cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Lamoille Creek Basin normals: A case in which extension of normals by comparison with precipitation‐data proved more valuable than by comparison with another stream

Normals for snow-courses having only a few years record, can be computed by expanding the mean for the period of record by comparison with precipitation, runoff, or an adjacent snow-course for which longer records are available. Those of runoff may be expanded by comparison with precipitation, snow-cover, or with the runoff of an adjacent stream. In the future, tree-ring studies will probably play an important role in the expansion of normals. In this paper a case is exemplified in which the snow-cover normal was created by comparison to precipitation, and the stream-flow mean was likewise expanded after the available records were carefully analyzed. No special study was made to select a certain case for this paper. A system of normals was wanted for Lamoille Creek in eastern Nevada and therefore this stream was selected for the study here given.
Extension of the broadband single-mode integrated optical waveguide technique to the ultraviolet spectral region and its applications

We report here the fabrication, characterization, and application of a single-mode integrated optical waveguide (IOW) spectrometer capable of acquiring optical absorbance spectra of surface-immobilized molecules in the visible and ultraviolet spectral region down to 315 nm. The UV-extension of the single-mode IOW technique to shorter wavelengths was made possible by our development of a low-loss single-mode dielectric waveguide in the UV region based on an alumina film grown by atomic layer deposition (ALD) over a high quality fused silica substrate, and by our design/fabrication of a broadband waveguide coupler formed by an integrated diffraction grating combined with a highly anamorphic optical beam of large numerical aperture. As an application of the developed technology, we report here the surface adsorption process of bacteriochlorophyll a on different interfaces using its Soret absorption band centred at 370 nm. The effects of different chemical compositions at the solid–liquid interface on the adsorption and spectral properties of bacteriochlorophyll a were determined from the polarized UV-Vis IOW spectra acquired with the developed instrumentation. The spectral extension of the single-mode IOW technique into the ultraviolet region is an important advance as it enables extremely sensitive studies in key characteristics of surface molecular processes (e.g., protein unfolding and solvation of aromatic amino-acid groups under surface binding) whose spectral features are mainly located at wavelengths below the visible spectrum.
Marriage and Family Law in a Changing Vietnam

Marriage and family law in Vietnam has been greatly influenced by important historical events over the past 40 years. As a result, three major reforms have been implemented. The Marriage and Family Law of 1959 ended arranged marriages and polygamy and addressed the issue of gender equity. The Law on Marriage and the Family of 1986 clarified the legal obligations of married partners, identified more clearly parental responsibilities, and established new procedures for divorce. And, the 1994 Decree on Marriage and the Family was enacted to protect Vietnam's families from external influences and address concerns about rapid modernization. Lessons learned from Vietnam's experience may inform those researchers who are interested in studying family policy in other developing nations.
Pupil shaping and coherence control in an EUV mask-imaging microscope

We are investigating the effect of pupil-fill patterns and partial coherence settings on EUV reticle images on the new SEMATECH High-NA Actinic Reticle review Project (SHARP), to deepen our understanding of its performance, and improve the emulation of image formation in arbitrary printing tools. SHARP is an EUV mask microscope developed as the successor of the SEMATECH Berkeley Actinic Inspection Tool (AIT). It is equipped with a unique, MEMS-based Fourier synthesis illuminator that generates arbitrary, customized pupil fill patterns to control the illumination partial coherence. The high-magnification objective lenses are an array of interchangeable Fresnel zoneplates with 4×NA values ranging from 0.25 to 0.625. We have used SHARP to inspect isolated and dense features with half pitch as low as 55 nm using lenses with a range of NA values, and common illumination patterns, such as annular, dipole and QUASAR™. We will show the effect of illumination on important, measured pattern parameters, including contrast, normalized image log-slope, and depth of focus. We have also studied the effect of partial coherence on the imaging of on multilayer roughness observed in bright mask regions, a topic important for expanding our understanding of the causes of LER.
Exploration of GPGPU Register File Architecture Using Domain-wall-shift-write based Racetrack Memory

SRAM based register file (RF) is one of the major factors limiting the scaling of GPGPU. In this work, we propose to use the emerging nonvolatile domain-wall-shift-write based racetrack memory (DWSW-RM) to implement a power-efficient GPGPU RF, of which the power consumption is substantially reduced. A holistic technology set is developed to minimize the high access cost of DWSW-RW caused by the sequential access mechanism. Experiment results show that our proposed techniques can improve the GPGPU performance by 4.6% compared to the baseline with SRAM based RF. The RF energy efficiency is also significantly improved by 2.45×.
On the least squares signal approximation model for overdecimated rational nonuniform filter banks and applications

With the advent of wavelets for lossy data compression came the notion of representing signals in a certain vector space by their projections in well chosen subspaces of the original space. In this paper, we consider the subspace of signals generated by an overdecimated rational nonuniform filter bank and find the optimal conditions under which the mean-squared error between a given deterministic signal and its representation in this subspace is minimized for a fixed set of synthesis filters. Under these optimal conditions, it is shown that choosing the synthesis filters to further minimize this error is simply an energy compaction problem. With this, we introduce the notion of deterministic energy compaction filters for classes of signals. Simulation results are presented showing the merit of our proposed method for optimizing the synthesis filters.
Social Work and the New Semantic Information Revolution

ABSTRACT While Internet-based information technology (IT) has certainly affected the field of human services, observation suggests that the impact has been relatively less powerful than in other fields of endeavor. In other fields of endeavor, information technologies have been applied to whole-system transformations, involving process re-engineering, job and task restructuring, expert system support, customer management, and the emergence of matrix, network, and virtual organizational designs. Far fewer of such changes have occurred as a result of the introduction of IT into organizations dominated by professional social workers. In this essay we attempt to: (1) explain why the field of social work has been relatively immune to IT-supported transformations by outlining the organizational, administrative, policy, and technical barriers to such transformations in the social services domain; (2) identify the important emerging information technologies (agents, the Semantic Web, and machine learning) that co...
The Provision of (Two Way) Converters in the Transition Process to a New Incompatible Technology

This paper analyzes the dynamic provision of converters in the transition process between two incompatible technologies. I derive the equilibrium behavior in the provision of converters and compare it to the socially optimal outcome. I find that there can be two types of market inefficiency in the provision of converters. First, converters can be supplied by the “wrong” group. Second, the timing of provision may be too late since the providers of converters ignore the positive externality that their provision would confer on the users of the rival technology.
Feasibility and Optimal Dosage of Indocyanine Green Fluorescence for Sentinel Lymph Node Detection Using Robotic Single-Site Instrumentation: Preclinical Study

Abstract The present study was performed to determine the optimal dosage of indocyanine green (ICG) to accurately differentiate the sentinel node from surrounding tissue and then to test this dosage using novel single-port robotic instrumentation. The study was performed in healthy female pigs. After induction of anesthesia, all pigs underwent exploratory laparotomy, dissection of the bladder, and colpotomy to reveal the cervical os. With use of a 21-gauge needle, 0.5 mL normal saline solution was injected at the 3- and 9-o’clock positions as control. Four concentrations of ICG were constituted for doses of 1000, 500, 250, and 175 μg per 0.5 mL. ICG was then injected at the 3- and 9-o’clock positions on the cervix. The SPY camera was used to track ICG into the sentinel nodes and to quantify the intensity of light emitted. SPY technology uses an intensity scale of 1 to 256; this scale was used to determine the difference in intensity between the sentinel node and surrounding tissues. The optimal dosage was tested using single-port robotic instrumentation with the same injection techniques. A sentinel node was identified at all doses except 175 μg, at which ICG stayed in the cervix and vasculature only. For both the 500- and 250-μg doses, the sentinel node was identified before reaching maximum intensity. At maximum intensity, the difference between the surrounding tissue and the node was 207 (251 vs 44) for the 500-μg dose and 159 (251 vs 92) for the 250-μg dose. Sentinel lymph node (SLN) biopsy was successfully performed using single-port robotic technology with both the 250- and 500-μg doses. For SLN detection, the dose of ICG is related to the ability to differentiate the sentinel node from the surrounding tissue. An ICG dose of 250 to 500 μg enables identification of a SLN with more distinction from the surrounding tissues, and this procedure is feasible using single-port robotics instrumentation.
PADE APPROXIMANTS IN DENSITY FUNCTIONAL THEORY

Pad6 approximants are used to represent the total correlation functional E~[ p] and its kinetic-energy component T~[ p], where the parameter h is the electron-electron interaction coupling constant within the adiabatic connection formalism. The exact relations between E~[ p] and T~[ p] are employed to generate the associated T¢~[ p] functional from its parent Eta[ p] functional. Numerical results (with A = 1) on the first 18 neutral atoms confirm the soundness of this procedure. It is proved that no local representations of these functionals can be exact for the nonuniform electron gas. However, it is still useful to design local functionals that are as accurate as possible.
The phase III candidate: can we improve the science of selection?

Oncologists making treatment recommendations for their patients and practicing evidence-based medicine rely heavily on the highest level of data from random assignment trials. Such evidence is clearly needed in advanced bladder cancer, a disease that results in more than 40,000 deaths per year in the United States and Europe. Bladder cancer is sensitive to combination chemotherapy, such as the regimen of methotrexate, vinblastine, doxorubicin, and cisplatin (MVAC), which has been studied and referenced in more than 700 publications during the last 20 years. Despite this plethora of publications, standards of care for advanced bladder cancer are derived from just several randomized trials, underscoring their importance to the field.
Diversity and Types of Eye Tracking Applications

A wide variety of eye tracking applications exists, which can broadly be described within two categories, termed here as diagnostic or interactive.
Fatigue crack propagation in amorphous poly(ethylene terephthalate)

Earlier studies of fatigue crack propagation (FCP) in polymers have shown a general superiority of crystalline relative to amorphous polymers in terms of FCP resistance. In order to study in detail the effect of crystalline content and character on FCP rates, poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) was selected as a convenient material in which a wide range of crystallinity can be obtained. To provide a baseline for comparison, FCP rates were determined for essentially amorphous polymers covering a range of molecular weight. Surprisingly, the essentially amorphous PET turned out to be as resistant to FCP as the best crystalline polymers so far observed. In this paper, several observations about FCP rates and fracture topography are reported: FCP rates agree well with the Paris equation over a wide range of ΔK; in any case, the higher the molecular weight, the greater the crack growth resistance according to the Manson-Hertzberg relationship previously established. Fracture surface analysis revealed evidence of softening and drawing, as well as extensive plastic deformation. We suggest that PET can undergo, under cycling loading, both extensive drawing and actual crystallization at the crack tip to form an efficient, crack-resistant network. Thus, PET appears to be the first thermoplastic observed to be self-reinforcing in fatigue.
A matter of conscience: legal protection for the rights of conscience of healthcare providers.

A growing number of healthcare practices implicate serious moral concerns for growing numbers of healthcare providers. Social, legal, and medical developments, including abortion, contraception, euthanasia, withdrawal of feeding, blood transfusions, organ transplants, and routine autopsies, have put healthcare providers in the vortex of some of society's most controversial moral dilemmas.
Ten Thousand Journal Articles Later: Ethnography of «The Literature» in Science

This paper explores the difficulties of reading large numbers of scientific papers when doing the history of 20th century science and technology. It argues that there is a tension between two modes: that of close reading of key papers and that of citation analysis and other automated modes of mapping the literature. The challenge charting between the two and of maintaining an interpretive approach when confronted with a large body of literature (thousands, or tens of thousands of papers) can be met by approaching The Literature as a kind of informant in the anthropological sense. We characterize the literature here as something which can depict the movement of scientific and technical concepts and practices. The paper explores this approach, and suggests ways to track such things as materials and methods sections, the mode of emplotment they employ and the problemetizations they propose or participate in.
Sales Force Automation Acceptance: An Exploratory Study Of The Role Of Job Experience

User perceptions of new technologies may ultimately affect their acceptance of that technology. Recent research has identified a clear connection between user perceptions of Sales Force Automation and their acceptance of Sales Force Automation technologies. Anecdotal evidence suggests that relative to less experienced salespeople, more experienced salespeople tend to have more negative perceptions of sales force automation. This paper examines the relationship between job experience and perceptions of a sales force automation system. The results are based on a survey of 1,657 salespeople about their perceptions of several aspects of a sales force automation system in a large sales organization. This study finds significant differences by sales experience in areas such as perceived productivity/efficiency gain, perception of sales force automation as a micromanagement tool, and user satisfaction with system functionality. Based on these results several important managerial implications for the adoption of a sales force automation system are suggested.
Pathophysiologic Reactions to UHMWPE Wear Particles

Abstract From a clinical perspective, implants for total joint replacement must contribute to a biologically favorable and mechanically stable environment to provide a satisfactory long-term outcome. One of the most important factors determining the success of a total joint replacement is implant wear over time and the associated adverse biologic reactions elicited by wear debris. The most obvious gross, clinical manifestation associated with implant wear debris generation is bone loss (osteolysis typically after 5–10 years), which has been identified as a major reason for implant loosening and the need for revision surgery after total hip replacement. In 1977, a seminal paper by Hans-Georg Willert demonstrated macrophage activation by UHMWPE wear debris that is generated by intended motion of the articulating implant surfaces, and by the movement of the implant against surrounding bone. These initial observations led to numerous studies characterizing the chronic inflammatory response to foreign debris accumulation in periprosthetic tissue. The challenge in assessing the pathophysiologic response to wear debris associated with a joint implant is to accurately characterize UHMWPE wear debris (amount, size, and shape) and the surrounding tissue response at both early and late implantation times.
Caregivers’ Reactions to Healthful Items and Nutrition Information on Children’s Menus

The objectives of this study are to examine whether caregivers’ dining behaviors with their children differ based on socioeconomic and demographic factors and children’s characteristics and to investigate whether the availability of healthful children’s menus and nutrition information influences their food selections for children. Caregivers’ dining behaviors were influenced by children’s age, gender, and number of children in a household. Caregivers chose lower calorie items when healthful items are available. The presence of nutrition information did not affect food selections. There may be a need to empower caregivers through interventions aimed at promoting healthful children’s food at restaurants.
Towards accurate reconstruction of phylogenetic networks

Since Darwin proposed that all species on the earth have evolved from a common ancestor, evolution has played an important role in understanding biology. While the evolutionary relationships/histories of genes are represented using trees, the genomic evolutionary history may not be adequately captured by a tree, as some evolutionary events, such as horizontal gene transfer (HGT), do not fit within the branches of a tree. In this case, phylogenetic networks are more appropriate for modeling evolutionary histories. In this dissertation, we present computational algorithms to reconstruct phylogenetic networks from different types of data. Under the assumption that species have single copies of genes, and HGT and speciation are the only events through the course of evolution, gene sequences can be sampled one copy per species for HGT detection. Given the alignments of the sequences, we propose systematic methods that estimate the significance of detected HGT events under maximum parsimony (MP) and maximum likelihood (ML). The estimated significance aims at addressing the issue of overestimation of both optimization criteria in the search for phylogenetic networks and helps the search identify networks with the “right” number of HGT edges. We study their performance on both synthetic and biological data sets. While the studies show very promising results in identifying HGT edges, they also highlight the issues that are challenging for each criterion. We also develop algorithms that estimate the amount of HGT events and reconstruct phylogenetic networks by utilizing the pairwise Subtree-Prune-Regraft (SPR) operation from a collection of trees. The methods produce good results in general in terms of quickly estimating the minimum number of HGT events required to reconcile a set of trees. Further, we identify conditions under which the methods do not work well in order to help in the development of new methods in this area. Finally, we extend the assumption for the genetic evolutionary process and allow for duplication and loss. Under this assumption, we analyze gene family trees of proteobacterial strains using a parsimony-based approach to detect evolutionary events. Also we discuss the current issues of parsimony-based approaches in the biological data analysis and propose a way to retrieve significant estimates. The evolutionary history of species is complex with various evolutionary events. As HGT contributes largely to this complexity, accurately identifying HGT will help untangle evolutionary histories and solve important questions. As our algorithms identify significant HGT events in the data and reconstruct accurate phylogenetic networks from them, they can be used to address questions arising in large-scale biological data analyses.
A sequential experiment design for input uncertainty quantification in stochastic simulation

When we use simulations to estimate the performance of a stochastic system, simulations are often driven by input distributions that are estimated from real-world data. There is both input and simulation uncertainty in the performance estimates. Non-parametric sampling approaches, e.g., the bootstrap, could be used to generate samples of input distributions quantifying both input model and parameter uncertainty. In this paper, a sequential experiment design is proposed to efficiently propagate the input uncertainty to output mean and deliver a percentile confidence interval to quantify the impact of input uncertainty on the system performance. Compared to the classical equal allocation, it could assign more computational budget to samples of input distributions that contribute most to the percentile confidence interval estimation. Our approach is supported by rigorous theoretical and empirical study.
Cash Flow and Product Market Competition: An Empirical Analysis

Using a tax-induced negative shock to expected cash flows in the tobacco industry as a natural experiment, I find significant positive returns to rivals who compete with non-tobacco segments in tobacco firms and a significant change in output behavior of those non-tobacco segments after the shock. This suggests that a firm's cash flow has an important effect on its competitive outcomes in the product market. The effects are robust to a number of estimation issues and identification choices. Since the shock is exogenous to the investment opportunities of non-tobacco industries, my evidence supports the hypothesis that there is a causal relation between a firm's cash flow and its product market behavior. Moreover, I find that the connection between cash flow and competitive performance is magnified in competitive industries and when cash-constrained firms only have a small market share.
Bioenergetics Modeling of Percid Fishes

A bioenergetics model for a percid fish represents a quantitative description of the fish’s energy budget. Bioenergetics modeling can be used to identify the important factors determining growth of percids in lakes, rivers, or seas. For example, bioenergetics modeling applied to yellow perch (Perca flavescens) in the western and central basins of Lake Erie revealed that the slower growth in the western basin was attributable to limitations in suitably sized prey in western Lake Erie, rather than differences in water temperature between the two basins. Bioenergetics modeling can also be applied to a percid population to estimate the amount of food being annually consumed by the percid population. For example, bioenergetics modeling applied to the walleye (Sander vitreus) population in Lake Erie has provided fishery managers valuable insights into changes in the population’s predatory demand over time. In addition, bioenergetics modeling has been used to quantify the effect of the difference in growth between the sexes on contaminant accumulation in walleye. Field and laboratory evaluations of percid bioenergetics model performance have documented a systematic bias, such that the models overestimate consumption at low feeding rates but underestimate consumption at high feeding rates. However, more recent studies have shown that this systematic bias was due, at least in part, to an error in the energy budget balancing algorithm used in the computer software. Future research work is needed to more thoroughly assess the field and laboratory performance of percid bioenergetics models and to quantify differences in activity and standard metabolic rate between the sexes of mature percids.
Femtosecond pulse compression through harmonic generation

We present a theory which includes the exact frequency dependence of the wavevectors and demonstrates compression of fs pulses at 800 nm down to 2.5 fs in the second-harmonic and fundamental from noncollinear interaction in BBO.
Acute abdomen with coffee bean sign.

A 27-year-old Taiwanese man with no significant medical history presented with abdominal distension and pain for 1 week. Physical examination was notable for an ovoid distended abdomen with tenderness and decreased bowel movements. Laboratory tests …
Efficacy of Symptomatic Treatment of Migraine

The evidence from randomized and clinical controlled trials concerning efficacy and tolerability of symptomatic treatment of migraine in children was reviewed by search of databases from inception to June 2004 at Erasmus Medical Centre, Rotterdam, and Vlietland Hospital, Vlaardingen, The Netherlands.
Is grit the ‘X-factor’ for interpreters leaving the profession?

This study uses the construct of grit, as measured by the persistence a person has to complete his or her goals, even when barriers are present (Duckworth, Peterson, Matthews, & Kelly, 2007). The population in this particular study was American Sign Language/English Interpreters, (current and inactive), and those who work in any type of setting (education and/or community). Participants were sent a demographic survey, as well as the 12-item Grit Scale developed by Duckworth et al. (2007). The author scored the Grit Scales based on the scoring guide by Duckworth et al. and measured the respondents’ grit scores to see if they had remained in the interpreting profession because they were high in grit. Competing factors that would have forced the person to remain in the profession were also analysed. Tests measuring the analysis of variance were run for variables such as gender, hearing and marital status, the presence of Deaf [1] family members, ethnicity, educational level, and past and present certifications. Additional variables included whether or not the respondent was still a current practitioner, years of experience, why they got out of the profession, if they were satisfied with the profession, if they had another vocation in which they were currently working, if they were the sole income provider for their family, and percentage of their total family income came from the respondents’ interpreting work. Respondents were asked if they had ever failed a test for sign language interpreters (American Sign Language/ English interpreters) in the United States. Those tests could be tests of knowledge (computer-based test used to test interpreting knowledge offered by the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf to candidates for certification), or a performance-based test (like the one formerly offered by the National Association of the Deaf (NAD) certification, or current tests such as the Educational Interpreter Performance Assessments (EIPA), Sign Language Proficiency Interview (SLPI), or the American Sign Language Proficiency Interview (ASLPI)). Finally, qualitative analyses were assessed for the reasons respondents gave for initially choosing interpreting as a profession, as well as what motivated them to continue working as an interpreter. There were two significant findings that were predictive of grit. The first finding occurred when education was grouped in three-tiers: 1) an Associate’s Degree; 2) a Bachelor’s Degree; 3) a Master’s Degree/ terminal degree as the highest achieved level of education. The second significant finding that was predictive of grit occurred with respondents who had NAD III certification. When qualitative responses were analysed for reasons the respondent gave for initially choosing interpreting as a profession, as well as their motivation to remain in the profession, there was a significant change in each of the following categories: intellectual, societal, and monetary.
Hesperapis rhodocerata: Behavioral Biology, Egg, and Larval Instars, Including Behavioral and Larval Comparisons with H. larreae (Hymenoptera: Melittidae: Dasypodainae)

ABSTRACT This paper reports on a large nesting site of the ground-nesting solitary bee Hesperapis (Carinapis) rhodocerata (Cockerell) from southern New Mexico first discovered in the late summer of 2010 and active again in late summer 2015. Because the site was visited annually during intervening years without observation of any specimens, the species is believed to sustain a multiyear diapause that is broken in response to rain. It is judged to be univoltine, and females at the site collect pollen from Heterotheca (Asteraceae). Nests are briefly described as are the nest-digging behavior and pollen-transport system of females. The feeding behavior of larvae involves grazing on the surface of the food sphere, thus reducing its diameter. This is accomplished with the aid of paired ventral tubercles on each of the three thoracic and first eight abdominal segments and a single median ventral tubercle on the ninth abdominal segment. The second and last larval instars are described and illustrated. The first i...
A Reconstruction of the Discourse of South Dakota Public Broadcasting Managers and Producers: A Cultural Analysis Using Universal Pragmatics

This article is the final of three in a series providing analysis of the discursive activity and speech act behavior of South Dakota Public Broadcasting (SDPB) managers and producers. Applying Habermas' theory of universal pragmatics to the discourse and conversations detailed previously in IJHCS 2(3), 2015, pp. 729-765, this work will consider whether that discourse is being conducted according the assumptions and rules of communicative action and rationality or according to the goal directedness of instrumental rationality. In United States, Public Broadcasting was founded upon the ideals of diversity and alternative programming (Carnegie I, 14). Such ideals should be influential in the construction of meaning for cultural producers. However, as already discussed in previous chapters, capitalist steering mechanisms such as power and money have the potential to distort communication and essentially disable the consensus forming process, shape the lives of the citizenry, and work to construct meaning, knowledge and cultural production through action which is contradictory to the democratic process. This article will apply the rules and speech act elements of the ideal speech situation to the discursive behavior of South Dakota Public Broadcasting managers and producers and it will provide evidence of either distorted communication and instrumental rationality or communicative action and democratic participation. The discourse and speech acts discussed in Schlenker, IJHCS 2(3) will be considered in working toward an understanding of interaction at South Dakota Public Broadcasting during 1992 and early 1993, which involved the resignation and replacement of the Executive Director. This analysis will provide an understanding of the structural influences on the communicative patterns within the SDPB organization. This analysis is divided into three segments including (1) a six-month period following the resignation of the Executive Director, (2) the arrival of the new Executive Director, and (3) a three-month period following the arrival of the new Executive Director.
Numerical and Analytical Modeling to Determine Performance Tradeoffs in Hydrogel-Based pH Sensors

Hydrogel-based pH sensors are promising candidates for implantable sensors due to their low cost and biocompatibility. Despite their commercial potential and numerous theoretical/experimental reports, the tradeoffs between different performance parameters are not well understood and explicitly stated. In this work, we develop a numerical and analytical framework to show that there is a fundamental tradeoff between the performance parameters, i.e., sensitivity/ dynamic range versus response-time/response-asymmetry in hydrogel sensors under constrained swelling conditions. Specifically, we consider the effect of the gel parameters, such as the ionizable group density ( ${N}_{f}$ ) and its dissociation constant ( ${K}_{a}$ ), on the sensor performance. We show that improvement in sensitivity/dynamic range leads to degradation in response time/symmetry and, therefore, a compromise must be made to optimize device performance.
Epidemiological characteristics and monitoring analysis of human rabies in Xianyang City from 2011 to 2013

Objective: To explore the epidemiological characteristics of human rabies in Xianyang City from 2011 to 2013,analyzing the monitoring data,so as to provide the basis for the prevention and control of the disease. Methods: The epidemic monitoring data of human rabies in Xianyang City from 2011 to 2013 were collected to conduct statistical analysis. Results: A total 24 cases of rabies were reported in Xianyang City from2011 to 2013,with the incidence rate on the rise( the annual average incidence rate 0. 16 /100 thousand). In these cases,dogs were the main animal hurting people,accounting for 87. 50 %,female victims were one third of the male victims,and 75% of all were peasants. The most common injured sites were the upper limb and hand,accounting for 81. 82 %. The disease duration lasted for 1 to 9 days,while the latent period was between 15 and 282 days. The rates of wound treatment by patients themselves and by the medical organization after the case exposure were 27. 27 %and 22. 73 %,respectively. The vaccine injection rate was 18. 18 %,the injection rate of whole way was 4. 55 %,and the injection rate of passive immune preparations was 4. 55 %. There were 39 incidents in each of which a dog hurt many people,with 164 people wounded in total,and the onset occurred to 3 people after 6 months' observation. The detection rate of rabies virus in brain tissues of 7 dogs hurting people was 100 %.Conclusion: The rabies epidemic is increasing in Xianyang City from 2011 to 2013,and the dog is the primary host of rabies. The main reason of the onset of rabies is the management deficiency of dogs and the low rate of standard treatment after the case being revealed.
Flow field sensing with bio-inspired artificial hair cell arrays

Abstract The hair cell is a biological sensor that uses microscopic hair-like structures to detect delicate motions of surrounding fluid. Inspired by this principle, an artificial hair cell (AHC) sensory method based on bio-membrane transducers is developed for airflow sensing. One-dimensional arrays built from modular AHC units measure local velocity at different points in a flow profile. Each of the AHC units uses thinly extruded glass fibers as mechanical receptors of air velocity. Hair vibrations are converted to current via hydrogel-supported (lipid bilayers) by virtue of their mechanosensitive properties. The AHC outputs are combined into one channel, requiring a demultiplexing operation to recover individual hair cell information. This is achieved by tuning each AHC hair length to a unique frequency response and recovering individual sensor information based on the frequency content of the signal. The method is entitled tuned frequency response encoding (TFRE). When several AHC units are excited simultaneously by an airflow, the resulting signal is a superposition of each sensor's individual response. The excitation at each sensor is reconstructed from the frequencies that appear in the combined output. This technique was inspired by how organisms use hair cells with tuned responses to mechanically process flow stimuli. It takes advantage of a novel AHC's high signal-to-noise ratio (compared to other membrane-based AHCs) and linear output response to flow velocity. Initial tests with linear arrays of three AHCs show success in estimating the shape of the velocity profile from an air source that varies in position and intensity. However, temporal variations in some cases in membrane size affect sensitivity properties and make accurate flow velocity estimation difficult. Nevertheless, under stable conditions, the measured velocity profiles match closely with theoretical predictions. The implementation of the array sensing method demonstrates the sensory capability of bilayer-based AHC arrays, but highlights the difficulties of achieving consistent performance with biomolecular materials.
Comparative flow studies of myocardial revascularization grafts.

Summary Pulsatile and mean blood flows of indirect and direct types of myocardial revascularization grafts were compared. In addition, the responses of these various revascularization grafts to levarterenol, isoproterenol, and nitroglycerin were recorded. In the indirect revascularization procedure (Vineberg), the mean flows were uniformly low. In contrast, all direct coronary artery bypass grafts had high mean flows, and pulsatile flow patterns were identical with those of the normal coronary artery. The direct bypass grafts also responded to the administration of drugs in the same manner as the normal coronary artery. The indirect revascularization graft (Vineberg) did not respond to these drugs. A reversed saphenous vein graft with origin from the ascending aorta appears to be superior to the other tested grafts, including a free femoral artery and a free internal mammary artery graft, because of its size and functioning venous valves. The venous valves appear to block retrograde flow from the graft during systole. The authors wish to thank Dr. John Schneider, Mr. R. Michael Black, and Mr. Omah Maharajh for their technical assistance.
Standard Analysis of Share of Production Results

Standard Analysis of share of production results is a specialized application of the Standard Cost principal. It breaks down and reveals the sources of payoffs and deficits under the Share of Production Plan. These sources include: (1) physical productivity, (2) selling price, (3) raw material consumption, (4) indirect manufacturing expense, (5) administrative expense, (6) selling expense, and (7) hourly labor rate. Thus, through the operation of Standard Analysis it is possible to take the dollars of a payoff or deficit and to determine precisely how many dollars were obtained or lost by each of these seven sources being better or worse than Standard. Moreover, the results of Standard Analysis carp be supported by statistics which compare actual details with their respective standards.
Opportunistic Accountability: The Roots of a Non-Fiscal Social Contract in Nigeria

In the absence of electoral accountability, when can citizens impose their policy preferences on the state? In the standard narrative, the cost of paying taxes motivates citizens to make new demands on the state. We argue that this dynamic of sacrifice is not necessary and even being the beneficiary of a valued service can improve a citizen’s bargaining position. We hypothesize that where coercion is costly and where the state values policy compliance, citizens can strategically use non-compliance to extract other, more highly valued, benefits from the state. These instances represent nascent bargaining processes. Because this non-compliance is unprincipled and successful bargaining is dependent on the state valuing citizens’ compliance, we term this process opportunistic accountability. Drawing on evidence from the polio vaccination campaign in Northern Nigeria, we illustrate a new channel through which policy can empower citizens and initiate a non-fiscal social contract, even in rentier and patronage states.
A comparison of three adaptive transmission protocols for fountain-coded multicast

We investigate adaptive transmission for tactical packet radio networks in which a source uses fountain coding to multicast a file to a number of destinations over time-varying links. We examine two strategies from the literature for packet-by-packet adaptation of the modulation and channel code. The maximum data-recovery rate philosophy attempts to maximize the throughput for each transmitted packet. It can employ control information derived from practical receiver statistics. The weighted completion time approach minimizes a function of the expected file-delivery delays at the destinations and uses control information derived from perfect channel-state information and knowledge of the number of packets received by each destination. We devise a minimax completion time protocol that uses the same control information as the weighted completion time approach but applies the minimax criterion to the expected delays to select transmission parameters for each packet. Performance comparisons are given for a number of different multicast networks in which each link experiences correlated Rayleigh fading.
Psoriasis: Overview and Diagnosis

Psoriasis is a chronic, common, inflammatory skin disease. The classic skin lesions can be described as sharply demarcated, scaly, erythematous plaques often found on the extensor surfaces. Several variants of psoriasis have also been described, including palmoplantar, pustular, erythrodermic, and guttate forms. Although psoriasis is usually diagnosed clinically, characteristic histologic findings include hyperkeratosis, parakeratosis, and acanthosis of the epidermis with dilated blood vessels and a lymphocytic infiltrate. Psoriasis is an immune-mediated disease, and although the etiology is not fully understood, genetic and environmental factors have been implicated. Importantly, psoriasis is associated with a number of systemic complications and comorbidities that have a high impact on affected patients.
IFToMM from a Personal Perspective

This paper traces the author’s personal history in regard to his participation in IFToMM. It presents details of his involvement in the formation of the Robot and Manipulator Symposium (Ro.Man.Sy) series, and the highlights of the four years he served as president of IFToMM. Mainly this paper attempts to record the atmosphere and the personalities that the author encountered during his 32 years of involvement with IFToMM.
Inhomogeneous Cellular Automata (INCA)

A cellular automaton in 2 dimensions, as considered in this paper, consists of a regular array of sites (or cells), with a value, or state (0 or 1) at each site. With an evolution law in discrete time, a cellular automaton is a fully discrete dynamical system. The law is local: the value assumed by any one site at time t + 1 is determined by the values taken at time t by the neighboring sites. (For reviews, see Vichniac, this volume, and references therein.) These systems are homogeneous in the sense that all sites evolve according to the same transition rule.
Impact of the Three Mile Island Accident as Perceived by Those Living in the Surrounding Community

The accident at Three Mile Island Unit 2 on March 28, 1979, presented the world with a unique historical example for study. It illustrated how people react to what the press labeled a “nuclear disease.” This was a “disaster” without noise or evidence of damage. The TMI community could not see or feel or sense anything other than what was transmitted in the form of news reports. Under such circumstances people seem to react to the flavor (upbeat, downbeat) or pattern (relaxing, worsening) of the news reports and particularly on the basis of preconceptions of the risks involved. On March 30th, when approximately one-third of Middletown left the area, many were unable to utilize a logical thought process in arriving at a course of action. Still today, two years after the accident, many residents have mixed feelings about nuclear energy and TMI. It is difficult to accept the fact that off-the-island, for all practical purposes, the accident had no effect. Even more difficult to accept is the conclusion that had the accident progressed further than it did (melt down) the containment would still not have been breeched. There would have been no “China Syndrome.”
Unemployment, Inequality and Terrorism: Another Look at the Relationship between Economics and Terrorism

This paper builds on existing research on the determinants of terrorism by looking at new measures of poverty in addition to political freedom, population fractionalization, and other country characteristics. The findings of this paper reinforce the conclusions of existing literature that political freedom is a key determinant of terrorism, with the greatest risk coming from countries that are middling between liberal democracy and authoritarian control. Further, this paper supports recent conclusions that linguistic fractionalization and geography are both related to terrorist risk as well. The new finding in this paper is that adult unemployment rate is also a significant predictor of terrorism, though it can only explain a small portion of the overall terrorist risk in a country. This paper also suggests that the Gini Index of economic inequality may also have a significant correlation with terrorist risk. The results overall imply that exclusion from the economy can be a motivator for terrorism just as exclusion from politics can be, regardless of the overall wealth of a country. This article is available in Undergraduate Economic Review: http://digitalcommons.iwu.edu/uer/vol1/iss1/6 Undergraduate Economic Review A publication of Illinois Wesleyan University
Prostaglandin D2 Levels Regulate CD103+ Conventional Dendritic Cell Activation in Neonates During Respiratory Viral Infection.

Abstract During respiratory viral infection, conventional dendritic cells (cDCs) take up antigen and migrate to the draining lymph nodes to present viral antigen and activate cytotoxic T lymphocyte...
A Look Inside the Black Box: Exploring the Link Between CEO Change Leadership and Firm Performance.

This study examined a key mechanism and boundary condition through which CEO change leadership influences firm performance. We hypothesized that TMT empowerment mediates the positive relationship b...