cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The Influence of Daylength on Reproductive Timing in the Red Crossbill

Early studies of reproductive timing in birds led to generalizations overemphasizing the importance of daylength as a regulating factor. Daylength is certainly important in stimulating gonadal development in many insectivorous passerines of temperate latitudes, but other factors, such as rainfall or its consequences, appear to control time of breeding in some birds of desert and tropical regions (Keast and Marshall, 1954; Miller, 1959, 1961; Immelmann, 1963; Oksche et al., 1963). Moreover, the unpredictable occurrence of reproduction in the Red Crossbill (Loxia curvirostra) suggests the influence of nonphotoperiodic factors on this largely boreal species. The Red Crossbill probably has the most erratic breeding schedule of any North American bird. At various localities in its range, it has been found over a period of time breeding in every month of the year. The nomadic tendencies of this species make the situation even more unusual. A locality inhabited by breeding birds in one year may not be used for several years thereafter. These irregularities in timing and location of breeding suggest that reproduction in this species is not primarily dependent on daylength. The extent of this dependence is analyzed in this paper.
Cutting Through the Fog: A Window into Complexity

Policy design takes place in an environment of extreme uncertainty and complexity. This paper addresses how we integrate human decision making capacity with the realities of complex systems in order to yield positive outcomes and avoid decision paralysis. It begins with a discussion of naturalistic or expert decision making and describes biases that can be introduced into the process through the use of heuristics which can result in suboptimal choices. From there, a high level description and overview of complexity science is presented in terms of an alternative paradigm to help explain why heuristics can be a double edged sword in decision making in a complex implementation environment. Finally, a new tool is described that may be useful in reviewing policy in the context of a vague and uncertain political and societal environment.
Recycling Utilization of Secondary Resource Metals in Circular Economy

The connotation of circular economy is briefly explained and the importance of recycling utilization of secondary resource metals in the circular economy is clarified. After the introduction of principle process for recycling the metals,the development trend of recycling utilization of the metals is proposed.
Primary tracheoesophageal puncture and cricopharyngeal myotomy in stapler-assisted total laryngectomy.

Objective To evaluate the utility of the hybrid tracheoesophageal puncture procedure in stapler-assisted laryngectomy. Methods Patients who underwent total laryngectomy at a single institution from 2009 to 2015 were reviewed. The interventions assessed were surgical creation of a tracheoesophageal puncture and placement of a voice prosthesis. The outcomes measured included voicing ability and valve failure. Results Thirty-nine patients underwent total laryngectomy or pharyngolaryngectomy. Of these, nine underwent stapler-assisted laryngectomy; seven of the nine patients underwent concurrent stapler-assisted laryngectomy, cricopharyngeal myotomy and a hybrid tracheoesophageal puncture procedure. These seven patients were the focus of this review. Successful voicing and oral alimentation was achieved in all patients. Mean time to phonation was 30 days (range, 7-77 days) and mean time to first valve change was 90 days (range, 35-117 days). Conclusion Primary tracheoesophageal puncture with concurrent voice prosthesis placement and cricopharyngeal myotomy is easily performed with stapler-assisted laryngectomy. The hybrid tracheoesophageal puncture procedure is a simple method that enables a single operator to achieve primary tracheoesophageal puncture and valve placement; in addition, it facilitates concurrent cricopharyngeal myotomy.
Reconstructing Past Watershed and Ecosystem Development in the Coast Mountains, British Columbia, Canada

Conventionally, records of glacial activity over the Holocene period (~ the last 10,000 years) have been reconstructed by dating the terminal and lateral moraines of alpine glaciers (Grove 1988). This approach has yielded extensive information on the timing of glacial activity. However, one of the major limitations of moraine-based chronologies is their lack of continuity; at best they provide “snapshots” on the timing of glacial positions, occasionally with information on retreat phases. This problem is compounded in western Canada, as in many regions, by the fact that the most recent phase of glacial activity, commonly referred to as the Little Ice Age, was the most extensive glacial advance of the Holocene. Hence, as glaciers expanded to their Little Ice Age maxima, they over-rode, reworked, and destroyed evidence of previous events. The example presented here demonstrates how lake sediments from Kokwaskey Lake, located within the Kwoiek Creek watershed, Coast Mountains of British Columbia (50° N, 122.8° W; elevation 1,050 m), provide a solution to this problem.
Theoretical studies of intersystem crossing effects in the O+H2 reaction

We present a general procedure for studying intersystem crossing effects in bimolecular chemical reactions, along with an application of this to the O+H2 reaction. In this procedure, we use previously derived singlet and triplet potential energy surfaces that were based on high quality multireference configuration interaction (MRCI) nonrelativistic electronic structure calculations, and the coupling surface is obtained from lower level complete active space self-consistent field (CASSCF) calculations using the effective nuclear charge one-electron Breit–Pauli expression for the spin-orbit interaction. We find that the resulting spin-orbit splittings match the known values for O(3P), O(1D), and OH(2Π) sufficiently accurately to be useful for dynamics calculations. Also, the electronic basis can be truncated to seven states (1 3A′, 1 3A″, and 1 1A′) without seriously distorting these asymptotic splittings. We show that the seven states may be exactly decoupled into a set of four, which contains the singlet,...
Workshop summaries from the 2015 Sex and Gender Medical Education Summit: utilization of sex and gender based medical education resources and creating student competencies.

Despite overwhelming evidence that sex and gender are critical factors in the delivery and practice of medicine, there is no unified sex- and gender-based medicine (SGBM) undergraduate medical education curriculum. Two Workshops within the 2015 Sex and Gender Medical Education Summit: a Roadmap to Curricular Innovation sought to lay the framework for such a curriculum. Attendees to the Sex and Gender Educational Summit self-selected attendance for one of two Workshops: (A) Utilization of SGBM Resources in U.S. Medical Schools or (B) Creating SGBM Student Competencies. Workshop A identified gaps in existing curricula as well as strategies for incorporating available SGBM content into existing educational activities or curricular threads. Focus was given to the use of advisory committees to nurture collaboration and sharing of resources. Workshop B created a framework for national SGBM competencies by adapting existing materials from women’s health curricula such as Brown University’s SGBM Emergency Medicine subspecialty. The importance of student engagement, assessment, and faculty development were stressed as well as engaging the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) in awareness of the vital nature of including SGBM content into all medical school curricula. These Workshops provided a forum for national and international institutional representatives to lay a foundation for integration of SGBM into medical school curricula and the development of national SGBM Student Competencies.
Low-temperature vapour phase polymerized polypyrrole nanobrushes for supercapacitors

A low-temperature modified vapour-phase synthesis allows for the deposition of high aspect ratio, conductive and capacitive one-dimensional nanostructures of the conducting polymer polypyrrole onto three-dimensional fibrous substrates. Nanofibrillar polypyrrole resembling nanobrushes can be deposited at temperatures as low as 50 °C without the use of hard templates. When deposited on a conductive substrate such as hard carbon paper, the nanofibers exhibit a three-electrode specific capacitance of 144.7 F g−1 over a 1.2 V window in 1 M lithium perchlorate with good reversibility. Two electrode electrochemical capacitors fabricated using polypyrrole on hard carbon paper exhibit a specific energy ranging from 7 to 13 W h kg−1 based on average electrode active mass with a maximum charging voltage between 0.6 and 1 V. Furthermore, the devices can undergo 200 000 cycles while retaining 70% of their initial capacitance when charged to 0.6 V. This work represents a significant advance in the synthesis of nanostructured polypyrrole from the vapor phase.
Redistributing the pressure of prosthetic systems

Limb amputation currently affects 1.7 million people in the United States. Approximately half have experienced a below knee amputation. While current prosthetic leg designs provide amputees with increased mobility, these systems have limitations. Many users experience pain and discomfort while using the current prosthetic designs, including the pin lock, elevated vacuum, and suspension sleeve systems. The goal of this work is to develop a below-knee prosthetic system which will reduce the discomfort experienced by the user at the distal end of the residual limb, thus improving quality of life. To examine the source of discomfort, a static and dynamic model of the user's impact force during the gait cycle was developed. Two sources of impact force were investigated, the impact of the residual limb contacting the bottom of the socket, and the impact of heel strike during the gait cycle. Computational results from the static and dynamic model indicate that the impact force due to the residual limb contacting the bottom of the socket is negligible when compared to the impact force generated at heel strike. These results were consistent with both the analysis of measured forces obtained using force plates, and other studies that analyzed the impact forces of trans-tibial amputees during their gait cycle using force plates. Various design concepts have been developed and tested, which focus on the redistribution of forces experienced due to heel strike. Future aspects of this ongoing effort include evaluating and refining the current testing methods, along with conducting more tests to determine whether the new designs reduce pressure and discomfort.
Big Books, Big Data, and Reading Literary Histories

This essay examines the ways in which the single-authored, period literary history has been challenged since the original Oxford History of English Literature series appeared in the mid twentieth century. The volumes in the new Oxford English Literary History appearing in the twenty-first century, intended for the “general reader,” must negotiate charges of imposing a reductive grand narrative whose scholarship is rapidly outdated on one hand, and of working with too small a sample of texts to make historical claims on the other. The advent of electronic databases such as EEBO and ECCO invite new forms of history writing, from “distant reading” by computer, to more inclusive documentary-style formats that emphasize richness of the particular and idiosyncratic as well as reveal the larger patterns.
Abstract 2681: Mutations in Smooth Muscle-Specific Contractile Proteins Cause Familial Thoracic Aortic Aneurysms and Dissections and Lead to Increased IGF-1 Expression

Aortic aneurysms and dissections are the most common disorders affecting the aorta, and are a major cause of morbidity and mortality in the United States. Familial thoracic aortic aneurysms and dissections (FTAAD) are inherited in an autosomal dominant manner with variable expression and decreased penetrance. The disorder is genetically heterogeneous with four loci and three genes identified. Mutations in either TGFBR2 , encoding the transforming growth factor β (TGF-β) type II receptor, or MYH11 , encoding the smooth muscle cell (SMC)-specific β-myosin heavy chain, were previously found to cause FTAAD. Recently, positional cloning identified smooth muscle α-actin ( ACTA2 ) mutations as a novel cause in 10% of FTAAD. Mutations in ACTC and MYH7 cause hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), characterized by myocyte disarray and upregulation of mitotic and trophic factors. Histologic examination of aortic tissue from patients with ACTA2 (n = 6) and MYH11 (n = 2) mutations revealed SMC disarray in the aortic media similar to that seen in HCM. Furthermore, we hypothesized that mutations in ACTA2 and MYH11 cause a similar increase of mitotic and trophic factors in SMCs. The expression of two factors known to be increased in HCM, TGF-β1 and insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), were analyzed in patients’ aortic SMCs and dermal myofibroblasts. No changes in TGF-β1 were found; however, both mRNA, as measured by Q-PCR (p MYH11 and two ACTA2 mutant SMCs and aortic tissue compared with control SMCs and tissue. Differentiation of dermal fibroblasts into myofibroblasts was accomplished using TGF-β1 treatment; myofibroblast differentiation was confirmed by assessing α-actin mRNA and protein levels in untreated vs. TGF-β1-treated fibroblasts. Upon differentiation, patients’ myofibroblasts (n = 3) demonstrated increased IGF-1 expression compared with controls (p
A Model for Fracture Characterization of Adhesively-Bonded Joints

In this paper, an analytical model is proposed to characterize the fracture behavior of an adhesively bonded joint loaded in peel. Unlike previous theories, the current model includes some new parameters, such as young’s modulus of adhesive material, thickness of adhesive layer, and parameter c in the stress function, which will be determined by solving a nonlinear equation. The new developed model also takes into account the crack tip rotation. To verify the current work, comprehensive comparison is made between previous theories, experimental data, and current model. Result shows that the current model is better than previous theories in regards to the coincidence with experimental data. The effect of each key parameter on the prediction is also discussed in this paper.
On-Line Wind Field Calculations for Routine and Emergency Response Applications

The task at hand was to generate a complete terrain-corrected three-dimensional wind field for a coastal area that has very rough terrain from real-time input data. This wind field could then be used for routine wind flow applications as well as for emergency reponse. This meant that the wind flow model that we chose not only had to be accurate, but also had to be quick. The three dimensional wind field then had to be displayed in a way that would be easily interpreted by anyone. A maximum response time of 5 to 10 minutes was thought to be acceptable because the model was to run on a microcomputer.
Adolescent Emotional Control Moderates Benefits of a Multicomponent Intervention to Improve Type 1 Diabetes Adherence: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial.

Objective We previously tested via randomized controlled trial a novel intervention for adolescents with type 1 diabetes and above-target glycemic control that combined web-delivered incentives for self-monitoring of blood glucose (SMBG) and brief web counseling with working memory training and parental contingency contracting training. Results showed improved SMBG and decreased glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) at 6- and 12-month follow-ups. However, it has not been elucidated if improvements in SMBG mediated the immediate benefits of this treatment on HbA1c nor if this intensive intervention uniquely benefited a subgroup of adolescents with higher problems in emotional control. Methods Adolescents with type 1 diabetes and above-target glycemic control (n = 61) were randomized to receive the 6-month intervention (n = 30) or usual care (n = 31). Adolescents completed the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function-Self-Report, problems with emotional control subscale at baseline, and provided meter downloads to assess frequency of SMBG and completed an HbA1c blood draw at baseline and 6 months later. Results At 6-month follow-up, improvements in SMBG mediated the effects of receiving the treatment on having lower average HbA1c. Further, problems in emotional control moderated the benefits of the intervention on improvements in SMBG and in turn HbA1c. Only adolescents with above average problems in emotional control evidenced improvements in SMBG in response to treatment, which then explained lower HbA1c levels at 6-month follow-up. Conclusions This multicomponent, web-delivered intervention provided unique benefits for improving SMBG and lowering HbA1c in teens with higher problems in emotional control.
The differential impact of adverse childhood experiences in the development of pre-diabetes in a longitudinal cohort of US adults.

Abstract Background ACEs have a dose-response relationship with diabetes. The relationship between ACEs and pre-diabetes is not well known and may represent an effective area for prevention efforts. Methods Data from 1054 participants from two waves of the longitudinal MIDUS study were used. Multivariate general linear regression models assessed the relationship between ACEs and biomarker outcomes. Correlation tests and mediation models investigated the relationship between ACE and pre-diabetes. Results Individuals reporting ACEs were statistically significantly more likely to have higher BMI (1.13 (0.34–1.92)), higher waist circumference (2.74 (0.72–4.76)), elevated blood fasting insulin levels (2.36 (0.71–4.02)) and higher insulin resistance (HOMA-IR (0.57 (0.08–1.06)). BMI/waist circumference and insulin resistance did not maintain independent relationships with ACEs once HOMA-IR was included in the dichotomized ACE model (p = 0.05 and p = 0.06, respectively), suggesting the relationship between BMI and ACEs may be mediated by insulin resistance. Conclusions These results represent one of the first studies to examine the differential impact of ACEs on a diverse set of clinical pre-diabetes measures. Findings suggest sexual and physical abuse, and financial strain during childhood are important factors associated with higher risk for pre-diabetes, and should be considered during intervention development.
Promoting real reform in Africa 1

Africa is the world's poorest region. The core problem obstructing economic development in Africa is not a lack of resources, though that is a serious constraint in many countries. Aid flows to Africa, and to the developing world in general, have been driven by a long-standing theoretical model, which assumes the key missing ingredient for development is financing. Beyond the very partial implementation of economic reform lies the pervasive problem of corruption in Africa. Corruption is the bane of development and democracy in Africa. African leaders are keenly aware that their legitimacy has badly eroded at home and abroad. The hopes for an African renaissance now rest heavily with the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD). African civil societies and governments must join with one another and with the international community to monitor and enforce their governance obligations under NEPAD, and, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Indomethacin Inhibition of Pristane Plasmacytomagenesis in Genetically Susceptible Inbred Mice

In the peritoneal plasmacytomagenesis (PCTG) model system, plasmacytomas (PCTs) are induced when different kinds of metabolically inert substances (paraffin oils, silicones, polycarbonate solid discs) are introduced into the peritoneal cavities of genetically susceptible BALB/cAn mice. The PCTs develop morphologically in the chronic inflammatory tissue that forms in peritoneal connective tissues in response to these agents. The most extensively studied agent is pristane (2,6,10,14-tetramethylpentadecane)1,2. This induction system has been useful in identifying steps and biological determinants in plasma cell neoplasia. Important features of pristane PCTG in the mouse are: 1) the remarkable dependence on the BALB/cAn genotype and, specifically, the chromosome-4 PCT susceptibility genes Pctr 1 and Pctr23,4; 2) the consistent (>95%) appearance of chromosomal translocations t(6;15)or t(12;15) that are associated with rearrangement of Immunoglobulin (Ig) genes and c-myc and result in the deregulation of c-myc transcription5,6; 3) the influence of natural antigenic stimulation [Specific Pathogen Free BALB/cAnPt mice that have a very restricted exposure to environmental antigens are resistant to PCT induction by pristane7]; 4) the dependence upon the special vascular and immunological properties of the peritoneal space8; and 5) the dependence for growth and progression on the reactive chronic inflammatory microenvironments and cytokines, e.g., IL-69–11.
Forget me not: Encoding processes in value-directed remembering

Abstract Valuable items are often remembered better than less valuable items, but research on the mechanisms supporting this value effect is limited. In the current study, we sought to determine how items might be differentially encoded based on their value. In Experiment 1, participants studied words associated with point-values which were followed by a cue to either “Remember” the word for a later test or “Forget” the word. While to-be-forgotten words were recognized at a lower rate than to-be-remembered words, there was a significant effect of value for to-be-forgotten words when the “Forget” cue was presented immediately after the word, suggesting a relatively automatic enhancement of encoding by value. In Experiment 2, we examined to what extent participants engage in more effective encoding strategies for high-value items. Participants studied a list of words with different point-values, and were instructed either to construct a mental image of the item, use rote rehearsal to learn the items, or were not given any study strategy. There were significant effects of value for items that were studied under rote rehearsal or when no strategy instruction was given. However, effects of value were nearly eliminated when participants used a mental imagery strategy for all items as this strategy boosted memory for low-value items. In Experiment 3, we sought to replicate Experiment 2 with an encoding manipulations that required responses on each trial as a manipulation check. Participants were instructed to generate a sentence containing each item, count the consonants in each item, or were not given any encoding instructions. Consistent with Experiment 2, these manipulations eliminated the effects of value on recognition memory. Thus, it appears that participants engage in more effective encoding strategies for high-value words because the benefit of value was substantially reduced when participants were required to use the same encoding strategy for all items. Together, these results suggest that valuable items are encoded more effectively due to strategic, and to a lesser extent, automatic mechanisms.
Fine-Grained Provenance for Matching & ETL

Data provenance tools capture the steps used to produce analyses. However, scientists must choose among workflow provenance systems, which allow arbitrary code but only track provenance at the granularity of files; provenance APIs, which provide tuple-level provenance, but incur overhead in all computations; and database provenance tools, which track tuple-level provenance through relational operators and support optimization, but support a limited subset of data science tasks. None of these solutions are well suited for tracing errors introduced during common ETL, record alignment, and matching tasks - for data types such as strings, images, etc. Scientists need new capabilities to identify the sources of errors, find why different code versions produce different results, and identify which parameter values affect output. We propose PROVision, a provenance-driven troubleshooting tool that supports ETL and matching computations and traces extraction of content within data objects. PROVision extends database-style provenance techniques to capture equivalences, support optimizations, and enable selective evaluation. We formalize our extensions, implement them in the PROVision system, and validate their effectiveness and scalability for common ETL and matching tasks.
Evaluation and programming in vagus nerve stimulation (VNS)

Abstract Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) therapy using heart rate sensitive stimulation provides a unique therapy for people with drug-resistant epilepsy. Programming the device requires matching clinical assessment of an individual patient with an understanding of the device parameters to maximize tolerance and efficacy of VNS therapy. Examples of programming during placement of a new VNS generator and subsequent treatment in the outpatient clinic are shared to highlight real-life examples and ways to approach VNS programming.
R-MStorm: A Resilient Mobile Stream Processing System for Dynamic Edge Networks

Mobile Stream Processing (MSP) provides a promising approach to run computation-intensive stream applications, e.g., video face recognition, on a cluster of mobile devices at the edge. However, the performance of MSP is severely restricted by the fluctuating bandwidth and intermittent connectivity of the wireless networks connecting those devices. Therefore, to achieve a good MSP performance, implementing a resilient MSP system that adapts to dynamic edge networks is essential.In this paper, we present R-MStorm, a resilient MSP system deployed at the edge. R-MStorm improves the system survivability by (1) assigning tasks to mobile devices with higher availability to improve the availability of whole system; (2) assigning tasks of the same application components to different devices to increase the diversity of physical stream paths. Besides, to efficiently divide the output of upstream tasks to downstream tasks, R-MStorm adopts adaptive stream grouping, which considers both the transmission rate to and processing rate at each downstream task. Moreover, to alleviate congestion caused by network disconnection and stream redirection, adaptive stream selection is applied to skip some data to achieve a short response time.We conduct extensive experiments on R-MStorm by executing a video face recognition App under different network conditions. The experimental results show that, compared with baseline approaches, R-MStorm achieves up to 1.5x higher throughput, 75% lower response time, at a cost of 3.3% accuracy loss.
High energy leptonic collisions and electroweak parton distribution functions

In high-energy leptonic collisions well above the electroweak scale, the collinear splitting mechanism of the electroweak gauge bosons becomes the dominant phenomena via the initial state radiation and the final state showering. We point out that at future high-energy lepton colliders, such as a multi-TeV muon collider, the electroweak parton distribution functions (EW PDFs) should be adopted as the proper description for partonic collisions of the initial states. The leptons and electroweak gauge bosons are the EW partons, that evolve according to the unbroken Standard Model (SM) gauge group and that effectively resum potentially large collinear logarithms. We present a formalism for the EW PDFs at the Next-to-Leading-Log (NLL) accuracy. We calculate semi-inclusive cross sections for some important SM processes at a future multi-TeV muon collider. We conclude that it is appropriate to adopt the EW PDF formalism for future high-energy lepton colliders.
Prospective Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial Comparing Hyperosmolar Saline to Standard Isotonic Irrigation Fluid for Arthroscopic Knee Surgery

Objectives:Knee arthroscopy using isotonic irrigation fluids is performed safely in millions of patients each year. However, arthroscopic procedures can disrupt the native biology of the joint when...
The Reputational Costs of Corporate Litigation: Long-Term Media Reputation Damages to Firms’ Involvement in Litigation

Extensive research on the financial costs and risks associated with firms targeted for litigation assumes that being sued negatively impacts firm reputation. Yet, research on the consequences of corporate litigation has focused almost exclusively on the financial ramifications associated with being defendants, solely equating reputational costs with financial costs. I challenge this overly narrow view of reputation and utilize two unique datasets—one for legal actions and the other one comprising affective content analysis across 2000 media sources—for the SP I find that when firms are identified as corporate defendants, overall sentiment and optimism towards these firms suffer, while affective conflict about the focal firm is increased, for at least 1 year and even beyond. These findings strongly inform research on corporate wrongdoing and litigation as well as impression management research and raise the need to expand the view of the costs of corporate litigation, beyond financial implications.
Mapping oral disease impact with a single metric ‐ Special Issue introduction

Dental patient-reported outcomes (dPROs) describe how dental patients suffer from oral diseases.1 Thus, dPROs are fundamental for evidence-based dentistry across dental disciplines.2 They are essential to evaluate treatment efficacy and to reduce research waste by addressing questions relevant to clinicians and capturing what matters most to patients.3 Doctor-patient communication centers around them,4 and they are necessary components for value-based oral health care, a concept that relates outcomes to costs.5 Oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) is the most important dPRO. Recent studies have demonstrated that OHRQoL has four main components, so called dimensions - Oral Function, Orofacial Pain, Orofacial Appearance, and Psychosocial Impact.6-8 These four dimensions, characterized by four scores, would allow to "map" all 1,323 oral diseases1 with one, single metric, thus describing oral disease impact with a standardized impact metric across all conditions in all settings. Meta-analytic statistical techniques are available to synthesize these multiple outcomes from differences sources.
A Negotiated Instrument: Proposing a Safer Contract for Consumers (And Not Just a Smarter One)

In this piece, I propose a new standard for determining what constitutes assent, as a matter of contract formation, within the domain of electronic consumer contracting. In my formulation, the threshold test should reject the “take-it-or-leave-it” arrangement dominant in the marketplace and reified by recent proposals before the American Law Institute (“ALI”) under the moniker “blanket assent.” It should do so in favor of a default rule that would require any electronic form proposing contract terms to permit at least a minimal amount of negotiation around terms seeking waiver of rights from consumers. It proposes this rule as a more acceptable behavioral proxy in determining whether the manifestation of mutual assent standard applicable to all contracts performed by competent contracting parties is met, as a matter of contract law. Requiring negotiation and negotiability from forms will go further than the current “click-through” baseline does to cure the current problem of consumer incapacity widely recognized (though not widely named) in the consumer marketplace. It is that disturbingly debased status that defines the plight of the consumer in the modern consumer contracting domain (a point I make in a related, earlier piece). I argue that technology has advanced to such an extent that the absence of greater negotiability can no longer be defended with regard to electronic forms. I use, as an example of this technology, the life of a wager from the online sports gaming business to make the point. Given what this gaming technology demonstrates, we are now able to see how technology may facilitate ever greater consumer interface around pricing, risk taking, risk prediction, and active choice, in relation to qualitative events, features and outcomes, online. I use this technology, in conjunction with contract law, and norms from tort law, to argue that a recent decision by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court analyzing Uber’s electronic form, should demand more from sellers than the “click-through” option the Court appears to set, as a baseline, for accomplishing assent with regard to electronic consumer contracting formation.
Machine Learning Approaches to Learn HyChem Models

The HyChem approach has recently been proposed for modeling high-temperature combustion of real, multi-component fuels. The approach combines lumped reaction steps for fuel thermal and oxidative pyrolysis with detailed chemistry for the oxidation of the resulting pyrolysis products. However, the approach usually shows substantial discrepancies with experimental data within the Negative Temperature Coefficient (NTC) regime, as the low-temperature chemistry is more fuel-specific than high-temperature chemistry. This paper proposes a machine learning approach to learn the HyChem models that can cover both high-temperature and low-temperature regimes. Specifically, we develop a HyChem model using the experimental datasets of ignition delay times covering a wide range of temperatures and equivalence ratios. The chemical kinetic model is treated as a neural network model, and we then employ stochastic gradient descent (SGD), a technique that was developed for deep learning, for the training. We demonstrate the approach in learning the HyChem model for F-24, which is a Jet-A derived fuel, and compare the results with previous work employing genetic algorithms. The results show that the SGD approach can achieve comparable model performance with genetic algorithms but the computational cost is reduced by 1000 times. In addition, with regularization in SGD, the SGD approach changes the kinetic parameters from their original values much less than genetic algorithm and is thus more likely to retrain mechanistic meanings. Finally, our approach is built upon open-source packages and can be applied to the development and optimization of chemical kinetic models for internal combustion engine simulations.
Management & Control of Economic Power

Business Directory defines economic power as “Conditions of having sufficient productive resources at command that give the capacity to make and enforce economic decisions, such as allocation of resources and apportioning of goods and services.” This qualitative definition may be sufficient for general discussions, but it doesn’t offer any quantitative measurements for management and control. Is there a way to measure economic power for analysis and synthesis of economic systems in this 21st century? This chapter presents a new theory on quantitative measurement of economic power based on a set of terms from the field of electrical engineering, used in the measurement and control of electrical power systems. Circuit theory concepts are used to show how the relationship between cash and cash flow in finance is analogous to that of electric charge and electric current and how education level, as economic potential, is analogous to electrical potential that causes current to flow in a circuit. An individual is identified as the basic cash flow source in the economy. Circuit models for an individual as well as a typical production facility are developed and demonstrated with couple of examples. Equations for the measurement of economic power, losses, efficiency and power factor are presented. It is shown that the individuals are the basic cash flow sources and producers of economic power. Electrical circuit concepts are summarized in Appendix A. How investments can be made to maximize economic power of firms is presented in Appendix B.
Free Speech on Campus by Erwin Chemerinsky and Howard Gillman

Free speech on college and university campuses in the United States is a complex topic with competing and conflicting rights, governing body responsibilities, goals, legal precedents, popular views, and purposes. To untangle all of this requires both attention to fine legal points and a broad view of societal needs. Chemerinsky and Gillman have the expertise and experience to bring both these characteristics to bear on discussions of this topic, but they do much more: they outline specific policies that can and should be followed by universities and colleges in seeking to provide the best of higher education. Chemerinsky (The Conservative Assault on the Constitution, The Case Against the Supreme Court, Closing the Courthouse Door: How Your Constitutional Rights Became Unenforceable) and Gillman (American Constitutionalism: Structures of Government, The Votes that Counted: How the Court Decided the 2000 Presidential Election) have distinguished positions at the University of California, Irvine, School of Law and taught an undergraduate seminar on Free Speech on College Campuses in 2016. Their combined voices bring a clarity and, surprisingly, brevity to this topic that are rare.
Creating impact with operations research in health: making room for practice in academia.

Operations research (OR)-based analyses have the potential to improve decision making for many important, real-world health care problems. However, junior scholars often avoid working on practical applications in health because promotion and tenure processes tend to value theoretical studies more highly than applied studies. This paper discusses the author’s experiences in using OR to inform and influence decisions in health and provides a blueprint for junior researchers who wish to find success by taking a similar path. This involves selecting good problems to study, forming productive collaborations with domain experts, developing appropriate models, identifying the most salient results from an analysis, and effectively disseminating findings to decision makers. The paper then suggests how journals, funding agencies, and senior academics can encourage such work by taking a broader and more informed view of the potential role and contributions of OR to solving health care problems. Making room in academia for the application of OR in health follows in the tradition begun by the founders of operations research: to work on important real-world problems where operations research can contribute to better decision making.
Failure Stress Levels of Flaws in Pressurized Cylinders

For the past several years the Pipeline Research Committee of the American Gas Association has sponsored research at Battelle's Columbus Laboratories with the objective of obtaining a better understanding of the behavior of defects in pressurized pipe. This objective is being pursued by means of full-scale experiments on line pipe specimens containing both artificial and actual defects. These experiments have led to the development of semiempirical equations for predicting the ductile failure stress levels of through-wall flaws and surface flaws. Although these equations have been presented before, the supporting data and analyses are described in this paper. The through-wall flaw equation is analogous to fracture mechanics criteria for plane stress fracture; but because it has been adapted to ductile line pipe materials, it contains the Dugdale Model for plastic flow in the material and a correction for the bulging stress resulting from pressure acting on the curved pipe walls. The surface flaw equation evolved from the experimental results on surface-flawed pipe specimens. It accounts for both length along the axis of the pipe, depth through the wall, and the bulging which also takes place at surface flaws. Both equations have been shown to give reliable prediction of failure stress levels for not only steel line pipe materials but for stainless steel and aluminum pressure vessels as well. The usefulness of these equations extends over a wide range of material toughness and strength levels, because they embody both tensile strength parameters and the notch-toughness as determined from the ductile shelf energy of Charpy V-notch impact specimens. The experimental results upon which the equations are based are presented and discussed herein as are the utility and degree of reliability of the equations.
Modular Analysis of Timing in Motor Skill

Publisher Summary A system that controls time is rather general in its application; it is used not only to control different muscles in the course of motor production but also to judge the durations of perceived events. This system is called a “module.” The discussion of force control and speed is conducted within the framework of analyzing timing because it shows that modules are separable from timing. Two themes of the motor control system are described in the chapter: a general one and a more specific one. The general theme concerns whether the motor control system is composed of independent modules in which each module performs specialized computations. The second more specific theme focuses on the hypothesized existence of a timing module with subsidiary discussion of force control and maximum rate of movement. A modular analysis of skill not only makes use of individual differences as a method for defining modules but may also be instrumental in bolstering the study of individual differences itself.
Residual Life Estimates for Structures with Partial Thickness Cracks

This paper presents a practical approach for estimating residual fatigue life of structures with partial thickness cracks under arbitrary Mode I cyclic elastic stress fields. Residual life is defined herein as the number of cycles required to grow the crack from specified initial dimensions to some final configuration that results in static failure. A powerful influence function theory is modified for application to three-dimensional stress analysis of planar crack problems with arbitrary crack front shapes. The resulting procedure allows stress intensity factor solutions and residual fatigue life estimates for any Mode I stress field applied to the crack geometry. Exact stress intensity factor solutions are presented for the buried ellipse under arbitrary Mode I stress fields. A procedure is outlined to build useful, accurate stress intensity factor algorithms for complex surface crack geometries from a few three-dimensional numerical stress analyses.
The Amino Acid Sequence of Wheat Germ Cytochrome c

Determination of the complete amino acid sequence of wheat germ cytochrome c has shown that the molecule consists of a single polypeptide chain of 112 residues. On alignment with mammalian cytochromes, the peptide chain extends for 8 residues at the NH2-terminal end. In contrast with other cytochromes that have a peptide chain longer than 104 residues, the NH2-terminal residue is N-acetylalanine. Wheat germ cytochrome c contains 8 residues of proline, 4 of which occur in positions not occupied by a proline residue in any of the previously studied cytochromes. Considering only residues 1 through 104, the cytochrome c of wheat germ differs from that of Neurospora crassa in 46 residues, whereas it differs from that of human heart in only 35 residues. For all presently known cytochromes c, the number of amino acid residues which occupy the same position in the sequences is reduced to 35.
Promoting Media Literacy in the High School Social Science Curriculum

Although Although mass media saturate their lives, American high school students spend little time examining the media's impact. This head-in-the-sand approach can have far-reaching consequences. Considine notes that young people are given no guidance as to how to read, interpret, and critically evaluate the images and information they are visually exposed to, even though they are confronted with more media messages than ever before. Students thus become "visually vulnerable and potential victims of a language that can influence and manipulate them."' American high schools, like many of their counterparts around the world, need to ensure that literacy is achieved in three areas: print, computer, and media. Schools no longer can afford to treat the curriculum as if print were the main form of communication; indeed, schools must recognize that the advent of new information technologies means that visual, computer, and media literacy are necessary partners of print mastery. One way to begin this media literacy effort is to offer media studies through the high school social science curriculum-to engage students in the learning process by taking advantage of their natural interest in the media culture, which includes VCRs, cable television, tape recorders, radio, newspapers, video cameras, and movies. In this article, an innovative project will be examined as a possible means of introducing media studies into
Inhibition of Host Protein Synthesis in Type 5 Adenovirus-infected Cells

The effect of type 5 adenovirus infection on the synthesis of host-cell proteins by suspension cultures of KB cells was investigated. Although total protein synthesis continued at a constant rate for approximately 36 hr, net synthesis of five host enzymes (lactic dehydrogenase, acid phosphatase, deoxyribonuclease, fumarase, and phosphoglucose isomerase) was found to stop 16 to 20 hr after infection. The synthesis of alkaline phosphatase stopped 9 to 12 hr after infection. The inhibition of host protein synthesis occurred shortly after the synthesis of viral antigens had begun, accounting for the continued synthesis of total protein. An investigation of the relationship between synthesis of viral antigens and inhibition of host protein synthesis yielded results which suggest that the two processes are in some way coupled.
Risk factors for heterotopic ossification in spinal cord injury.

Abstract Heterotopic ossification (HO) is a complication in 16% to 53% of spinal cord injured (SCI) patients. One third of these patients have moderate to severe HO that adversely affects function or health. Pharmacologic prophylaxis of HO for all SCI patients continues to be controversial. High-risk criteria for HO formation identified in total hip replacement patients are not applicable to SCI. A review of the literature did not reveal specific risk factors for HO with SCI. The charts of 100 randomly selected SCI patients, 50 with HO and 50 without HO, were reviewed retrospectively to learn if criteria which would predict high-risk patients could be identified. A total of 14 variables, seven demographic (age, sex, race, level of lesion, completeness of lesion, cause of injury, and geographic locus of patient) and seven medical (bladder stones, fractures, pressure sores, deep vein thrombosis, pulmonary embolism, spasticity, and urinary tract infections) were studied. Four of the 14 variables (age, completeness of lesion, presence of pressure sores, and spasticity) were significantly related to HO formation. The risk factors appear to be additive. When all were present, 92% of patients were found to have HO. Before the findings are applied clinically, it is suggested that a prospective study be conducted to confirm the risk predictive value of these factors in HO.
Chronic hypoxia attenuates resting and exercise-induced VEGF, flt-1, and flk-1 mRNA levels in skeletal muscle.

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is a hypoxia-inducible angiogenic mitogen. However, chronic hypoxia is generally not found to increase mammalian skeletal muscle capillarity. We sought to ...