk is essential for the cytokine-independent growth of primary erythroblasts induced by Friend virus, by providing a docking site for Grb2, which recruits Gab2 to induce erythroleukemia. To further determine the relationship between Gab2 and Stat3, we generated fusion proteins, in which Sf-stk lacking the docking site tyrosines is fused to Gab2 or Gab1. The Sf-stk/Gab2, but not Sf-stk/Gab1, fusion protein supported Epo-independent colony formation and induced Stat3 tyrosine phosphorylation. In conclusion, these results suggest that SFKs, Gab2 and Stat3 are all important in Friend virus induced erythroleukemia mediated by Sf-stk, and that Gab2 and SFKs lie upstream of Stat3 in this signaling pathway.
A Mechanism to Authenticate Caller ID

Caller ID displayed on the phone is supposed to provide accurate information of the caller. However, with the help of computer and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), it is easy to spoof a Caller ID. The users of spoofing caller ID can be school district office, hospital, law enforcement, telemarketers etc. Although caller ID spoofing has legitimate uses, it imposes real threats to the receiver of the call when it is abused. In today’s world, it is important to restore the credibility of the incoming caller ID. In this work, we propose a mechanism that can authenticate certified caller IDs, which can be authentic or legitimately-spoofed. The proposed scheme involves caller, receiver of the call, and a third-party to exchange short information. It is caller and receiver’s discretion to adopt this scheme. The proposed scheme does not change switch or signaling protocol. The proposed scheme can be naturally integrated into current system. An Android-based application was developed to test the idea.
Autonomous facial recognition system inspired by human visual system based logarithmical image visualization technique

Autonomous facial recognition system is widely used in real-life applications, such as homeland border security, law enforcement identification and authentication, and video-based surveillance analysis. Issues like low image quality, non-uniform illumination as well as variations in poses and facial expressions can impair the performance of recognition systems. To address the non-uniform illumination challenge, we present a novel robust autonomous facial recognition system inspired by the human visual system based, so called, logarithmical image visualization technique. In this paper, the proposed method, for the first time, utilizes the logarithmical image visualization technique coupled with the local binary pattern to perform discriminative feature extraction for facial recognition system. The Yale database, the Yale-B database and the ATT database are used for computer simulation accuracy and efficiency testing. The extensive computer simulation demonstrates the method’s efficiency, accuracy, and robustness of illumination invariance for facial recognition.
Blind Students: Transition from High School to College.

An evaluation of selected visually impaired high school students, conducted by The Florida State University Counseling Center over a 10-year period, indicated that 75 percent had good potential for...
Approach to a Nonfunctioning Catheter

Despite substantial efforts by nephrology community to reduce utilization of dialysis catheters, majority of end-stage renal disease patients in the USA initiate hemodialysis (HD) with a tunneled dialysis catheter (TDC) with approximately one-quarter of them remaining catheter-dependent thereafter. TDCs are associated with decreased patient survival, as well as multiple complications, such as central venous stenosis, infection, and thrombosis. In this chapter, we provide a general approach to evaluating a poorly functioning TDC at a dialysis unit and an interventional suite, as well as treatment strategies directed at specific TDC-related complications.
Thawing Rivalries and Fading Friendships: An Experimental Approach to Rapprochement and Alienation

Although international relations (IR) theorists generally assume that actors update their beliefs about the intentions of adversaries and allies based on structure, costly signaling, and past actions, little is known about how the process of rapprochement between adversaries differs from the process of alienation between allies, particularly with respect to the nature and degree of costly signaling. Furthermore, until recently the role of the individual in these processes has only been engaged by a small number of scholars, and fewer still have integrated this perspective with conventional approaches to rapprochement and alienation. Drawing from findings in social psychology, We present results from an original survey experiment showing that (1) political belief systems are a powerful determinant of how individuals perceive the intentions of other states, more so than an observed state's signaling behavior; (2) there are diminishing returns in increasing the cost of a signal; and (3) hostile signals are more effective in signaling intent than reassuring signals.
Magnetic Diagnostics of the Solar Corona: Synthesizing Optical and Radio Techniques

In this contribution we review the current state-of-the-art of coronal magnetometry, in both optical and radio domains. We address the achievable objectives and the challenges of present measurement techniques and interpretation tools. In particular, we focus on the role that these observations can play for constraining and validating numerical models of the global coronal magnetic field. With regard to optical techniques, we mainly focus on the use of M1 diagnostics, further developing the theory of the formation of their polarization signatures in the magnetized corona.
Detection of aufeis-related flood areas in a time series of high resolution SAR images using curvelet transform and unsupervised classification

Due to their weather and illumination independence and due to their large area coverage at high spatial resolution, Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) images have been recognized as a valuable data source for the mapping and tracking of aufeis flooding events. We modified and utilized the change detection approach of [1], based on wavelet analysis to map aufeis-related flooding on the Sagavanirktok River in northern Alaska, collected in the spring of 2015. This paper provides near real-time monitoring by generating detailed flood parameters such as flood classification probabilities, flood-related backscatter changes, and flood extent. The generated flood maps show the spatial extent and day-to-day progression of the 2015 flooding event across a 1004 km2 area, that was determined by processing a series of seven TerraSAR-X datasets. From our analysis, we learned that in early to late April, the formation of aufeis from the Sagavanirktok River crossed the Dalton Highway at several points. In late April to early May, associated warm temperatures led to open water flooding, which flooded the Sagavanirktok River at several locations. It can be argued that along the Sagavanirktok River, warm temperatures led to aufeis growth with the distribution of flow moving from the western channel to the eastern channel.
Extensive Experience with Multiple Languages May Not Buffer Age-Related Declines in Executive Function.

Whether bilingualism can improve aspects of cognitive function in late adulthood is hotly debated. A few limited studies have reported that bilingualism may provide a limited buffer against age-rel...
Cancer Stem Cells: Paradigm Shifting or Perishing Concept?

There has been tremendous progress in our understanding of intratumoral heterogeneity over the last decade. One emerging concept postulates that tumors are analogous to self-renewing adult tissues, and are maintained by a unique subpopulation of stem cells. Cancer stem cells are best defined functionally by their enriched tumorigenic properties, with distinct self-renewal and differentiation potential to regenerate the cellular heterogeneity of original patient tumors in immunocompromised mice. Cancer stem cells have attracted enormous attention in cancer research, and exploring their biology will provide tremendous opportunities to develop more effective therapeutic strategies against tumors. In this review, we summarize the historical perspective leading to the prospective isolation of CSCs, their intriguing biological characteristics and clinical implications with emphasis on solid tumors. We also discuss our perspectives on the controversies and possible misconcepts of the cancer stem cell model.
Storyline and Design: How Civic Stewardship Shapes Urban Design in New York City

Urban environmental stewardship groups are examined in an effort to better understand how organizations to respond to a change across the urban landscape. Urban design and storyline are explored as a discursive strategy to advance urban planning in New York City. The first case features a greenway project in Brooklyn where neighbors united with local government to reclaim waterfront access. The second case involves Manhattan’s High Line Park, and, demonstrates how industrial era design is reinvented through art and nature. The last case centers upon the South Bronx and how charismatic leaders championed the cause of social justice using urban design and a unique storyline. The chapter concludes that the adaptive and resilient capacity of stewardship groups depends upon a repertoire of actions that includes the deliberate use of urban design and a clear project narrative, or storyline, that centers upon a particular interpretation of the natural world.
Acute Kidney Injury in Sepsis

Sepsis is the most common cause of acute kidney injury (AKI) in the intensive care unit. Mortality of AKI is much higher in septic patients compared with nonseptic patients. Septic patients frequently present with a hyperdynamic circulation including primary arterial vasodilation and a secondary increase in cardiac output; renal hemodynamics are often characterized by early vasoconstriction. The elucidation of key components of pathogenesis of sepsis and septic shock has suggested several potential therapies for sepsis, and significant progress has been made in understanding the biology and mechanisms of endotoxin-related AKI; however, translation of this knowledge into improved management and outcome for patients with AKI has not been optimal. This chapter summarizes the hemodynamic and biochemical alterations in sepsis which lead to AKI and addresses the currently available and potential future therapies for the management of sepsis to prevent and treat AKI.
A mild light-induced cleavage of the S–O bond of aryl sulfonate esters enables efficient sulfonylation of vinylarenes

A new mode of S–O bond activation has been discovered, which constitutes novel reactivity of easily available and bench-stable arylsulfonate phenol esters. This protocol enables access to putative sulfonyl radical intermediates, which enable straightforward access to valuable vinyl sulfones.