cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Verification column

The technical column on verification presents an invited contribution by Cesar A. Munoz, Aaron Dutle, Anthony Narkawicz, and Jason Upchurch at NASA Langley Research Center titled Unmanned Aircraft Systems in the National Airspace System: A Formal Methods Perspective in the July issue of the SIGLOG newsletter. In the past few years we have seen a dramatic increase in the number of hobbyist unmanned aircraft systems (UAS). In addition we have seen a push by several companies including Amazon to use UAS as a package delivery mechanism. The increasing numbers of UAS in our current airspace have introduced a new safety challenge. There have been some high-profile incidents that were reported widely in the media. One example was a drone being 100 feet within an commercial airliner at the JFK airport in New York in Aug 2015, while another was a near miss at the Los Angeles airport between a Lufthansa passenger jumbo jet and a UAS in March 2016. These are however not isolated incidents. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) records shows that there are hundreds of close calls between airplanes and UAS in the US airspace. Similar reports have been documented in the UK and Europe. This safety concern has prompted the development of a detect and avoid capability for the UAS that is designed to avoid aircraft in its vicinity. The article presents the work being done at the NASA Langley Research Center Formal Methods group in Hampton Virigina. I am very excited for this article to appear in the SIGLOG newsletter. This article I believe will be of interest to people not only in the logic, formal methods, and verification community but a broader and more general audience as well.
Eosinophil peroxidase increases membrane permeability in mammalian urinary bladder epithelium.

Eosinophil peroxidase (EPO), a cationic protein found in eosinophils, has been reported to be cytotoxic independent of its peroxidase activity. This study investigated with electrophysiological met...
Responses to elevated CO2 exposure in a freshwater mussel, Fusconaia flava.

Freshwater mussels are some of the most imperiled species in North America and are particularly susceptible to environmental change. One environmental disturbance that mussels may encounter that remains understudied is an increase in the partial pressure of CO2 (pCO2). The present study quantified the impacts of acute (6 h) and chronic (up to 32 days) exposures to elevated pCO2 on genes associated with shell formation (chitin synthase; cs) and the stress response (heat shock protein 70; hsp70) in Fusconaia flava. Oxygen consumption (MO2) was also assessed over the chronic CO2 exposure period. Although mussels exhibited an increase in cs following an acute exposure to elevated pCO2, long-term exposure resulted in a decrease in cs mRNA abundance, suggesting that mussels may invest less in shell formation during chronic exposure to elevated pCO2. In response to an acute elevation in pCO2, mussels increased hsp70 mRNA abundance in mantle and adductor muscle and a similar increase was observed in the gill and adductor muscle in response to a chronic elevation in pCO2. A chronic elevation in pCO2 also increased mussel MO2. This overall increase in hsp70 mRNA levels and MO2 in F. flava indicates that exposure to elevated pCO2 initiates activation of the general stress response and an increased energy demand. Together, the results of the present study suggest that freshwater mussels respond to elevated pCO2 by increasing processes necessary to 'deal with' the stressor and, over the long-term, may reduce their investment in non-essential processes such as shell growth.
Development and function of consequence classes in operant behavior

The term class has been discussed extensively in the behavioral literature for groups of stimuli or responses that share a common function. In contrast, the concept of consequence class, including its definition, its formation, and other relevant characteristics, has not been the topic of much attention in the literature. Issues pertaining to consequence classes are discussed to provide a more thorough analysis of the units of operant and discriminated operant functional relations. The concept of class for consequences provides a means to integrate data and theory from the behavior-analytic literature.
All that bleeds is not black: susceptibility weighted imaging of intracranial hemorrhage and the effect of T1 signal

Abstract Purpose To determine if intracranial hemorrhages (ICH) are always hypointense on Susceptibility weighted imaging (SWI) and to determine the effect of T1-signal intensity on the appearance of ICH in SWI series. Methods SWI and T1-signal intensities of ICH were retrospectively studied in a series of patients. SWI signal intensities were statistically correlated with T1-signal intensities. Results In a series of 57 MRI scans from 40 patients, ICH was hypointense in 19, mixed-intensity in 21, and hyperintense in 17. Hyperintensity of ICH on SWI was significantly associated with increased T1 signal ( P Conclusion ICH can have a varied appearance on SWI.
Handheld optical-resolution photoacoustic microscopy.

Optical-resolution photoacoustic microscopy (OR-PAM) offers label-free in vivo imaging with high spatial resolution by acoustically detecting optical absorption contrasts via the photoacoustic effect. We developed a compact handheld OR-PAM probe for fast photoacoustic imaging. Different from benchtop microscopes, the handheld probe provides flexibility in imaging various anatomical sites. Resembling a cup in size, the probe uses a two-axis water-immersible microelectromechanical system mirror to scan both the illuminating optical beam and resultant acoustic beam. The system performance was tested in vivo by imaging the capillary bed in a mouse ear and both the capillary bed and a mole on a human volunteer.
The Application Process

The application process begins during the first and second years of medical school. Ultimately, all information in your CV, personal statement, letters of recommendation, and clinical clerkships will determine your ability to match into a residency program. Here we review the steps in the application process and the application itself with suggestions on how to maximize your chances of matching into a surgical residency. The recommendations in this chapter are based on students in a 4-year program, who complete their core clinical year during the 3rd year. Adjust the timeline based on your specific educational plan.
Review of the book Leaders of The Pack: Girl Groups of The 1960s and Their Influence on Popular Culture in Britain and America

The importance of the 1960s girl groups is undeniable, with a realm of influence that extended far beyond music. Their styles, images, and attitudes helped shape the culture of that decade through ...
Serving the Public in the 21st Century

The values, attitudes and behaviors of servant leadership are consistent with the public service ethic which values empowerment, justice and fairness in society, and community building achieved through participation; the attitude of stewardship; and the behaviors of compassion, love, sacrifice, and civic duty/service. We are beginning to see the application of servant ledership in public agencies and it may be our best hope to reengage citizens. Processes reflecting the values, attitudes, and behaviors of servant leadership enable public administrators to facilitate dialogue are available, such as Appreciative Inquiry and Open Space Technology. While information technology makes it possible to involve citizens from across a state in dialogues via interactive TV, we find the authoritarian model of leadership hard to let go. But if we are to develop a servant-leadership model, new skills are needed. We will need to engage in authentic communication, to interact with others with positive regard and respect, and to collaborate in problem solving. Servant leadership offers individuals in public service who value empowerment, justice, community building and stewardship the tools to achieve these values.
LiDAR technology for wind energy potential assessment: Demonstration and validation at a site around Lake Erie

Abstract Wind energy potential assessment is crucial for proper wind farm siting. Typically, this involves installation of tall and costly meteorological masts with anemometers. New technology such as Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) is an alternative mobile technology that serves such purpose. This paper describes the principle of LiDAR technology and presents case studies of its applications to evaluate the energy output potentials at the site near Lake Erie in northern Cleveland, Ohio, USA. A ZephIR® LiDAR system is used to monitor one-year of vertical wind data profile (at 30 m and 70 m height) from May 2011 to April 2012, from which the wind statistics are determined. These include the monthly average of wind speed, turbulence intensity, Weibull shape and scale factor, wind compass rose, and wind power density, etc. The wind speed data is used to evaluate the wind power capacity factors for prototype wind turbines that are subsequently installed in 2012. The data of power output by the turbines between 2013 and 2015 is used to compare with those predicted based on wind speed model derived from LiDAR measurement. The results show that the estimated wind turbine’s capacity factor from LiDAR data is satisfactory after excluding the maintenance days. This research demonstrates the potential of LiDAR technology as a cost effective way in providing reliable evaluation of wind energy potential.
Peer Exclusion During the Pubertal Transition: The Role of Social Competence

For some youth, early puberty is accompanied by peer exclusion. Yet early developers may experience less peer exclusion if they have social competence, which would bolster their ability to develop and maintain positive relationships with their peers. Accordingly, the present study tests whether pubertal timing and tempo predicts decrements in children’s social competence and whether decrements in social competence account for associations between puberty (timing and tempo) and peer exclusion over time. Longitudinal data were drawn from 1364 families (48% female; 76% White; M = 9.32 years, SD = .48, at Wave 3) who participated in Waves 3–5 (i.e., grades 4–6) of Phase III of the NICHD-SECCYD. The results from latent growth curve models indicated that earlier pubertal timing and more rapid pubertal tempo among girls were associated with high initial levels of peer exclusion. Moreover, mediation analyses revealed that early developers’ susceptibility to peer exclusion was associated with their initial level of social competence. In boys, pubertal timing and tempo were not directly associated with peer exclusion; instead, indirect effects of pubertal timing on peer exclusion (intercept, slope) occurred through initial levels of social competence. On average, early developers’ who had low levels of social competence also had high initial levels of peer exclusion but experienced decrements in peer exclusion over time. The association between the intercepts for puberty and peer exclusion and the slopes for social competence and peer exclusion were stronger for boys than girls. Overall, our findings suggest that early developers’ susceptibility to and experiences of peer exclusion are associated with their development of social competence.
Implementation of Promising Practices for LGBTQ Inclusion: A Multilevel Process

Recreation professionals have moral, fiscal, and legal incentives to ensure that individuals who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) have access to safe, beneficial services that respond to their unique needs. Scholars have responded to these needs by developing a set of recommendations to create safe, welcoming recreation experiences with LGBTQ youth, such as supportive policies or stopping instances of harassment. However, current promising practices for LGBTQ inclusion are generally not reflective of the complex challenges to enabling inclusion experienced by recreation professionals. Recommendations to develop anti-discrimination policies lack attention to the ways a prejudicial organizational culture or resistance from employees may undermine that policy. Therefore, practitioners who utilize promising practices for inclusion may unintentionally reinforce LGBTQ discrimination. In this overview of education, social work, diversity management and leisure studies literatures, the author presents potential constraints and supports that may arise during the implementation of promising practices for LGBTQ inclusion. Those factors are organized according to Ferdman’s (2014) multilevel inclusion framework. At the individual level, participants’ perceptions of inclusion are shaped by the ways their various identities are experienced in recreation contexts. Practitioners who focus solely on LGBTQ identities may miss opportunities to support participants through significant challenges such as racism or ableism. At the interpersonal level, heterosexuals are often motivated by past experiences with discrimination to advocate with LGBTQ youth. However, some heterosexual employees may require training to effectively advocate with LGBTQ youth. At the group level, recreation professionals should expect both resistance to and support for inclusion initiatives. Understanding resistance and points of support within and outside of the organization may prepare practitioners for roadblocks and assist them in leveraging points of support. At the leadership level, recreation administrators exert unique influence on inclusion initiatives by modeling desired behaviors and establishing organizational priorities. Administrators who lack experience or comfort with LGBTQ populations may unintentionally stall inclusion efforts. At the organizational level, administrators must be cognizant of both who an organization has historically served and how organizational culture can support or undermine inclusion programs. At the societal level, cultural norms about LGBTQ identities influence who is authorized to speak and how LGBTQ participants should be treated. Recreation practitioners who intentionally disrupt these norms by implementing promising practices may frame their program as a site for social justice. Practitioners who pursue inclusion in light of the above issues may be able to enhance the intended outcomes of promising practices and avoid unintended consequences. Subscribe to JPRA
Hepatitis C virus seropositivity and head and neck cancers: A new trio.

6041 Background: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is associated with hepatocellular carcinoma [odds ratio (OR), 17] and non-Hodgkin lymphomas (NHL) (OR, 2). In 2009, we established the first clini...
What's the Purpose of Rounds? A Qualitative Study Examining the Perceptions of Faculty and Students.

Background Rounds are a critical activity on any inpatient service, but there is little literature describing the purpose of rounds from the perspective of faculty and trainees in teaching hospitals. Objective To evaluate and compare the perceptions of pediatric and internal medicine attendings and medical students regarding the purpose of inpatient attending rounds. Methods The authors conducted 10 semistructured focus groups with attendings and medical students in the spring of 2014 at 4 teaching hospitals. The protocol was approved by the institutional review boards at all institutions. The authors employed a grounded theory approach to data collection and analysis, and data were analyzed by using the constant- comparative method. Two transcripts were read and coded independently by 2 authors to generate themes. Results Forty-eight attendings and 31 medical students participated in the focus groups. We categorized 218 comments into 4 themes comprised of 16 codes representing what attendings and medical students believed to be the purpose of rounds. These themes included communication, medical education, patient care, and assessment. Conclusions Our results highlight that rounds serve 4 purposes, including communication, medical education, patient care, and assessment. Importantly, both attendings and students agree on what they perceive to be the many purposes of rounds. Despite this, a disconnect appears to exist between what people believe are the purposes of rounds and what is happening during rounds.
Nexus: Bringing Efficient and Scalable Training to Deep Learning Frameworks

Demand is mounting in the industry for scalable GPU-based deep learning systems. Unfortunately, existing training applications built atop popular deep learning frameworks, including Caffe, Theano, and Torch, etc, are incapable of conducting distributed GPU training over large-scale clusters.To remedy such a situation, this paper presents Nexus, a platform that allows existing deep learning frameworks to easily scale out to multiple machines without sacrificing model accuracy. Nexus leverages recently proposed distributed parameter management architecture to orchestrate distributed training by a large number of learners spread across the cluster. Through characterizing the run-time behavior of existing single-node based applications, Nexus is equipped with a suite of optimization schemes, including hierarchical and hybrid parameter aggregation, enhanced network and computation layer, and quality-guided communication adjustment, etc, to strengthen the communication channels and resource utilization. Empirical evaluations with a diverse set of deep learning applications demonstrate that Nexus is easy to integrate and can deliver efficient distributed training services to major deep learning frameworks. In addition, Nexus's optimization schemes are highly effective to shorten the training time with targeted accuracy bounds.
Using Bayesian modeling in frequentist adaptive enrichment designs

Our increased understanding of the mechanistic heterogeneity of diseases has pushed the development of targeted therapeutics. We do not expect all patients with a given disease to benefit from a targeted drug; only those in the target population. That is, those with sufficient dysregulation in the biomolecular pathway targeted by treatment. However, due to complexity of the pathway, and/or technical issues with our characterizing assay, it is often hard to characterize the target population until well into large-scale clinical trials. This has stimulated the development of adaptive enrichment trials; clinical trials in which the target population is adaptively learned; and enrollment criteria are adaptively updated to reflect this growing understanding. This paper proposes a framework for group-sequential adaptive enrichment trials. Building on the work of Simon & Simon (2013). Adaptive enrichment designs for clinical trials. Biostatistics 14(4), 613-625), it includes a frequentist hypothesis test at the end of the trial. However, it uses Bayesian methods to optimize the decisions required during the trial (regarding how to restrict enrollment) and Bayesian methods to estimate effect size, and characterize the target population at the end of the trial. This joint frequentist/Bayesian design combines the power of Bayesian methods for decision making with the use of a formal hypothesis test at the end of the trial to preserve the studywise probability of a type I error.
Coping Strategies That Mitigate Against Symptoms of Depression Among Latino Farmworkers

Latino farmworkers have a higher rate of depression when compared with other Latinos and the general adult population in the United States. Researchers have suggested oppressive labor policies, acc...
Can Exercise Improve Cognitive Symptoms of Alzheimer's Disease?

Objectives To examine the effects of exercise training on cognitive function in individuals at risk of or diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease (AD). Design Meta‐analysis. Setting PubMed, Scopus, ClinicalTrials.gov, and ProQuest were searched from inception until August 1, 2017. Participants Nineteen studies with 23 interventions including 1,145 subjects with a mean age of 77.0 ± 7.5 were included. Most subjects were at risk of AD because they had mild cognitive impairment (64%) or a parent diagnosed with AD (1%), and 35% presented with AD. Intervention Controlled studies that included an exercise‐only intervention and a nondiet, nonexercise control group and reported pre‐ and post‐intervention cognitive function measurements. Measurements Cognitive function before and after the intervention and features of the exercise intervention. Results Exercise interventions were performed 3.4 ± 1.4 days per week at moderate intensity (3.7 ± 0.6 metabolic equivalents) for 45.2 ± 17.0 minutes per session for 18.6 ± 10.0 weeks and consisted primarily of aerobic exercise (65%). Overall, there was a modest favorable effect of exercise on cognitive function (d+ = 0.47, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.26–0.68). Within‐group analyses revealed that exercise improved cognitive function (d+w = 0.20, 95% CI = 0.11–0.28), whereas cognitive function declined in the control group (d+w = −0.18, 95% CI = −0.36 to 0.00). Aerobic exercise had a moderate favorable effect on cognitive function (d+w = 0.65, 95% CI = 0.35–0.95), but other exercise types did not (d+w = 0.19, 95% CI = −0.06–0.43). Conclusion Our findings suggest that exercise training may delay the decline in cognitive function that occurs in individuals who are at risk of or have AD, with aerobic exercise possibly having the most favorable effect. Additional randomized controlled clinical trials that include objective measurements of cognitive function are needed to confirm our findings.
Abstract P237: Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factor Associations with Volume and Density Components of Coronary Artery Calcium: The Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA)

Introduction: Coronary artery calcium (CAC) strongly predicts incident cardiovascular disease (CVD) beyond traditional risk factors. CAC volume and density can be determined separately. CAC volume ...
Disseminating, implementing, and evaluating patient-centered outcomes to improve cardiovascular care using a stepped-wedge design: healthy hearts for Oklahoma

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death in the US and incurs high health care costs. While many initiatives promote the implementation of ABCS (aspirin therapy, blood pressure control, cholesterol management, and smoking cessation) measures, most primary care practices (PCPs) lack quality improvement (QI) support and resources to achieve meaningful targets. The Healthy Hearts for Oklahoma (H2O) Study proposes to build a QI infrastructure by (1) constructing a sustainable Oklahoma Primary Healthcare Improvement Collaborative (OPHIC) to support dissemination and implementation (DI (2) providing QI support in PCPs to better manage patients at risk for CVD events. Parallel to infrastructure building, H2O aims to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the QI support D&I in primary care and assess the relationship between QI support uptake and changes in ABCS measures. H2O has partnered with public health agencies and communities to build OPHIC and facilitate QI. H2O has 263 small primary care practices across Oklahoma that receive the bundled QI intervention to improve ABCS performance. A stepped-wedge designed is used to evaluate D&I of QI support. Changes in ABCS measures will be estimated as a function of various components of the QI support and capacity and readiness of PCPs to change. Notes from academic detailing and practice facilitation sessions will be analyzed to help interpret findings on ABCS performance. H2O program is designed to improve cardiovascular health and outcomes for more than 1.25 million Oklahomans. The infrastructure established as a result of this funding will help reach medically underserved Oklahomans, particularly among rural and tribal populations. Lessons learned from this project will guide future strategies for D&I of evidence-based practices in PCPs. Trained practice facilitators will continue to serve as critical resource to assists small, rural PCPs in adapting to the ever-changing health environment and continue to deliver quality care to their communities.
Maternal Immunocompetence During Pregnancy

One of the standard explanations for the survival of the fetal allograft is that there is a general depression of the mother’s immune response during pregnancy. One author has claimed that there is a “pregnancy-associated immune deficiency syndrome.”1 This chapter will explore the data that suggest that there are modifications of immune competence associated with pregnancy. Such modifications might be systemic or local (or both). Finally, we will explore that most interesting question: Is the uterus an immunologically privileged site?
RC-UDP: On Raptor Coding over UDP for Reliable High-Bandwidth Data Transport

Data-driven and collaborative research has become the trend for today's scientific communities, resulting in large- scale datasets being shared and transported through networks every day. Most of these large data transfers use TCP sockets which are known to be limited in long-distance and high-bandwidth scenarios. UDP, on the other hand, while fast and efficient does not implement any reliability mechanisms. In this paper, we investigate the use of erasure coding techniques, namely fountain codes, on top of UDP to help high speed and reliable data transfer applications to attain high bandwidth in the face of packet losses. We propose RC-UDP, a Raptor Code over UDP framework that enables reliable data transfers for high bandwidth networks. We implement RC-UDP and evaluate its performance using computer simulation (ns-3) and real world testbed experimentations. We compare RC-UDP to HighSpeed and CUBIC TCP. Our results show that RC-UDP, which achieves up to 75X time reduction while incurring minimum overhead, is beneficial when the network is subject to high congestion or packet drop rates.
The Weather Research and Forecasting Model with Aerosol-Cloud Interactions (WRF-ACI): Development, Evaluation, and Initial Application

The Weather Research and Forecasting Model with Aerosol-Cloud Interactions (WRF-ACI) is developed for studying aerosol effects on gridscale and subgrid-scale clouds using common aerosol activation and ice nucleation formulations and double-moment cloud microphysics in a scale-aware subgrid-scale parameterization scheme. Comparisons of both the standard WRF and WRF-ACI models' results for a summer season against satellite and reanalysis estimates show that the WRF-ACI system improves the simulation of cloud liquid and ice water paths. Correlation coefficients for nearly all evaluated parameters are improved, while other variables show slight degradation. Results indicate a strong cloud lifetime effect from current climatological aerosols increasing domain average cloud liquid water path and reducing domain average precipitation as compared to a simulation with aerosols reduced by 90%. Increased cloud-top heights indicate a thermodynamic invigoration effect, but the impact of thermodynamic invigoration on precipitation is overwhelmed by the cloud lifetime effect. A combination of cloud lifetime and cloud albedo effects increases domain average shortwave cloud forcing by ~3.0 W m-2. Subgrid-scale clouds experience a stronger response to aerosol levels, while gridscale clouds are subject to thermodynamic feedbacks because of the design of the WRF modeling framework. The magnitude of aerosol indirect effects is shown to be sensitive to the choice of autoconversion parameterization used in both the gridscale and subgrid-scale cloud microphysics, but spatial patterns remain qualitatively similar. These results indicate that the WRF-ACI model provides the community with a computationally efficient tool for exploring aerosol-cloud interactions.
Fashioned Bodies in Roller Derby League Logos: Critical Analysis of Race, Gender, Body Size and Position, Clothing, and Aesthetics:

Revival of roller derby in the early 2000s garnered significant interest in the sport, and an extensive network of leagues began to form. By 2018, approximately 1,500 leagues were operating in Nort...
Some Reflections on the Anarcho-Capitalism of Futerman and Block

Reflecting on the anarcho-capitalism of Futerman and Block, this paper presents two arguments — one economic, one moral — against almost any extreme form of libertarianism. First, such doctrines implausibly assume that the transaction costs of allocating goods and services by means of the market will virtually always be lower than those of allocating goods and services by means of government regulation. In reality, the market has a transaction-cost advantage in some situations, and the government has such an advantage in other situations; economic efficiency requires that both mechanisms be used, each in those situations where it is cheaper. Second, when extreme libertarians make strong normative claims (e.g., that it is morally wrong for the government to take a person's property without his consent by means of taxation), they are implicitly adopting some moral system or other, whether it be utilitarian, deontological, eudaimonistic, or otherwise. When these suppressed premises are stated in full, they either become implausible or they no longer support the very strong conclusions extreme libertarians assert.
Chronobiologic assessment of the effect of the DASH diet on blood pressure.

This study compares the effect of three diets on the circadian rhythm of blood pressure (BP). Hypertension and abnormal BP variability (BPV) are major risk factors leading to morbidity and mortality from cardiovascular disease. When detected early, a dietary approach may be preferred to medication. Data stemming from ambulatory BP monitoring (ABPM) from the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) study were re-analyzed from a chronobiologic perspective. Compared to the control diet (N = 112) that had no effect on BP (from 131.2/83.5 to 131.0/83.6 mmHg), both the Fruit and Vegetable (FV; N = 113) diet and the DASH (N = 113) diet were associated with a decrease in BP (FV: from 132.6/84.4 to 129.0/82.1 mmHg; DASH: from 131.9/83.6 to 127.2/80.9 mmHg). The decrease in BP was found to be circadian stage-dependent, and to differ between men and women. Nighttime BP was decreased to a larger extent with the DASH than with the FV diet, a difference observed in women but not in men. Study participants who had a higher BP during the reference stage were more likely to decrease their BP to a larger extent after the 8-week dietary intervention. The FV and DASH diets had different effects on BPV. In view of the relatively large day-to-day variability in BP in both normotensive and hypertensive people, it is recommended to monitor BP around the clock for longer than 24 h, and to individualize the optimization of dietary or other intervention.
Covariance Steering of Discrete-Time Stochastic Linear Systems Based on Distribution Distance Terminal Costs

We consider a class of stochastic optimal control problems for discrete-time stochastic linear systems which seek for control policies that will steer the probability distribution of the terminal state of the system close to a desired Gaussian distribution. In our problem formulation, the closeness between the terminal state distribution and the desired (goal) distribution is measured in terms of the squared Wasserstein distance which is associated with a corresponding terminal cost term. We recast the stochastic optimal control problem as a finite-dimensional nonlinear program and we show that its performance index can be expressed as the difference of two convex functions. This representation of the performance index allows us to find local minimizers of the original nonlinear program via the so-called convex-concave procedure [1]. Subsequently, we consider a similar problem but this time we use a terminal cost that corresponds to the KL divergence. Finally, we present non-trivial numerical simulations to demonstrate the proposed techniques and compare them in terms of computation time.
Penetration of fission product ions into complex solids and the effect of ionic wash methods.

During washing of radiologically impacted building surfaces, penetration of radionuclide ions into complex solids associated with these surfaces may occur. This study investigates the penetration of 137Cs, 85Sr, and 152Eu solutions into numerous common building materials and radionuclide behavior when these materials were exposed to a static bath or low-pressure flow of tap water, 0.1 M potassium chloride (KCl), and 0.5 M KCl. The decontamination efficacy and the depth profile for residual contamination were measured to determine the conditions under which applying a wash solution has benefit compared to physically removing the surface material. On asphalt, 70–80% of the radionuclides were found to be within 0.02 mm of the surface. Concrete is more porous than asphalt, and 80% of the radionuclides were within 0.2 mm of the surface for 137Cs and 152Eu and 50–80% for 85Sr. Water effectively removed all contaminants from hard nonporous surfaces. Finally, this paper illustrates that a wash penalty factor concept—defined as ratio of the depth at which 50% of the radioactivity is found in the washed sample divided by the depth at which 50% of radioactivity is found in the control—can serve as a way to quantify whether the wash method increases the depth at which contamination penetrates into the material and thus the material becomes more difficult to decontaminate.
Extended Microteaching (XMT): Innovative Teaching Pedagogies for the New Normal Education System in India

India's latest National Education Policy (NEP) has been updated, revised and approved on 29 July 2020. The policy signifies a huge milestone for India's Education system, which will certainly make India an attractive destination for higher education world-wide. However, to transform India into a vibrant knowledge hub and motivate Indian students to focus on “Make in India” initiatives, it is highly important to focus on innovative teaching pedagogies at the Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). Integrating Information, Communication, and Technology (ICT) with improved traditional teaching pedagogies can be one of the main elements in transforming the country's future development. Innovative practices in pedagogy have by and large crept into the domain of higher education in India in the last 30 years. But these innovations need to be improved and developed further considering the overall development of the students. We identified “Microteaching” to be a potential teaching strategy for blended and/or complete on-line teaching. In this paper, we identified few more teaching pedagogies - brainstorming, knowledge sharing, interactive case study, mnemonics, field trip, role-play & practical group activities, field trip, peer review of teaching and learning, data-driven approach, problem-driven approach and technology-driven approach that could fit within microteaching and we coined the term as “Extended Microteaching (XMT)”. We conducted a pilot study to determine the improvement that will be achieved by applying extended microteaching pedagogies in teaching and learning in Indian engineering colleges. From the results, we understand, in the new normal all the institutions will have blended or purely on-line teaching, that might start adopting our proposed teaching pedagogies, and many more pioneering practices will be implemented to improve the education system in India.
COVID-19 and Moral Distress: A Pediatric Critical Care Survey.

Background Moral distress adversely affects the delivery of high-quality patient care and places health care professionals at risk for burnout, moral injury, and the loss of professional integrity. Objectives To investigate whether pediatric critical care professionals are experiencing moral distress during the COVID-19 pandemic and, if so, for what reasons. Methods An exploratory survey of pediatric critical care professionals was conducted via the Pediatric Acute Lung Injury and Sepsis Investigators Network from April to May 2020. The survey was derived from a framework integrating contemporary literature on moral distress, moral resilience, and expert consensus. Integration of descriptive statistics for quantitative data and thematic analysis for qualitative data yielded mixed insights. Results Overall, 85.8% of survey respondents reported moral distress. Nurses reported higher degrees of moral distress than other professional groups. Inducers of moral distress were related to challenges to professional integrity and lack of organizational support. Five themes were identified: (1) psychological safety, (2) expectations of leadership, (3) connectedness through a moral community, (4) professional identity challenges, and (5) professional versus social responsibility. Most respondents were confident in their ability to reason through ethical dilemmas (76.0%) and think clearly when confronting an ethical challenge even when pressured (78.9%). Conclusions During the COVID-19 pandemic, pediatric critical care professionals are experiencing moral distress due to various factors that challenge their professional integrity. Despite these challenges, they also exhibit attributes of moral resilience. Organizations have opportunities to cultivate a psychologically safe and healthy work environment to mitigate anticipatory, present, and lingering moral distress.
Synthetic Triterpenoid RTA-408: Limits Radiation Damage to Normal Tissue.

OBJECTIVES/HYPOTHESIS To assess the efficacy and mechanism of action of a novel approach to mitigate acute and chronic radiation toxicity in a validated animal model. STUDY DESIGN Randomized, prospective study using an in vivo rat model. METHODS Experimental animal study utilizing Sprague-Dawley rats divided into three cohorts: 1) radiation + dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) (inert vehicle); 2) radiation + RTA-408 (therapeutic drug); and 3) no radiation + DMSO. All animals in the radiation cohorts underwent 40 Gy of radiation with subsequent inferior epigastric axial rotational flap 30 days later in all cohorts with percentage of flap necrosis and vascular density calculated by blinded observers. In a second experiment, an additional three cohorts, underwent serial punch biopsies of the abdominal skin before, during, and after radiation and drug/vehicle control treatment. Transcriptome analysis utilizing gene set enrichment analysis and digital polymerase chain reaction were performed at various time points. RESULTS The first experiment revealed average flap necrosis of 20% (95% confidence interval [CI] 16-45) in the radiation control group, 3% (95% CI 0-11) in the nonirradiated control, and 3% (95% CI 0.2-10) in the radiation group treated with RTA-408. Vascular density was preserved in the treatment group as compared to the radiated control. Nine rats were included in the second experiment, and transcriptome analyses in the treatment group revealed robust activation of antioxidant pathways with induced expression of genes associated with hypoxia and adipogenesis/angiogenesis. CONCLUSIONS Administration of RTA-408 during radiation treatment in a rat model resulted in transcriptome changes which appear to mitigate the toxic effects of radiation, preserving capillary networks and improving flap survival and tissue healing after subsequent surgery. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE Foundational Evidence, Animal Research Laryngoscope, 2021.
Energy Prediction in Edge Environment for Smart Cities

People around the world are trending to the Internet of Things (IoT) technologies. A large number of IoT devices are installed every day to enhance the sophistication and sustainability of smart cities. Besides, a smart city needs a smart energy management system including a smart grid, smart building. Also, a smart energy distribution system is important to reduce energy and manage it efficiently. The IoT devices are installed in various buildings in the city, they use a lot of energy, and produce energy usage information. In the existing cloud system, it is difficult to analyze and transfer the data quickly, similarly impossible to receive the analysis result immediately. However, edge computing has the advantage of fast data analysis and supply analyzed results to the field. In this process, data is processed in the edge environment, where data has been collected, analyzed, and processed in the edge nodes. In this study, we presented an energy prediction model based on the edge computing technique. We used a dataset where various environmental and energy use information has been considered. Also, we have used five different Machine Learning (ML) classifiers to classify the prediction model and assess the prediction performance. This study presents an energy prediction model using various ML classifiers in an edge computing environment.
Stress manipulated coating for figure reshape of light weight X-ray telescope mirrors

We present our idea to correct the surface profile of X-ray telescope mirrors by employing a spatially distributed variable stress coating. Future X-ray telescope missions require light weight optics with an angular resolution ≤. 1" . However, the typical desired thickness of a light weight mirror shell is ≤ 0.4mm, and to date such thin shelled mirrors that have been fabricated cannot meet the required figure accuracy. Therefore most the common approach is to modify the figure of the initially produced mirror shell. In this paper, we describe one such approach. Our approach uses a DC magnetron sputtering process with a variable electrical bias. The end result is a locally variable stress which has the potential to improve the figure of the initially fabricated thin . In this work we report out first results. These include: reproducibility, important technical details of the coating process, and the results of stability tests on several samples monitored. Further, as a proof of concept, we applied a coating with a modulated bias to demonstrate the feasibility to manipulate the surface profile.
Exploring the Early Literacy Practices of Teachers of Infants, Toddlers, and Preschoolers with Visual Impairments.

Practices endorsed by 192 teachers of young children with visual impairments who completed an online early literacy survey included facilitating early attachment (70%), providing early literacy sup...
Interaction between chiral molecules and solvents: The importance of an interface

Abstract The recently introduced hypothesis of chiral interaction is shown here to require an additional constraint of an interface between two media in the close vicinity of the chiral molecule or element. As a result only the induced intramolecular current can exist under this constraint whereas the induced mechanical rotation is ruled out. The energy associated with this current is estimated to be of the order of (10−5–10−4)kT. Possible thermodynamical consequences of the chiral interaction for small systems are discussed.
Sediment Transport at Density Fronts in Shallow Water

Abstract : The long-term goal of this research is to quantify through observations and modeling how density fronts in shallow estuarine flows impact the mobilization, redistribution, trapping, and deposition of suspended sediments. The specific objectives of this project are as follows: (1) implement a high-resolution, 3-dimensional, finite-volume hydrodynamic model of the tidal flats field site, including advanced sediment transport algorithms; (2) integrate and test a set of field instruments to measure density, velocity, and suspended sediment concentration at density fronts in shallow water (< 1 m); (3) characterize flow and suspended sediment at a density front through the tidal inundation cycle as it travels across the intertidal zone; and (4) combine the observations and model results to quantify sediment suspension, trapping, and lateral circulation at the front, and evaluate and improve the sediment transport model. This research approach combines advanced observational and modeling techniques. In the field, the authors will measure velocity and suspended sediment at high resolution in shallow flows, tracking the evolution of the salinity front through the tidal cycle. The instrumentation will incorporate an acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP) to measure currents, and a profiling conductivity-temperature-depth sensor (CTD) to measure water column salinity and density. Suspended sediment concentrations will be determined through a combination of acoustic and optical sensors. An acoustic backscatter sensor (ABS) will measure echo amplitude at three acoustic frequencies, and comparisons between the frequencies will provide information on the suspended particle size distributions. An optical backscatter sensor (OBS) associated with the CTD will provide additional data on the suspended sediment profile.
Sprint sensitivity and locomotor trade-offs in green anole (Anolis carolinensis) lizards.

ABSTRACT How well an organism completes an ecologically relevant task – its performance – is often considered a key factor in determining individual fitness. Historically, ecomorphological studies have examined how morphological traits determine individual performance in a static manner, assuming that differential fitness in a population is due indirectly to differences in morphological traits that determine a simple measure of performance. This assumption, however, ignores many ecological factors that can constrain performance in nature, such as substrate variation and individual behavior. We examined some of these complexities in the morphology–performance–fitness paradigm, primarily the impact that substrate variation has on performance. We measured maximal sprint speed of green anole lizards on four substrates that varied in size and complexity and are used by or available to individuals in nature. Performance decreased significantly from a broad substrate to a narrow substrate, and lizards were three times slower on a complex substrate than the broadest substrate. We also detected trade-offs in running on substrates with different diameters and in cluttered versus uncluttered environments. Furthermore, morphological predictors of performance varied among substrates. This indicates that natural selection may act on different morphological traits, depending on which substrates are used by individuals, as well as an individual9s ability to cope with changes in substrate rather than maximal capacities.
Permeation of blood-borne IL15 across the blood-brain barrier and the effect of LPS.

Interleukin15 (IL 15) is a proinflammatory cytokine with elevated concentrations in autoimmune diseases involving the periphery (e.g. rheumatoid arthritis) and CNS (e.g. multiple sclerosis). Its interactions with the blood-brain barrier (BBB) were studied in normal and lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-treated mice. 125I-IL15 remained intact for at least 10 min after i.v. injection and reached CNS parenchyma with regional differences between brain and spinal cord. Both in vivo and in situ brain perfusion of 125I-IL15 showed that its permeation of the BBB was non-saturable. LPS induced a significant increase of IL15 uptake by the brain and spinal cord, partly related to a higher general permeability of the BBB. The results suggest that the BBB is an interface for blood-borne IL15 to interact with the CNS in the basal state and during inflammation.
Fifth-century contractors¿ marks at the Argive Heraion

This article presents three sing1e-word inscriptions carved on blocks of the large retaining wall that supported the Classical temple of Hera at the Argive Heraion. Two of the inscriptions record the name Kleomachos, while the third presumably records the first three letters of a name beginning Epi... The inscriptions, which include local Argive letter forms characteristic of the mid-fifth century, appear on ordinary wall blocks in places where they could not have been read when the terrace was completed. From the evidence of similar inscriptions at Delphi, it is argued that the inscriptions at the Argive Heraion should be identified as the marks of local contractors responsible for supplying building material to the site at a time when the sanctuary was entering a major phase of expansion.