cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Multicore/GPGPU Portable Computational Kernels via Multidimensional Arrays

Large, complex scientific and engineering application code have a significant investment in computational kernels to implement their mathematical models. Porting these computational kernels to the collection of modern many core accelerator devices is a major challenge in that these devices have diverse programming models, application programming interfaces (APIs), and performance requirements. The Trilinos-Kokkos array programming model provides library based approach to implement computational kernels that are performance-portable to CPU-multicore and GPGPU accelerator devices. This programming model is based upon three fundamental concepts: (1) there exists one or more many core compute devices each with its own memory space, (2) data parallel kernels are executed via parallel for and parallel reduce operations, and (3) kernels operate on multidimensional arrays. Kernel execution performance is, especially for NVIDIA R GPGPU devices, extremely dependent on data access patterns. An optimal data access pattern can be different for different many core devices -- potentially leading to different implementations of computational kernels specialized for different devices. The Trilinos-Kokkos programming model support performance-portable kernels by separating data access patterns from computational kernels through a multidimensional array API. Through this API device-specific mappings of multiindices to device memory are introduced into a computational kernel through compile-time polymorphism, i.e., without modification of the kernel.
In vitro comparison of prototype magnetic tool with conventional nitinol basket for ureteroscopic retrieval of stone fragments rendered paramagnetic with iron oxide microparticles.

Purpose: We developed a prototype magnetic tool for ureteroscopic extraction of magnetized stone particles. We compared its efficiency for retrieving magnetized calcium oxalate monohydrate stone particles with that of a conventional nitinol basket from the pelvi-collecting system of a bench top ureteroscopic simulator.Materials and Methods: Iron oxide microparticles were successfully bound to 1 to 1.5, 1.5 to 2 and 2 to 2.5 mm human calcium oxalate monohydrate stones. Several coated fragments of each size were implanted in the collecting system of a bench top ureteroscopic simulator. Five-minute timed stone extraction trials were performed for each fragment size using a back loaded 8Fr magnetic tool mounted on a 0.038-inch guidewire or a conventional basket. The median number of fragments retrieved per timed trial was compared for the magnetic tool vs the basket using the Mann-Whitney U test.Results: For 1 to 1.5 mm fragments the median number retrieved within 5 minutes was significantly higher for the pr...
A linear programming approach to the Manickam-Miklós-Singhi conjecture

The Manickam-Miklos-Singhi conjecture states that when n>=4k, every multiset of n real numbers with nonnegative total sum has at least (n-1k-1)k-subsets with nonnegative sum. We develop a branching strategy using a linear programming formulation to show that verifying the conjecture for fixed values of k is a finite problem. To improve our search, we develop a zero-error randomized propagation algorithm. Using implementations of these algorithms, we verify a stronger form of the conjecture for all [email protected]?7.
Family therapy and anthropology: a case for emotions

The idea that emotions are socially constructed challenges traditional views in both family therapy and anthropology and also opens the possibility for further collaboration. This paper reviews the traditional position of orthodox family therapy theory with respect to motivation and emotions. It argues that a social constructionist position can build on original family therapy insights about the connectedness of family members and offer a view which transcends mind-body dualism. Bateson's concept of ethos is seen as a forerunner of this view and, with the increasing interest in meaning and cross-cultural issues, Bateson's ideas deserve renewed attention. Implications of a social constructionist view of emotions for family therapists are outlined.
Dynamic spring analysis and its application to the polystyrene melt relaxation

The technique of dynamic spring analysis (DSA) was employed to obtain the storage and loss moduli of polystyrene samples in the glassy and rubbery regions of viscoelastic response. These results were compared with dynamic shear moduli from eccentric rotating disc experiments by time–temperature superposition to determine the degree and range of applicability of DSA. The storage moduli gave semiquantitative agreement over the rubbery region, while the loss moduli agreed over a narrower region of response. An apparent relaxation above the glass transition temperature of polystyrene was attributed to the evolution of solvent from the polymer–spring composite samples studied.
Solar Flare Prediction

Our understanding of solar flares is in many respects still rudimentary, but progress is being made—thanks, to a large extent, to both theoretical and observational efforts in conjunction with the Solar Maximum (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) and the Hinotori (Institute of Space and Astronautical Sciences, Tokyo) missions. In particular, we are starting to get a handle on what observable manifestations precede a flare, and we understand in part the theoretical reason for the behavior of the solar plasma before and during a flare. More theoretical work, however, is needed before we can explain the complex phenomena taking place in the solar plasma during a flare.
Usefulness of a novel "response score" to predict hemodynamic and clinical outcome from cardiac resynchronization therapy.

Cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) is an important treatment for patients with congestive heart failure and ventricular dyssynchrony, but response to CRT is highly variable. We assessed whether a scoring system that encompasses a combination of patient selection and procedural variables would improve prediction of CRT response. Thirty-nine patients who underwent CRT with echocardiographic assessment of baseline contractility and left ventricular (LV) dyssynchrony, intraprocedural assessment of LV lead electrical delay, and postprocedural chest radiography were included. Baseline LV dyssynchrony was measured by Doppler tissue velocity imaging as the maximum time difference between peak systolic velocity of anterior, lateral, posterior, and septal walls. The hemodynamic effect of CRT was measured by Doppler analysis of mitral regurgitation as percent change in maximal +dP/dt (ΔdP/dt) with CRT on versus off. Acute responders to CRT were defined as Δdp/dt ≥25%. Clinical response was measured as a combined end point of hospitalization for heart failure and all-cause mortality. A 4-point response score was generated using variables associated with ΔdP/dt and assigning 1 point for a dorsoventral LV/right ventricular interlead distance >10 cm, 1 point for a LV lead electrical delay ≥50%, 1 point for a baseline maximum +dP/dt 100 ms. In conclusion, there was a significant association between response score (0 to 4 points) and acute hemodynamic response to CRT (p
The archetype of Beowulf

It is a cardinal tenet of classical textual criticism that medieval scribes were most prone to error when copying from an unfamiliar system of script. Accordingly a good deal of attention has been given by classical scholars to what happens to a text when it is copied from one system of script to another, and to the characteristic sorts of error which such copying involves. The great French textual critic, Alphonse Dain, even coined a Greek term, metacharakterismos (μeταχαρακτηρισμός), to describe the scribal process of copying, character by character, from one script to anodier. (The Latin equivalent would be translitteratio , which might be rendered ‘transliteration’ in English.) Dain was thinking principally of the transliteration of Greek uncial manuscripts into minuscule script; but the process is also known to have taken place in the transmissional histories of Latin texts, when works of classical literature in (say) rustic capital script were transliterated into the various regional minuscules. By observing patterns of repeated error, Latin textual critics have often been able to demonstrate that the archetype of such-and-such a text must have been written in a particular system of script. The first attempt at such a demonstration was apparently that by the humanist scholar Joseph Scaliger (1540–1609), who in his Castigationes in Catullum (1577) showed that the archetype of all surviving manuscripts of Catullus was written in what he called Langobardicae litterae , what we should describe as a form of pre-Caroline minuscule.
Variable Time Step Dynamics with Choice

We are interested in systems that can and possibly do switch between different regimes; the durations of staying in each regime (dwell times) may vary. We work with the deterministic picture and study global attractors both in the state space and, one of the novelties, in the hyperspace. We give an example of a simple ODE system where the existence or non-existence of attractors depends on the intervals from which the dwell times are chosen. Another novelty is the description of restricted iterated function systems and their attractors. An unexpected corollary is that for the restricted to a subshift hyperbolic IFS, its attractor is the image under Hutchinson’s map $$p$$ of a different, in general, subshift (we call it dual to the original one).
Gender Processing in Native and Nonnative Russian Speakers.

Traditional computational accounts of gender representation and learning (e.g., Carroll, 1989, 1995) differ radically from cue-based and connectionist accounts. The latter but not the former predicts that access to noun gender will vary depending on the reliability of noun endings (and other sublexical elements and morphological constituents) in marking gender, and that agreement markers can be used strategically to constrain the genders of ambiguously marked nouns. Adult native (L1) speakers of Russian (Experiment 1) and advanced nonnative (L2) speakers (Experiment 2) read Russian sentences on a computer and were asked to choose one of two inflected past tense verbs in a forced choice task. The verbs either matched or mismatched the gender of the subject NP. Half of the target trials used opaque (end-palatalized) subject nouns, which were ambiguously marked for gender, and the other half used transparent (regularly marked) subject nouns. Noun type was crossed with the presence or absence of a gender-marked adjective in the subject NP. When an adjective was present in the subject NP, both L1 and L2 speakers were significantly faster at reading and selecting the correct verb form. L2 but not L1 speakers showed longer reading and choice latencies and made more errors when the subject noun was opaque. The data showed that L2 speakers used adjective inflections to disambiguate the gender of opaque subject nouns and to select gender appropriate verb inflections. The accuracy data for L1 and L2 speakers were tested against several connectionist models. The models' success in accounting for the data suggested that L1 and L2 speakers may depend on a common learning mechanism and thus resemble one another at the computational level, contrary to traditional computational accounts (Carroll, 1989, 1995).
Survival, Fecundity, and Movements of Free-Roaming Cats

Free-roaming cats (e.g., owned, semi-feral, and feral) impact wildlife worldwide through predation, competition, and disease transmission. Baseline ecological information necessary for population management is lacking. We radiocollared free-roaming cats (feral, n = 30; semi-feral, n = 14; owned, n = 10) in Caldwell, Texas, USA between October 2004 and November 2005 and compared population demographics among sex and ownership classification. We found ranges and movements declined across ownership classes whereas survival and fecundity increased. Our findings suggest that human interactions (e.g., feeding) may result in high, localized free-roaming cat densities, which may concentrate feral cat impacts and should be considered when evaluating population control strategies.
Challenges in the regulatory approval of medical cyber-physical systems

We are considering the challenges that regulators face in approving modern medical devices, which are software intensive and increasingly network enabled. We then consider assurance cases, which offer the means of organizing the evidence into a coherent argument demonstrating the level of assurance provided by a system, and discuss research directions that promise to make construction and evaluation of assurance cases easier and more precise. Finally, we discuss some recent trends that will further complicate the regulatory approval of medical cyber-physical systems.
Antisaccade performance is impaired in medically and psychiatrically healthy biological relatives of schizophrenia patients.

Abstract Schizophrenia patients and their relatives have been found to exhibit increased reflexive errors on the antisaccade task, suggesting the deficit reflects genetic susceptibility for schizophrenia. To evaluate the degree to which antisaccade error is elevated in schizophrenia relatives, we carried out a meta-analysis of the existing literature and a primary study examining whether the magnitude of reported differences between relative and nonpsychiatric comparison groups could be due to differences in participant inclusion criteria. Meta-analysis yielded a moderate to large effect size across studies comparing relatives and controls (Cohen's d =0.61; Glass' d g =0.87). Antisaccade performance in medically and psychiatrically healthy relatives ( n =45), who were selected from a larger sample of relatives based on criteria applied to healthy controls, was significantly more impaired than in healthy control participants ( d =0.81, d g =0.93). Moreover, excluded ( n =71) and included relatives did not differ ( d =0.14, d g =0.13). The results indicate that the antisaccade deficit is a robust phenomenon in unaffected schizophrenia relatives that is not due to differences in inclusion criteria between relatives and controls, and thus are consistent with a growing literature indicating that the antisaccade deficit will be a valuable endophenotype of schizophrenia.
An External Active-Set Strategy for Solving Optimal Control Problems

We present a new, external, active constraints set strategy for solving nonlinear programming problems with a large number of inequality constraints that arise in the process of discretizing continuous-time optimal control problems with state-space constraints. This strategy constructs a sequence of inequality constrained nonlinear programming problems, containing a progressively larger subset of the constraints in the original problem, and submits them to a nonlinear programming solver for a fixed number of iterations. We prove that this scheme computes a solution of the original problem and show by means of numerical experiments that this strategy results in reductions in computing time ranging from a factor of 6 to a factor of over 100.
Actuated dynamic walking in biped robots: Control approach, robot design and experimental validation

This paper presents and experimentally demonstrates a control approach for actuated dynamic walking in biped robots. Rather than utilizing trajectory tracking, we proposed a control approach which employs state dependent control torques generated by low-gain spring-damper couples to encourage patterned motion of the robot. In order to verify that the control idea provides natural looking (human-like) dynamic walking, a seven-link biped robot was designed with backdrivable joint actuators, which allows passive leg motion. Following a discussion on robot design and the real-time control implementation, experimental data is presented to validate the proposed methodology.
The Relationship Between Direct and Indirect Measures of Death Anxiety.

Using a multimethod, multilevel approach to assess death anxiety, this study investigated the relationship between direct measures, the relationship between indirect measures, the relationship between direct and indirect measures and the relationship between direct measures and the variables of age, social desirability and repression–sensitization (R-S) for males and females. Direct measures were significantly and meaningfully related to one another and to R-S; no significant relationship was found between any two indirect measures for either males or females; no consistently significant results were found between direct and indirect measures or between direct measures and age and social desirability for either males or females. Discussion focused on overreliance on statistically significant correlations to the neglect of predictive power; establishing cutoff scores for direct measures; establishing the reliability and validity of indirect measures.
Calcium modulates protease resistance and carbohydrate binding of a plant defense legume lectin, Griffonia simplicifolia lectin II (GSII).

Site-directed mutagenesis previously identified the residues responsible for the biological activity of the plant defense legume lectin, Griffonia simplicifolia lectin II (GSII) wProc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 95, (1998) 15123–15128x. However, these results were inconclusive as to whether these residues function as direct defense determinants through carbohydrate binding, or whether substantial changes of the protein structure had occurred in mutated proteins, with this structural disruption actually causing the loss of biochemical and biological functions. Evidence shown here supports the former explanation: circular dichroism and fluorescence spectra showed that mutations at carbohydrate-binding residues of GSII do not render it disfunctional because of substantial secondary or tertiary structure modifications; and trypsin treatment confirmed that rGSII structural integrity is retained in these mutants. Reduced biochemical stability was observed through papain digestion and urea denaturation in mutant versions that had lost carbohydrate-binding ability, and this was correlated with lower Ca content. Accordingly, the re-addition of Ca to demetalized proteins could recover resistance 2q 2q
Evaluation of Quantitative Real-Time PCR as a Hepatitis C Virus Supplementary Test After RIBA Discontinuation

Laboratory testing plays a major role in hepatitis C virus (HCV) diagnosis and patient follow-up. The high false positive rates of HCV screening tests require confirmation through a supplementary test. According to the 2003 CDC guidelines, recombinant immunoblot assay (RIBA) is indispensible to confirm positive screening results and differentiate biologic false positivity from true HCV exposure. However, RIBA has been permanently discontinued since 2011. In the 2013 update of its guidelines, CDC called for further studies on HCV laboratory testing without RIBA. In this study, we analyzed the applicability of quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) as a supplementary HCV diagnostic test. By comparing our HCV testing performances before and after RIBA discontinuation, we found that omitting RIBA has no significant effect on the accurate and efficient identification of HCV infection, provided that HCV antibody signal-to-cutoff ratio is considered. Furthermore, we proposed a new HCV testing algorithm that incorporates semiquantitative assessment of HCV antibody positivity and HCV viral load measurement by qPCR. By following the algorithm, we were able to address confirmation of positive HCV screening results and to provide useful information generally required by clinicians, including the needs of further laboratory testing or clinical follow-up, as well as HCV viral titers.
Reply to "Comments on the optimum CMOS tapered buffer problem"

For original article see ibid., vol 27, p. 118-9 (1992). For comments on original paper see ibid., vol29, no. 2, p155-8 (1994). The optimum tapered buffer has been extensively discussed in the literature. In this correspondence a general model is derived and it is shown that previously reported models are specific cases of the general model presented here. >
Surgical versus nonoperative treatment: how do we choose the right approach to lumbar disk herniation?

Choosing the appropriate treatment for radiculopathy associated with lumbar intervertebral disk herniation (IDH) is a fascinating clinical problem given that the symptoms can be quite debilitating, it can be treated safely and effectively with surgery, and it can also improve spontaneously in a relatively short period of time. The patient and provider face an interesting dilemma in that they need to choose between a relatively safe and effective surgical treatment (diskectomy) that carries with it a low but real risk of complications and nonoperative treatment that carries minimal risk but may not be as effective, or at least not effective as quickly. In order to make an informed decision, the patient and provider need to consider the likely outcomes of surgical and nonoperative treatment as well as the patient’s preferences and willingness to take on risk. If outcomes could be accurately predicted on the individual patient level, the decision would be easier. Unfortunately, the spine community still does not have a crystal ball, and decisions for individuals need to be made based on the known outcomes for ‘average’ patients in large clinical trials. We are making progress on efforts to use individual patient characteristics to guide treatment decisions, but the use of clinical prediction models is still at the research stage. In considering the effectiveness of treatment for any condition, the natural history of the condition must be known. Fortunately, there have been many studies evaluating the natural history of IDH, with one classic study demonstrating spontaneous improvement of symptoms in 90% of IDH patients within 12 weeks of symptom onset [1]. In this series of 64 patients, only six went on to surgery, and 90% had ‘good or excellent’ outcomes with undefined nonoperative care. More modern studies have shown somewhat lower success rates with nonoperative care, but these studies generally only included patients with symptoms that had already lasted at least 6 weeks [2–4]. There is general “...determining how to treat lumbar intervertebral disk herniation in patients who meet the indications for surgery is ultimately a preference-sensitive decision.”
Healing After Torture The Role of Moving On

The experience and sociocultural context of torture and its treatment have received little attention in the biopsychosocial model of Western mental health for survivors of torture. The main focus has been on the reduction of symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder and related conditions. Using grounded theory methodology, we investigated survivors' perceptions of the nature and process of healing after torture. The participants included 11 adult refugee torture survivors (9 men and 2 women) from African and Asian countries. Their stories of healing centered on the role of "moving on" with their lives, which included aspects of cognitive reframing and empowerment. Reliance on belief and value systems, safety measures, and social support, despite continuing psychological and physical symptomatology, enabled the moving-on process. Implications for theory, research, and practice are discussed.
The Efficacy of Wire and Glue Hair Snares in Identifying Mesocarnivores

Track plates and cameras are proven methods for detecting and identifying fishers (Martes pennanti) and other mesocarnivores. But these methods are inadequate to achieve demographic and population-monitoring objectives that require identifying sex and individuals. Although noninvasive collection of biological material for genetic analysis (i.e., hair-snaring methods) may help achieve these objectives, they have yet to be evaluated. We incorporated wire- and glue-snares into track-plate enclosures in bait stations deployed at 3 locations in California, USA, in 2002 and 2003 to compare their efficacy. We detected 5 species of carnivores via their tracks, fisher and marten (M. americana) most frequently. We collected 96 hair samples, 71 (80%) of which had sufficient DNA to yield a species identification. The wire-snares were more permeable to all species, but both snares were permeable to fishers. Glue-snares were more effective at collecting hair than the wire-snare configuration used. Small species, such as the marten, did not readily leave hair on the wire-snare. Glue was more cumbersome to handle than wire, but, given that it collected more hair and more reliably, we favor use of a glue-snare for fisher surveys. Glue also was effective at collecting hair that was correctly identified as marten on 72% of visits by martens. The hair-snaring method resulted in a 58% and 75% rate of successful identification of fishers that entered the enclosure for wire and glue, respectively. Most failures were due to either insufficient DNA in the sample or no hair snared during a visit to the bait. The success of verifying the presence of a species also was affected when a second species visited the station between check intervals. We believe that changes in laboratory technique can mitigate this problem. Although only 75% of the visits by fishers to glue-snares resulted in hair that yielded sufficient DNA for confirmation, we believe this success rate guarantees a high probability that the presence of a fisher would be confirmed by at least one of their visits to a multiple-station sample unit in which each station is checked several times. A sample of hair from fishers and martens were selected for individual identification, and 9 of the 12 fisher samples had sufficient DNA to identify a minimum of 6 different individuals. Track and genetic methods need not compete for use by carnivore surveyors; each is inexpensive enough when deployed in the integrated unit we tested here to justify their use as companion methods. However, additional innovations will be necessary to increase the number of species that can be detected by track and genetic means at the same location.
Collectivization in Hungarian Agriculture

GRICULTURE plays an important role in the Hungarian economy. In the thirties, 49 per cent of the population was engaged in agricultural pursuits, in 1949, 48 per cent, and in 1955, 44 per cent; while the percentage of national income stemming from agriculture was 36 in 193637, and 30 in 1955.1 Prewar Hungary was characterized by extensive cultivation and by an uneven distribution of landownership. Large estates and dwarf holdings were predominant and about 35 per cent of the agricultural population were landless peasants. Sweeping changes were brought about by the 1945 land reform, which affected 3.2 million hectares, about one-third of the country's land area. Large estates over 576 hectares were expropriated, holdings between 57.6 and 576 hectares were reduced to
Evaluation of iPARP1 as an intraoperative imaging agent

2641 Objectives The DNA repair enzyme PARP1 is highly upregulated in malignant gliomas. The purpose of this study is to evaluate a fluorescent PARP1 inhibitor (iPARP1) [1] as a potential intraoperative brain tumor imaging agent. Methods Toxicity of iPARP1 was assessed in mice by hematologic and histopathologic analyses at 24h and 14d after injection of 50 μg iPARP1. To study the pharmacokinetics of iPARP1, fluorescence intensities of muscle, brain, and tumor tissues were imaged ex vivo at selected times post iv injection of iPARP1 in athymic nude mice bearing subcutaneous U87 xenografts. Blood half-life of iPARP1 was calculated by observing ear blood vessel fluorescence intensity using a Zeiss Lumar dissection microscope following iPARP1 intravenous administration. Ex vivo imaging of orthotopic U87 xenografts was performed 1h post injection (p.i.) with the IVIS spectrum fluorescence imaging system and followed by histopathologic analysis of the brain tumors. Metabolic stability studies were performed by analyzing fluorescent metabolites in the mouse blood plasma at selected times p.i. using HPLC. Results No adverse effects were observed after iPARP1 administration. iPARP1 concentration in U87 xenograft tumors at 2h p.i. (mean AU/px = 20.57, SE = 4.53) was markedly higher than muscle (mean AU/px = 2.85, SE= 1.73) or brain (mean AU/px = .01, SE = .01). iPARP1 was rapidly cleared from the blood (half-life α = .53 min, β = 11.14 min), and was sufficiently stable for in vivo imaging ( Conclusions iPARP1 is a promising fluorescent probe for intraoperative imaging of brain tumors. Research Support Acknowledgements: Supported by the Brain Tumor Center and the Imaging and Radiation Sciences Program of MSKCC.
Attachment to God, Vocational Calling, and Worker Contentment

Existing organizational research overlooks divine attachment as a “personal characteristic” relevant to work. We argue that secure attachment to God as an internal working model can function as a “secure base” from which individuals form meaningful attachments to their workplace and work position. We further hypothesize that a sense of vocational calling (i.e., a belief that God calls individuals to particular work settings or jobs) will mediate the relationship between secure God attachment and positive work attitudes. We test these hypotheses by analyzing data from the Baylor Religion Survey 2010, a random sample of US adults. Findings demonstrate that secure attachment to God positively relates to affective organizational commitment and job satisfaction. As hypothesized, vocational calling also mediates a large proportion of these relationships. Implications of our findings are discussed in conclusion.
Slow dark-adaptation inDrosophila's circadian clock

In populations of the fruitflyDrosophila pseudoobscura reared at constant temperature, first under continuous light, and then transferred to continuous darkness, adult flies emerge from their pupal cases in bursts at 24-hour intervals. A brief pulse of light resets the phase of this circadian rhythm by up to ± 12 hours, depending on its energy and when it is given. A new finding here detailed is that this rhythm's susceptibility to resetting by light pulses of 102 to 104 ergs/cm2 deviates systematically from the strict 24-hour periodism observed with more energetic stimuli: the clock oscillation becomes more sensitive to phase-resetting by light the longer it has been kept in the dark. In three days the sensitivity increases more than tenfold. This change is not due to maturation of the pupae. Though formally described as a “dark-adaptation”, it could represent age-independent changes of pigment concentrations or distributions or a nonperiodic aspect of “clock” dynamics,e.g., marked damping.
What is probability theory

This issue of Resonance features Joseph Leonard Doob, who played a critical role in the development of probability theory in the world from 1935 onwards. The goal of the present article is to explain to the readers of Resonance what probability theory is all about.
Results of Exposure of Strain G3H Mice to Chloroform.

Summary1. Exposure of strain C3H mice to air containing approximately 5 mg of chloroform per liter for one, 2, or 3 hours resulted in lesions of the kidneys of all of the males but in none of the females. Histologic details of this lesion were described. 2. The lesion found in the male animals in this experiment was similar to that exhibited by the males of strains C3H, C3Hf, A, and HR, some of which died immediately after an accidental exposure to chloroform and some in the months following the exposure. 3. A genetic difference was apparent in that whereas strains C3H, C3Hf, A, and HR were susceptible, strains C57BL, C57BR/cd, C57L, and ST were resistant to the accidental exposure.
Using 'smart' actuators to implement emerging active control functions

Recent advances in electronics technology have made i t feasible to locate microprocessors on or near aircraft actuators and create smart actuation systems. This paper examines the potential role of such systems in the implementation of emerging active control functions such as actuator rate satura.tion compensation, reconfigurable control, and active flutter suppression. For rate saturation compensation, a novel approach is presented that makes full use of the capabilities of smart actuation systems. The benefits of this approach are demonstrated through the results of analysis, simulation, and some initial laboratory testing. In addition, a brief description of two sinart actuation systenls is presented to show the potential of these devices.
Online Student Services: Current Practices and Recommendations for Implementation:

Recommendations for planning and development of online student services based on a review of the literature on research conducted in a variety of college settings. Focus topics include the institut...
Analysis of rural drinking water monitoring results from 2006 to 2011 in Nandan county

Objective:To understand the drinking water quality in rural areas of Nandan County,and analyze the rural drinking water monitoring results from 2006 to 2011.Methods: The water samples in wet seasons and dry seasons were collected and analyzed annually according to "Standard inspection method for drinking water"(GB/T 5750-2006).Results: The items for 599 samples unqualified were mainly visible objects,turbidity,arsenic,ammonia nitrogen,total bacteria,total coliforms,thermotolerant coliform bacteria.The total pass rate was 23.04%.The annual qualified rates were significantly different(χ2=26.19,P0.01),and the qualified rates had significant differences between dry seasons and wet seasons(χ2=13.11,P0.01).But there were no signfificant differences between the factory water and tip water(χ2=1.39,P0.05).Conclusion: The rural drinking water quality in Nandan county is poor,the water quality monitoring should be strengthened to ensure the safety of rural drinking water.
Analysis on the Lightning Trip-out Failure of Transmission Line Under Conditions of Complex Landscape in a Mountainous Area

In order to improve the performance of technology and economy for improvement of lightning protection,and reveal the failure cause of controllable discharging lightning rods and side needles,the incidence range of lightning current should be analyzed carefully.This paper proposed the calculation of whole-span lightning protection performance to simulate the status of the fault time,based on the lightning detection data,and the accurately topography and geomorphology data acquired by 3D geography information system(GIS).Through this simulation method,the fault property and the incidence range of lightning shielding failure current can be obtained.Moreover,the insulation configuration differences of adjacent towers and the protection range of lightning protection measures can be considered to verify the incidence range of lightning shielding failure current.This method has been verified by the typical fault in the mountain.In this example,the reason of lightning protection measure failure also has been explained quantitatively.The analysis result can be applied to the improvement of lightning protection.
Limb deficiencies and prosthetic devices.

SUMMARY The child with a congenital limb deficiency is best managed by an interdisciplinary clinic team, which can see him early and work with parents and agencies to provide adequate and early prosthetic prescriptions. Terminal transverse limb deficiencies are generally fitted similarly to the patient with acquired amputation at the same level. Other deficiencies often require nonstandard prosthetic devices in association with corrective or conversion surgery.
Fertility and Women’s Schooling in Ghana

As in the previous chapter, the analysis here focuses on changes in a ‘non-economic’ outcome brought about by improvements in school quality. In this case, the outcome of interest is fertility, the number of children a woman chooses to bear. High fertility is an important concern because short birth intervals and additional births to women who have already had several children pose an increased health risk to both the mother and the child. For this and other reasons, lowering total fertility levels and increasing contraceptive prevalence are important public policy objectives in many developing countries.
CHAPTER 342 – Cell–Cell Signaling in the Testis and Ovary

The evolution of multicellular organisms was facilitated by the ability of different cells to communicate and interact. This cell-cell signaling generates a higher order functional state than that possible with individual cell types. Cell-cell interactions have become an essential requirement for the physiology of any organ or tissue and are critical in the regulation of any cell's biology. For this reason, elaborate networks of cell-cell interactions have evolved to control the development and maintenance of tissue functions. This chapter focuses on the regulatory signals that mediate cell-cell interactions in the testis and ovary. Several previous reviews have discussed the cell-cell interactions in the testis and ovary. These include a focus on secretory products of the various cell types and actions of individual regulatory molecules. This chapter briefly discusses the advances in cell-cell signaling in these organs.
Adult-Based Massive Transfusion Protocol Activation Criteria Do Not Work in Children.

Introduction In the adult population, assessment of blood consumption (ABC) score [penetrating mechanism, positive focused assessment sonography for trauma (FAST), systolic blood pressure 120] ≥2 identifies trauma patients who require massive transfusion (MT) with sensitivity and specificity of 75 and 86%. We hypothesized that the adult criteria cannot be applied to children, as the vital sign cut-offs are not age-adjusted. We aimed to determine if the use of a shock index, pediatric age-adjusted (SIPA) would improve the discriminate ability of the ABC score in children. Materials and Methods A retrospective review of children age 4 to 15 who received a packed red blood cell (PRBC) transfusion during admission for trauma between 2008 and 2014 was performed. We compared the sensitivity and specificity of ABC score ≥ 2, elevated SIPA, and age-adjusted ABC score (ABC-S) utilizing SIPA in place of HR and BP, to determine the need for MT. Results A total of 50 children were included, 31 received PRBC transfusion within 6 hours of injury, 7 children had a positive FAST, and 3 suffered penetrating trauma, all in the early transfusion group. ABC score ≥ 2 is 29% sensitive and 100% specific at predicting need for MT while ABC-S score ≥ 1 is 65% sensitive and 84% specific. Conclusions Adult-based criteria for activation of MT perform poorly in the pediatric population. The use of SIPA modestly improves the sensitivity of the ABC score in children; however, the sensitivity and specificity of this score are still worse than when used in an adult population. This suggests the need to develop a new score that takes into account the low rate of penetrating trauma and positive FAST in the pediatric population.
Static detection of software errors

This thesis describes three novel static analysis techniques for error detection. First, we present SATURN, a general framework for building precise and scalable analysis for real-world software. SATURN encodes program constructs into boolean constraints and uses a satisfiability solver to infer and check program properties. One key advantage of S ATURN is precision: it is path sensitive, precise down to the bit level, and models pointers and heap data. SATURN is also highly scalable, which we achieve using two techniques. First, several optimizations compress the size of the boolean formulas that model the control- and data-flow and the heap locations accessed by a function. Second, a concise summary is computed for each function, allowing inter-procedural analysis without a dramatic increase in the size of the boolean constraints to be solved. We also present a static analysis algorithm for detecting security vulnerabilities in PHP, a popular server-side scripting language for building web applications. Our analysis employs a novel three-tier architecture to capture information at the intrablock, intraprocedural, and interprocedural levels. This architecture enables us to handle dynamic features of scripting languages that have not been adequately modeled by previous techniques. Finally, we present several lightweight checkers for redundant operations in system software based on the belief that programmers generally attempt to perform useful work. Redundant operations violate this belief and are likely errors. We demonstrate that in fact many redundancies signal mistakes as serious as traditional hard errors such as deadlocks, memory leaks, etc. We conduct extensive experiments on open-source software to validate each of these approaches. We demonstrate their practicality and effectiveness by finding hundreds of previously unknown errors, most of which have been reported to and fixed by their developers.
On the finite-time capture of a fast moving target

Summary In this work, we propose a feedback control law that enforces capture of a moving target by a slower pursuer in finite time. It is well known that if this problem is cast as a pursuit-evasion differential game, then the moving target can always avoid capture by taking advantage of its speed superiority, provided that both the target and the pursuer are employing feedback strategies in the sense of Isaacs. Thus, in order to have a well-posed pursuit problem, additional assumptions are required so that the pursuer can enforce capture of the faster target in finite time provided that it emanates from a set of ‘favorable’ initial positions, which constitute its winning set. In particular, we assume that the target's velocity either is constant and perfectly known to the pursuer (perfect information case) or can be decomposed into a dominant component, which is constant and known to the pursuer, and a second component that is uncertain and unknown to the pursuer (imperfect information case). It turns out that in both cases, the winning sets of the pursuer are pointed convex cones which have a common apex and a common axis of symmetry but different opening angles. We subsequently propose continuous feedback laws that enforce finite-time capture while the pursuer never exits its winning set before capture takes place, for both cases. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
The HARM score for gastrointestinal surgery: Application and validation of a novel, reliable and simple tool to measure surgical quality and outcomes.

Abstract Background The HospitAl length of stay, Readmissions and Mortality (HARM) score is a simple, inexpensive quality tool, linked directly to patient outcomes. We assess the HARM score for measuring surgical quality across multiple surgical populations. Methods Upper gastrointestinal, hepatobiliary, and colorectal surgery cases between 2005 and 2009 were identified from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project California State Inpatient Database. Composite and individual HARM scores were calculated from length of stay, 30-day readmission and mortality, correlated to complication rates for each hospital and stratified by operative type. Results 71,419 admissions were analyzed. Higher HARM scores correlated with higher complication rates for all cases after risk adjustment and stratification by operation type, elective or emergent status. Conclusions The HARM score is a simple and valid quality measurement for upper gastrointestinal, hepatobiliary and colorectal surgery. The HARM score could facilitate benchmarking to improve patient outcomes and resource utilization, and may facilitate outcome improvement.
Comparative Autonomic Responses to Diagnostic Interviewing between Individuals with GAD, MDD, SAD and Healthy Controls.

Dysregulation of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) has been well documented in individuals diagnosed with a range of psychological disorders. Moreover, these disorders both confer an increased risk of cardiovascular disease – which may relate to increased sympathetic and decreased parasympathetic tone. Extant research has indicated a reduction in autonomic flexibility in GAD, and while reduced flexibility has also been seen in MDD, the specific physiological alterations have been more difficult to categorize due to methodological limitations. Prior studies have largely assessed autonomic functioning in stress paradigms or at the trait level, yet to date no research has investigated the ANS during a diagnostic interview. In this study we sought to identify physiological differences in both branches of the ANS across diagnostic categories in the context of a diagnostic interview. Participants (n=82) were administered a structured clinical interview, during which heart rate (HR), respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), and pre-ejection period (PEP) were recorded in participants carrying a diagnosis of GAD (n=34), MDD (n=22), Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD; n=15), and healthy controls (n=27). Person-specific linear regression models were employed to assess the level and slope for HR, RSA, and PEP throughout the course of the interview. A multivariate analysis of variance model was conducted to baseline differences in HR, RSA, and PEP between diagnostic groups. Multiple regression models were then conducted to differences in slope of HR, RSA, and PEP throughout the course of the interview amongst diagnostic groups, including both suppression and worry as moderators. Results indicated significant increases in RSA throughout the interview in MDD (p = 0.01) compared to healthy controls. Worry itself was found to be a more significant predictor of both decreased PEP (p = 0.02) and increased HR (p = 0.05). Suppression exhibited a dampening effect on individuals with worry and GAD, whereby those who suppressed had dampened HR responsiveness compared to those who did not suppress. These findings are consistent with existing literature supporting a decreased autonomic flexibility in certain psychological disorders, as well as indicate distinct physiological differences across certain transdiagnostic features of mood and anxiety disorders.
t t ¯ b b ¯ as a probe of new physics at the LHC

We study the $t\overline{t}b\overline{b}$ final state at the LHC as a probe of new physics that couples mainly to the third generation of quarks. We analyze new physics simplified models with resonances of spin-0, -1 and -2. The sensitivity of the final states $t\overline{t}b\overline{b}$, $t\overline{t}t\overline{t}$, $b\overline{b}b\overline{b}$ and $t\overline{t}$ on each of these models is used to identify an important region in parameter space that is still not excluded and where $t\overline{t}b\overline{b}$ is the most sensitive final state. We indicate possible experimental hints and discuss potential issues of observables that rely mainly on Monte Carlo predictions. A new observable is proposed that, at the price of requiring more statistics, reduces the impact of Monte Carlo predictions. We use preliminary 13 TeV results to give a raw estimate on the discovery reach and propose simple improvements on the observables.
Effect of magnetic pulse pretreatment on grindability of a magnetite ore and its implication on magnetic separation

The pulsed power is a potential means for energy saving and presents an alternative to the conventional mechanical communication for minerals. The effect of magnetic pulse treatment on grindability of a magnetite ore was investigated by grindability tests. The results of the investigation show that the pulsed treatment has little effect on the particle size distribution of the magnetite ore. Significant micro-cracks or fractures are not found by SEM analysis in magnetic pulse treated sample. Magnetic separation of magnetic pulse treated and untreated magnetite ore indicates that iron recovery increases from 81.3% in the untreated sample to 87.7% in the magnetic pulse treated sample, and the corresponding iron grade increases from 42.1% to 44.4%. The results demonstrate that the magnetic pulse treatment does not significantly weaken the mineral grain boundaries or facilitate the liberation of minerals, but is beneficial to magnetic separation.