cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Use of Vector Velocity Estimate Accuracy for Improved Resource Allocation in a Network of Doppler Radars

To help optimize the real time scanning of an adaptive radar network, it is necessary to define a performance metric for weighing the competing scanning tasks. A point volume vector velocity estimation methodology can be used in this context to derive the confidence bounds of the vector velocity estimator that can, in turn, be utilized as a quality indicator in devising scanning strategies. This document presents the basic derivation of this estimation process and provides examples of processed weather moment data.
High postovariectomy LH levels are not due to decreased opioid inhibition of GnRH.

Abstract It has been proposed that endogenous opioid peptide (EOP) inhibition of hypothalamic GnRH secretion mediates and is dependent upon gonadal steroid feedback of LH secretion, although considerable conflicting data have been reported. Accordingly, a well-characterized replacement regimen was used to approximate physiological stimulation by estradiol (E 2 ) and progesterone (P 4 ) in adult rats 10 days after ovariectomy (OVX), followed by in vitro incubation of the isolated median eminence to evaluate the role of E 2 and P 4 in modifying GnRH release in response to the opiate receptor antagonist, naloxone (NAL). Basal (control) GnRH release from median eminences of OVX, OVX + E 2 and OVX + E 2 + P 4 rats was similar, and NAL treatment elicited a comparable increase in GnRH release under all three gonadal steroid conditions. Thus, EOP suppression of median eminence GnRH secretion does not appear to mediate or be dependent upon negative feedback regulation of LH secretion by physiological concentrations of gonadal steroids.
Independently driven DG MOSFETs for mixed-signal circuits: part II-applications on cross-coupled feedback and harmonics generation

Circuit applications utilizing the tight quasi-static and nonquasi-static channel coupling in independently driven double-gate (IDDG) MOSFETs are presented. The performances of cross-coupled differential amplifiers and mixers with IDDG are compared with those of the SDDG counterparts. The quasi-static coupling in IDDG increases output voltage swing and improves voltage waveform symmetry in the cross-coupled differential amplifier. The nonquasi-static coupling in IDDG provides fast feedback in the differential amplifiers, and allows higher frequencies in the input signals for harmonic generation in mixers. We have identified plausible advantages in IDDG that cannot be readily implemented by SDDG, which justifies the fabrication cost and parasitic capacitance penalty of IDDG.
Responses of soil microorganisms to non-selective vegetation control in a fescue meadow

Abstract Control of fescue meadow vegetation with a non-selective herbicide containing sodium cacodylate as the principal active ingredient increased the numbers of soil bacteria and decreased the numbers of fungi. Both effects were short term and failed to persist throughout the growing season. Results of laboratory experiments were similar to those obtained from the field study, suggesting that the effects of non-selective vegetation control on the soil microorganisms were caused primarily by the herbicide rather than secondarily by death of the vegetation.
BIRTH WEIGHT AND ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT IN CHILDHOOD

Research has shown that birth weight has a lasting impact on later-life outcomes such as educational attainment and earnings. This paper examines the role of health at birth in determining academic achievement in childhood, which may provide the link between birth weight and adult outcomes. Using three waves of the Child Development Supplement of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics data over 1997-2007, we build on the literature by employing the fetal growth rate as a proxy for net nutritional intake in utero and propose a nested error-component two-stage least squares estimator that draws on internal instruments from alternative dimensions of the multilevel panel data set. In particular, this alternative estimator allows us to exploit the information on children with no siblings in the sample, which comprise over 40% of the observations in our sample, as well as to obtain coefficient estimates for the time-invariant variables such as race and maternal education. This would not be feasible with the usual mother fixed effects estimation. We obtain modest but significant effects of both birth weight and the fetal growth rate on math and reading scores, with the effects concentrated in the low birth weight range. Infant health measures appear to explain little of the well-documented racial disparity in test scores.
Auto-focusing in the scanning white-light interferometer

Recently, the industrial optical inspection has been a mainstream in measuring 2D images or 3D profiles of microstructures. For the 3D profiling, the scanning white-light interferometer has a high resolution, but due to the broadband light source, it has the low coherence length. Thus, it is very difficult to obtain the focused image with clear interfered fringes, and the traditional auto-focusing approaches usually determine the wrong focused position. This paper proposed a useful approach by the passive auto-focusing to determine the accurate focus for the scanning white-light interferometers. Some experimental results are presented to verify the feasibility of the proposed approach.
Measuring and overcoming limits of the Saffman-Delbrück model for soap film viscosities.

We observe tracer particles diffusing in soap films to measure the two-dimensional (2D) viscous properties of the films. Saffman-Delbruck type models relate the single-particle diffusivity to parameters of the film (such as thickness h) for thin films, but the relation breaks down for thicker films. Notably, the diffusivity is faster than expected for thicker films, with the crossover at h/d = 5.2 ± 0.9 using the tracer particle diameter d. This indicates a crossover from purely 2D diffusion to diffusion that is more three-dimensional. We demonstrate that measuring the correlations of particle pairs as a function of their separation overcomes the limitations of the Saffman-Delbruck model and allows one to measure the viscosity of a soap film for any thickness.
Producing affect: Transnational volunteerism in a Malaysian orangutan rehabilitation center

In a postcolonial economy of volunteer tourism from the Global North to the Global South, mostly British women pay thousands of U.S. dollars to travel to Sarawak, on Malaysian Borneo, to work in a wildlife rehabilitation center. There, in a program operated as a public–private partnership, they provide hard labor to maintain and improve the facility and assist subcontracted indigenous Iban men in caring for displaced orangutans. Through the concept of “custodial labor,” I argue that affect produced at the interface of bodies in the work of orangutan rehabilitation also produces an unequal distribution of risk and vulnerability among those involved, across differences of species, classes, nationalities, and genders. My findings contribute to understandings of how humanity is constituted through multispecies encounters, help demonstrate how animals can be treated as subjects in ethnography, and show how affective encounters produce human and nonhuman subjectivities.
Spatio‐temporal variability of daily and weekly precipitation extremes in South America

[1] Spatial and temporal variability of precipitation extremes are investigated by utilizing daily observations available at 2.5° gridded fields in South America for the period 1940–2004. All 65 a of data from 1940–2004 are analyzed for spatial variability. The temporal variability is investigated at each spatial grid by utilizing 25-a moving windows from 1965–2004 and visualized through plots of the slope of the regression line in addition to its quality measure (R2). The Poisson-generalized Pareto (Poisson-GP) model, which is a peaks over threshold (POT) approach, is applied to weekly precipitation maxima residuals based on the 95%-quantile threshold, while daily data are utilized to analyze the number of consecutive daily extremes and daily extremes in a month based on the 99%-quantile threshold. Using the Poisson-GP model, we compute parameters of the GP distribution, return levels (RL) and a new measure called the precipitation extremes volatility index (PEVI). The PEVI measures the variability of extremes and is expressed as a ratio of return levels. From 1965–2004, the PEVI shows increasing trends in the Amazon basin except eastern parts, few parts of the Brazilian highlands, north-west Venezuela including Caracas, north Argentina, Uruguay, Rio De Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Asuncion, and Cayenne. Catingas, few parts of the Brazilian highlands, Sao Paulo and Cayenne experience increasing number of consecutive 2- and 3-days extremes from 1965–2004. The number of daily extremes, computed for each month, suggest that local extremes occur mostly from December to April with July to October being relatively quiet periods.
Experimental Investigation of Supplier-Retailer Contracts: The Wholesale Price Contract

We examine decision making in a simple supplier-retailer wholesale price contract in the experimental economics laboratory. We observe wholesale prices and order quantities below the game-theoretical predictions. The supply chain's efficiency is as predicted but profits are more equitably allocated. Cette etude en economie experimentale examine les contrats de prix en gros negocies entre un detaillant et un vendeur. Nous observons que les prix et les quantites negocies sont en dessous des previsions tirees du modele retenue en theorie des jeux. Les resultats experimentaux indiquent que l'efficacite de la chaine d'approvisionnement est inferieur a 100 % tel que predit par le modele. Par ailleurs, les profits sont alloues de facon plus equitable que l'allocation predite par le modele.
Fluorogenic Probes with Substitutions at the 2 and 7 Positions of Cephalosporin are Highly BlaC‐Specific for Rapid Mycobacterium tuberculosis Detection

Current methods for the detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) are either time consuming or require expensive instruments and are thus are not suitable for point-of-care diagnosis. The design, synthesis, and evaluation of fluorogenic probes with high specificity for BlaC, a biomarker expressed by Mtb, are described. The fluorogenic probe CDG-3 is based on cephalosporin with substitutions at the 2 and 7 positions and it demonstrates over 120 000-fold selectivity for BlaC over TEM-1 Bla, the most common β-lactamase. CDG-3 can detect 10 colony-forming units of the attenuated Mycobacterium bovis strain BCG in human sputum in the presence of high levels of contaminating β-lactamases expressed by other clinically prevalent bacterial strains. In a trial with 50 clinical samples, CDG-3 detected tuberculosis with 90 % sensitivity and 73 % specificity relative to Mtb culture within one hour, thus demonstrating its potential as a low-cost point-of-care test for use in resource-limited areas.
Pharyngeal Flap Is Effective Treatment for Post Maxillary Advancement Velopharyngeal Insufficiency in Patients With Repaired Cleft Lip and Palate

Purpose Patients with repaired cleft lip and cleft palate (CL/P) can develop velopharyngeal insufficiency (VPI) after Le Fort I maxillary advancement. The aim of this study was to evaluate speech outcomes in patients who required a pharyngeal flap after Le Fort I maxillary advancement. Patients and Methods This retrospective cohort study included all patients with repaired CL/P who underwent a Le Fort I osteotomy and subsequently required a pharyngeal flap to correct VPI. Patients were included if they had outcome measurements documented at 3 time points: 1) before Le Fort I (baseline), 2) after Le Fort I, and 3) after pharyngeal flap. Outcome measurements, including speech characteristics (resonance, nasal emission, and intraoral pressure) and velopharyngeal function, were evaluated on perceptual assessment by a speech pathologist specializing in cleft care. Velopharyngeal closure was assessed with multi-view videofluoroscopy or nasopharyngoscopy. Patient characteristics and descriptive statistics were summarized and continuous data were expressed as mean ± standard deviation. Repeated-measures analysis of variance and paired samples t test were used to measure changes in speech outcome variables between time points. All P values were 2-tailed and considered significant for values less than .05. Results There were 23 patients for analysis (13 girls [56.5%] and 10 boys [43.5%]). Two patients (9%) had cleft palate only, 9 (39%) had unilateral cleft lip and palate (CLP), and 12 (52%) had bilateral CLP. Follow-up evaluations performed on average 12 months postoperatively showed statistically meaningful improvement for all variables, including decreased hypernasality, reduced nasal emission, and increased intraoral pressure for consonant production. Patients with repaired CL/P who had VPI after Le Fort I maxillary advancement showed significant improvement in all outcome measurements after pharyngeal flap (P Conclusions The superiorly based pharyngeal flap is highly successful in correcting VPI after Le Fort I maxillary advancement in patients with repaired CL/P.
On the Airbreathing/Rocket Propulsion Relationship: For Advanced Spaceflight Systems, It's the Combination that Counts

Too often joint considerations of the two major classes of aerospace propulsion are thus addressed: Airbreathing versus Rocket Propulsion. But, prospectively, these two mot ive -power fields can yield a highly synergistic, combined means for enabling the high ambitions set for tomorrow’s space transport fleets to be realistically achieved. These goals foresee that true airline -like flight safety, dependability and cost aspirat ions are to be met in routine Earth -to -orbit and “highest speed” transglobal terrestrial transportation service. While spaceflight achievements to date have, in fact, been uniquely conducted through rocket propulsion, the compelling performance and operabi lity attributes of airbreathing propulsion continue to be heeded for their potential contributions to advanced transportation systems applications. This has led to considerations of combined airbreathing/rocket propulsion systems. The leading engineering c haracteristics of both airbreathing and rocket subsystems and technologies are discussed in this context of combined systems. In this, a distinction is made between combination propulsion systems (several vehicle -installed separate, non -interactive engine types), and combined -cycle engines (single flowpath, with several interactive subsystems). The latter choice is illustrated in terms of its characteristic hardware makeup and multimode operation by a description of the Ejector Scramjet combined -cycle engin e. This engine is depicted in powering a non -staged (SSTO)* orbital vehicle through its ascent phase. Key points of this overall presentation are compiled ahead of a set of concluding remarks.
Interculturality, identity, and self-determination in an Aboriginal cultural centre

ABSTRACTDiscussions of Indigenous rights are repeatedly mired in two complex areas of debate: the nature of relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples, and the perceptions people bring to their recognition of Indigenous and non-Indigenous identities. Accepting that questions of relation and questions of identity cannot be separated from one another, we can consider projects of Indigenous self-determination as ones that pursue not only political and economic authority, but also relationships that reflect a positive awareness of and engagement with Indigenous peoples’ identities. The outcomes of projects of self-determination, therefore, depend on the nature of intercultural exchange people experience in the process, and so the kinds of intercultural relationships established as a result. This article offers a case study from Muru Mittigar Aboriginal Cultural and Education Centre, established in Castlereagh, NSW for the purposes of advancing Darug culture; supporting the economic and social...
Psychological Therapies for Chronic Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

Trauma-focused cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) and eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) are more effective than other therapies in reducing PTSD symptom severity up to four months after treatment, but more robust studies are needed to evaluate the long-term effectiveness.
Endogenous Oncogenic Nras Signaling Promotes Proliferative Exhaustion of Hematopoietic Stem Cells Through a Dose-Dependent Hyperactivation of ERK,

Abstract Abstract 3997 Both monoallelic and biallelic oncogenic NRAS mutations are identified in human leukemias, suggesting a dose-dependent role of oncogenic NRAS in leukemogenesis. We recently characterized conditional mouse models that express one or two copies of constitutively active Nras G12D in the hematopoietic compartment (Nras G12D/+ and Nras G12D/G12D). Nras G12D/G12D results in stronger downstream signaling than Nras G12D/+ and consequently distinct hematopoietic phenotypes. In particular, we found that somatic expression of Nras G12D/G12D but not Nras G12D/+ leads to an acute myeloproliferative neoplasm (MPN). The development of acute MPN is associated with cytokine-evoked hyperactivation of ERK but not Stat5 and Akt in hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells (HSPCs). Interestingly, genetically altered HSCs appear to be required for initiation and maintenance of chronic and acute MPD phenotypes mediated by Nras G12D/+ and Nras G12D/G12D, respectively. Furthermore, Nras G12D/G12D-mediated signaling promotes excessive HSC proliferation and leading to HSC exhaustion. Exhaustion of HSCs is tightly associated with diminished MPN phenotypes in non-engineered recipient mice into which Nras G12D/G12D HSCs are transferred by bone marrow transplantation. To investigate the molecular mechanisms underlying the exhaustion of Nras G12D/G12D HSCs, we performed a microarray analysis using highly purified control, Nras G12D/+, and Nras G12D/G12D HSCs. To our surprise, neither p16INK4a and p15INK4b, critical cell senescence genes, or other genes or pathways known to involve in HSC self-renewal were differentially expressed in Nras G12D/G12D HSCs. In contrast, gene ontology analysis revealed significant differential expression of genes in the MEK/ERK pathway in Nras G12D/G12D HSCs. This result is consistent with our phospho-flow study showing that Nras G12D/G12D selectively hyperactivates ERK in HSPCs. It has been documented that prolonged ERK signaling is a potent inducer of differentiation in cultured PC12 cells and inhibition of normal ERK signaling by a chemical inhibitor increases self-renewal in mouse embryonic stem cells. Thus, we are currently testing whether hyperactivation of ERK promotes depletion of Nras G12D/G12D HSCs through promoting HSC differentiation and whether blocking hyperactivation of ERK restores the normal HSC function and prevents MPN development. Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.
¬Peirce’s Creative Hallucinations in the Ontogeny of Abductive Reasoning

This inquiry proposes that Peirce’s ultimate concept of dreams, which can be sub-divided in seven different functions, supply the raw material for habit-change inherent in every plausible inference. With references to developmental literature, I propose that dreams represent an outlet whereby children rely upon vivid directional icons of events (virtual habits) in reconciling logical anomalies provoked by unexpected happenings. Accordingly, dreams supply insights into how potential happenings materialize – identifying which factors can enhance/enrich the effectiveness of potential event outcomes. Dreams of this creative kind are not obsessional or socially driven but rather form the bedrock for conceiving of many meritorious insights, as shown in phenomena like children’s prelinguistic habits, word substitutions, overextensions, role-play and perspective taking.
Vibrational frequencies and structural determinations of Pb6O(OH)64

Abstract The vibrational frequencies and corresponding normal mode assignments of Pb 6 O(OH) 6 4+ are examined theoretically using the gaussian 98 set of quantum chemistry codes and compared against available experimental data. All normal modes were successfully assigned to one of four types of motion predicted by a group theoretical analysis (Pb–O stretch, O–H stretch, O–H wag, and Pb–O–Pb bend) utilizing the C 2 v symmetry of the molecule. The molecular orbitals of Pb 4 (OH) 4 4+ are examined.
Manual and Flow-Injection Detection/Quantification of Polyquaterniums via Fully Reversible Polyion-Sensitive Polymeric Membrane-Based Ion-Selective Electrodes.

The detection of four different polyquaterniums (PQs) using a fully reversible potentiometric polyion sensor in three different detection modes is described. The polyion sensing “pulstrodes” serve as the detector for direct dose-response experiments, beaker titrations, and in a flow-injection analysis (FIA) system. Direct polycation response toward PQ-2, PQ-6, PQ-10, and poly(2-methacryloxyethyltrimethylammonium) chloride (PMETAC) yield characteristic information about each PQ species (e.g., relative charge densities, etc.) via syringe pump addition of each PQ species to a background electrolyte solution. Quantitative titrations are performed using a syringe pump to deliver heparin as the polyanion titrant to quantify all four PQs at µg/mL levels. Both the direct and indirect methods incorporate the use of a three-electrode system including counter, double junction reference, and working electrodes. The working electrode possesses a plasticized PVC membrane containing the neutral lipophilic salt of dinony...
Toward a Cognitive Neural Prosthesis Using Focused Ultrasound.

Noninvasive brain stimulation using focused ultrasound has many potential applications as a research and clinical tool, including its incorporation as either an extracorporeal or implantable neural prosthetic. To this end, we investigated the effect of focused ultrasound (FUS) combined with systemically administered microbubbles on visual-motor decision-making behavior in monkeys. We applied FUS to the putamen in one hemisphere to open the blood-brain barrier, and then tested behavioral performance 3-4 hours later. On days when the monkeys were treated with FUS, their decisions were faster and more accurate than days without sonication. The performance improvement suggested both a shift in the decision criterion and an enhancement of the use of sensory evidence in the decision process. FUS also interacted with the effect of a low dose of haloperidol. The findings indicate that a two-minute application of FUS can have a sustained impact on performance of complex cognitive tasks, and may increase the efficacy of psychoactive medications. The results lend further support to the idea that the dorsal striatum plays an integral role in evidence- and reward-based decision-making, and provide motivation for incorporating focused ultrasound into cognitive neural prosthetic devices.
The Child Custody Standard

Although divorce rates in the United States appear to be on the decline, the legal process of divorce and the psychological, social, and economic problems associated with it are still a common experience for many children. Estimates predict that over 40% of all children will be confronted with and will have to adjust to the legal divorce of their parents (Bahr, Howe, Mann, & Bahr, 1994). Yet, contrary to public perception, a substantially smaller percentage of these children will have the structure of their future custodial relationship with their parents resolved through adversarial litigation in the court system (Bahr et al., 1994). Exact projections of custody disputes determined by court litigation are difficult to calculate, but large-scale empirical studies completed in different jurisdictions have found that 6–20% of all child custody cases are eventually decided in the courtroom (Bahr et al., 1994; Maccoby & Mnookin, 1992; Melton, Petrilia, Poythress, & Slobogin, 1997; Santilla & Roberts, 1990). While contested custody disputes are thought to have the greatest negative psychological impact on the children involved, it is widely believed that the process of divorce itself is likely to generate substantial, long-term, negative psychological sequelae in children. Empirical support for this belief is substantial; empirical studies have estimated that approximately 16% of children of divorce report clinical levels of maladjustment (Fiddler & Saunders, 1988) and that children of divorce are two to three times more likely to experience emotional problems than children from intact families (Akre, 1992).1
(Ir)rational choices of humans, rhesus macaques, and capuchin monkeys in dynamic stochastic environments.

Abstract Human and animal decision-making is known to violate rational expectations in a variety of contexts. Previous models suggest that statistical structures of real-world environments can favor such seemingly irrational behavior, but this has not been tested empirically. We tested 16 capuchin monkeys, seven rhesus monkeys, and 30 humans in a computerized experiment that implemented such stochastic environments. Subjects chose from among up to three options of different value that disappeared and became available again with different probabilities. All species overwhelmingly chose transitively (A > B > C) in the control condition, where doing so maximized overall gain. Most subjects also adhered to transitivity in the test condition, where it was suboptimal, but ultimately led to negligible losses compared to the optimal, non-transitive strategy. We used a modelling approach to show that differences in temporal discounting may account for this pattern of choices on a proximate level. Specifically, when short- and long-term goals are valued similarly, near-optimal decision rules can map onto rational choice principles. Such cognitive shortcuts have been argued to have evolved to preserve mental resources without sacrificing good decision-making, and here we provide evidence that these heuristics can provide almost identical outcomes even in situations in which they lead to suboptimal choices.
Survey of VoIP Security Research Literature

We followed a structured approach to compiling the list of papers. While we do not claim to have all VoIP security papers, we have identified as many as was possible using our methodology.
Spatial and temporal changes in ecosystem carbon pools following juniper encroachment and removal

Proliferation of woody plants is a predominant global land cover change of the past century, particularly in dryland ecosystems. Woody encroachment and its potential impacts (e.g., livestock forage, wildlife habitat, hydrological cycling) have led to widespread brush management. Although woody plants may have substantial impacts on soils, uncertainty remains regarding woody encroachment and brush management influences on carbon (C) pools. Surface C pools (shallow soils and litter) may be particularly dynamic in response to encroachment and brush management. However, we have limited understanding of spatiotemporal patterns of surface C responses or how surface pools respond relative to aboveground C, litter, roots, and deep soil organic C. Spatial variability and lack of basic ecological data in woody-encroached dryland ecosystems present challenges to filling this data gap. We assessed the impact of western juniper (Juniperus occidentalis) encroachment and removal on C pools in a semi-arid sagebrush ecosystem. We used spatially-intensive sampling to create sub-canopy estimates of surface soil C (0–10 cm depth) and litter C pools that consider variation in tree size/age and sub-canopy location for live juniper and around stumps that were cut 7 years prior to sampling. We coupled the present size distribution of junipers with extensive existing allometric information about juniper in this region to estimate how landscape-level C pools would change through time under future management and land cover scenarios. Juniper encroachment and removal leads to substantial changes in C pools. Best-fit models for surface soil and litter C included positive responses to shrub basal diameter and negative responses to increasing relative distance from the bole to dripline. Juniper removal led to a net loss of surface C as a function of large decreases in litter C and small increases in surface soil C. At the landscape scale, deep soil C was the largest C pool (77 Mg C ha−1), with an apparent lack of sensitivity to management. Overall, encroachment led to substantial increases in C storage over time as juniper size increased (excluding deep soil C, ecosystem C pools increased from 13.5 to 30.2 Mg C ha−1 with transition from sagebrush-dominated to present encroachment levels). The largest pool of accumulation was juniper aboveground C, with important other pools including juniper roots, litter, and surface soil C. Woody encroachment and subsequent brush management can have substantive impacts on ecosystem C pools, although our data suggest the spatiotemporal patterns of surface C pools need to be properly accounted for to capture C pool responses. Our approach of coupling spatially-intensive surface C information with shrub distribution and allometric data is an effective method for characterizing ecosystem C pools, offering an opportunity for filling in knowledge gaps regarding woody encroachment and brush management impacts on local-to-regional ecosystem C pools.
The Sandia Fracture Challenge: How Ductile Failure Predictions Fare

The Sandia Fracture Challenges provide the mechanics community a forum for assessing its ability to predict ductile fracture through a blind, round-robin format where computationalists are asked to predict the deformation and failure of an arbitrary geometry given experimental calibration data. This presentation will cover the three Sandia Fracture Challenges, with emphasis on the third. The third Challenge, issued in 2017, consisted of an additively manufactured 316L stainless steel tensile bar with through holes and internal cavities that could not have been conventionally machined. The volunteer prediction teams were provided extensive materials data from tensile tests of specimens printed on the same build tray to electron backscatter diffraction microstructural maps and micro-computed tomography scans of the Challenge geometry. The teams were asked a variety of questions, including predictions of variability in the resulting fracture response, as the basis for assessment of their predictive capabilities. This presentation will describe the Challenges and compare the experimental results to the predictions, identifying gaps in capabilities, both experimentally and computationally, to inform future investments. The Sandia Fracture Challenge has evolved into the Structural Reliability Partnership, where researchers will create several blind challenges covering a wider variety of topics in structural reliability. This presentation will also describe this new venture.
NDEC guidelines for development and evaluation of diagnoses.

This column describes the work of the Nursing Diagnosis Extension and Classification (NDEC) research team, which works in a collaborative agreement with NANDA to refine and extend the nursing diagnosis classification. Information in this column is for feedback and dialog only, and does not indicate NANDA acceptance of the content. NDEC contributions and recommendations will be processed by NANDA through its DRC Committee. Postscript. A joint meeting of members from NANDA and NDEC occurred in Boston after this column was submitted. Present were: Dr. Dorothy Jones (President, NANDA), Drs. Marjory Gordon and T. Heather Herdman (Co-chairs, DRC Committee), and Dr. Martha Craft-Rosenberg (Co-principal investigator, NDEC). The purpose of the meeting was to clarify and strengthen the collaborative relationship between NANDA and NDEC. NDEC's guidelines for development and evaluation of diagnoses vary somewhat from NANDA criteria for staging nursing diagnoses. For example, NDEC guidelines state that a nursing diagnosis label is a noun phrase, whereas NANDA's definition of a diagnosis label is “a concise term or phrase that represents a pattern of related cues” (NANDA, 1999, pp. 149–150). The people at the recent meeting determined that guideline development would occur jointly, along with a periodic review of those guidelines. The next issue of tills column will be devoted to highlighting the ongoing collaborative relationship between NANDA and NDEC. It is our hope that this format will stimulate dialogue among the readership.
Health Professionals Perceived Concerns and Challenges in Providing Palliative and End-of-Life Care: A Qualitative Analysis.

Background:The Institute of Medicine identifies that quality palliative/end-of-life (EOL) care should be provided to patients with serious, life-limiting illnesses and their families by competently...
Preparation of Artesunate mPEG-PLGA Nanoparticles and Its Application to K562 Apoptosis of cells

Abstract The preparation process of artesunate-loaded polyethylene glycol monomethyl ether-polylactic acid-glycolic acid affinity block copolymer (mPEG-PLGA) nanoparticles and its growth inhibition on human leukemia K562 cells were investigated. METHODS: Artesunate mPEG-PLGA nanoparticles (Art-Nps) were prepared by modified self-emulsification method. The morphology of nanoparticles was characterized by scanning electron microscopy. The particle size distribution and zeta potential were measured by laser scattering particle size analyzer. The drug loading, encapsulation efficiency and in vitro release of Art-Nps were determined by chromatography. The proliferation and apoptosis of human leukemia K562 cells were observed by MTT assay and Hoechst staining. RESULTS: Art-Nps is a spherical solid particle with smooth surface, average particle size (156.70+/-1.01) nm, zeta potential of -(26.23+/-1.86) mV, average drug loading (14.51+/-0.20)%, average package. The sealing rate was (86.51+/-0.50)%, and the in vitro release law accorded with the Higuchi equation: Q=4.11t 1/2+27.05, R2=0.98. MTT assay showed that Art-Nps inhibited the proliferation of K562 cells in a time-dose-dependent manner, and the inhibition rate exceeded the artesunate-treated group after 72h, and sustained release. The number of cells was observed after cultured with different concentrations of Art-Nps for 48h. Significantly reduced, cell size is different, irregular shape, high magnification can be seen in the nucleus pyknosis, agglutination, and apoptotic bodies, and increased apoptotic bodies with increasing concentration.
NLP Whack-A-Mole: Challenges in Cross-Domain Temporal Expression Extraction

Incorporating domain knowledge is vital in building successful natural language processing (NLP) applications. Many times, cross-domain application of a tool results in poor performance as the tool does not account for domain-specific attributes. The clinical domain is challenging in this aspect due to specialized medical terms and nomenclature, shorthand notation, fragmented text, and a variety of writing styles used by different medical units. Temporal resolution is an NLP task that, in general, is domain-agnostic because temporal information is represented using a limited lexicon. However, domain-specific aspects of temporal resolution are present in clinical texts. Here we explore parsing issues that arose when running our system, a tool built on Newswire text, on clinical notes in the THYME corpus. Many parsing issues were straightforward to correct; however, a few code changes resulted in a cascading series of parsing errors that had to be resolved before an improvement in performance was observed, revealing the complexity temporal resolution and rule-based parsing. Our system now outperforms current state-of-the-art systems on the THYME corpus with little change in its performance on Newswire texts.
Virtually Better Diabetes Care

Despite growing awareness of the problem, the diabetes epidemic shows no signs of abating and continues to pose a public health problem of grave concern (1). Nonpharmacologic interventions focused on lifestyle modifications, including diet and exercise, remain a major component of therapy. Individualized nutrition therapy has been shown to be effective for improvement of the metabolic profile and weight loss. However, most studies of popular diets are usually of short duration and have high attrition rates (15–50% within 1 year) (2). Adherence to any prescribed diet is a real challenge, especially when we are surrounded by easily accessible, processed food of high caloric and low nutritional value. It is therefore not surprising that lifestyle modification often fails, and as health care providers (HCPs), we find ourselves compelled to add more and more pharmacotherapies and often recommend metabolic surgery to achieve therapeutic goals. Indeed, despite significant advances in pharmacotherapy, there has been no significant change in the percentage of people who achieve therapeutic goals (3). A key question that needs to be addressed is how HCPs can help patients adhere to a treatment plan that will enable them to achieve and sustain improvements in metabolic control. One of the most essential components of diabetes care is access to an HCP. There is a significant shortage of primary care providers and endocrinologists in the United States, with the rising number of patients with diabetes outstripping the number of HCPs (4). Endocrinologists are asked to see more patients in less time, and new patients may have to wait for months to be seen. The problem is even worse for patients in remote areas, who must travel long distances to be seen. It is also commonly observed that patients …
Cost-effectiveness of a nurse-delivered, inpatient smoking cessation intervention

Randomized controlled trials have shown that inpatient tobacco cessation interventions are highly efficacious and cost-effective. However, the degree to which smoking interventions implemented in nonrandomized, real-world practice settings are effective, and consequently, cost-effective, remains unclear. This study evaluated the cost-effectiveness of a nurse-delivered, inpatient smoking cessation intervention, Tobacco Tactics, compared with usual care within the context of an observational, real-world study design. In this quasi-experimental study, five Michigan hospitals (N = 1,370 patients) were assigned to implement either Tobacco Tactics or usual care during October 2011-May 2013. Statistical analysis was conducted during January 2017-February 2018. Controlling for confounding using stabilized inverse probability of treatment weights, incremental cost-effectiveness ratios were calculated and cost-effectiveness acceptability curves were generated. The per person cost of tobacco cessation services in the intervention group exceeded that of usual care ($175.52 vs. $67.80; p < .001). The intervention group had a higher propensity-adjusted self-reported quit rate compared to the control group (15.7% vs. 7.0%; p < .0001). The propensity-adjusted incremental cost-effectiveness ratio was $1,325 per quit (95% confidence interval: $751-$2,462), with 99.9% probability of being cost-effective at a willingness to pay of $5,000 per quit. The Tobacco Tactics intervention was found to be cost-effective and well within the range of incremental cost-per-quit findings from other studies of tobacco cessation interventions, which range from $918 to $23,200, adjusted for inflation.
Retinal Circadian Clocks are Major Players in the Modulation of Retinal Functions and Photoreceptor Viability

Circadian rhythms control many biochemical and physiological functions within the body of an organism. These circadian rhythms are generated by a molecular clock that is located in almost every cell of the body. Accumulating data indicate that dysfunction of the circadian clock negatively affects the health status of the tissue in which the circadian clock has been disabled. The eye also contains a complex circadian system that regulates many important functions such as the processing of light information, the release of neurotransmitters, and phagocytic activity by the retinal pigment epithelium, to name just a few. Emerging experimental evidence indicates that dysfunction of the circadian clock within the retina has severe consequence for retinal function and photoreceptor viability. The aim of this review is to provide the reader with a summary of current knowledge about the eye circadian system and what effects emerge with a disruption of this system.
Compact Java Monitors.

For scope and context, the idea we'll describe below, Compact Java Monitors, is intended as a potential replacement implementation for the ``synchronized'' construct in the HotSpot JVM. The readers is assumed to be familiar with current HotSpot implementation.
Triaxial Testing of Marine Sediments with High Gas Contents

Gas types, zonation present in marine sediments, the corresponding mechanism of bubble formation, and methods of performing triaxial tests on gassy sediments are discussed. Gases (methane and hydrogen sulfide; methane gaspredominates) may be found either in solution or in the bubble phase in the sediment. A method to estimate the amount of gas that theoretically comes out of solution is shown. The result of gas bubbles is a reduction in the bulk modulus of the pore fluid. The bulk modulus of a gas-water mixture decreases with increasing fluid pressure. Results of decreasing bulk modulus are shown to reduce the pore pressure increment per application of a load increment. Triaxial testing techniques are recommended when (1) gas is in solution, (2) gas is in the bubble phase, and (3) gas is still evolving.
Basic Instincts: Economic Analysis, Legal Theory and the Dynamics of Participation

I have written many times about the central role of institutional choice and comparative institutional analysis in analyzing law and public policy. In this paper, I focus on an approach to comparative institutional analysis and the analysis of law and public policy that bridges analytical and ideological gaps. The central feature of this approach is participation. Participation provides important links between economic, non-economic and even anti-economic analyses. It should be comfortable both to those interested in law and economics and to those interested in civic republicanism. It provides a way for law and economics to return to the basic instincts of economics and to explore areas of law and public policy previously foreign to law and economics. It also provides a way for non-economists to gain from valuable economic insights while remaining consistent with their primary intuitions. In the first two sections, I will clear the ground for analysis by showing why institutional choice and comparative institutional analysis are the essence of economics and the core of law. In the process, issues of participation and the dynamics of participation will begin to surface. In the third section, I will focus directly on participation and show its place in the intuitions of both economics and law. In the fourth section, I will use these insights to explore the character of the courts and the interaction between goal choice and institutional choice.
The MP (Materialization Pattern) Model for Representing Math Educational Standards

Representing natural languages with UML has been an important research issue for various reasons. Little work has been done for modeling imperative mood sentences which are the sentence structure of math educational standard statements. In this paper, we propose the MP (Materialization Pattern) model that captures the semantics of English sentences used in math educational standards. The MP model is based on the Reed-Kellogg sentence diagrams and creates MP schemas with the UML notation. The MP model explicitly represents the semantics of the sentences by extracting math concepts and the cognitive process of math concepts from math educational standard statements, and simplifies modeling. This MP model is also developed to be used for aligning math educational standard statements via schema matching.
Warrantless GPS Tracking: Who Cares About Vehicle Transponders â€“ What About Your Cell Phone?

The government now regularly gathers information from individualsâ€™ smartphones.Â Cellular providers are allowing the government to access the GPS data that usersâ€™ smartphones exchange with the provider.Â While there are legitimate purposes for this disclosure without the consent of the smartphone user, there are many instances were no emergency situation exists and no search warrant is even sought.Â The law currently views sharing GPA data with a cellular provider as a voluntarily disclosure, creating a lesser expectation of privacy.Â Although posting locations on social networking sites is a clear public disclosure, using modern technology for directions or other conveniences should not cause an individual to forfeit privacy.
Ethical Cognition of Business Students Individually and in Groups

This study provides evidence regarding the level of ethical cognition of business students at the entry to college as compared to a national norm. It also provides comparative evidence on the effects of group versus individual ethical cognition upon completion of a business ethics course. The Principled Score (P-score) from the Defining Issues Test (DIT) was used to measure the ethical cognition of a total sample of 301 business students (273 entering students plus 28 students in a business ethics course). The results indicate that (1) business students are not significantly different from the national norms at entry to college and (2) group reasoning helps male students improve their P-scores significantly in the business ethics course at a loss of P-score (albeit not statistically significant) for female students.
Contributing factors to adoption of electronic medical records in otolaryngology offices

Objectives/Hypothesis (1) To determine the characteristics of outpatient otolaryngology offices with an electronic medical record (EMR) system, and (2) to compare those characteristics with the trends in surgical and medical specialties. Study Design Cross-sectional analysis of U.S. representative data from the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS). Methods The 2005 to 2010 NAMCS datasets were analyzed. Physicians' specialty was recoded as otolaryngology, all surgical specialties, and all specialties combined. Physician offices with all- or partial-EMR system adoption were then compared to offices without EMR systems with respect to year; geographic region; urban setting; office setting; practice type; practice ownership; employment status; and revenues from Medicare, Medicaid, private insurance, and patient payment. Results Upon univariate analysis, EMR use was significantly higher among otolaryngology practices located in metropolitan areas and practices run or owned by larger groups of practitioners. Sources of patient revenue did not correlate with the likelihood of EMR use. Multivariate analysis revealed that EMR use by otolaryngologists was significantly associated with group practices and offices owned by institutions. Similar associations were observed with surgical specialties combined in addition to a higher EMR usage in practices with more than 25% of total revenue from private insurance. Conclusions EMR utilization by otolaryngology practices appears similar to that of other specialties, and is more likely in metropolitan areas and larger practice settings. Despite the announcement of incentive programs under Medicare and Medicaid in 2009, EMR usage was not dependent on the percentage of physicians' total revenue from these sources. Level of Evidence N/A. Laryngoscope, 123:2658–2663, 2013
Physical Education Teaching Methods Made Meaningful.

(1974). Physical Education Teaching Methods Made Meaningful. Journal of Health, Physical Education, Recreation: Vol. 45, No. 6, pp. 50-50.
A monomorphism theorem for the inverse limit of nested retracts

Various characterizations are offered of injectivity of the canonical fundamental group homomorphism for a certain class of inverse limit spaces. One application characterizes the existence of a kind of generalized universal cover.