cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Sex Differences in Self-Concept and Symptoms of Depression During the Transition to College

In an investigation of sex differences in adaptation to college, real and ideal self-concept and symptoms of depression were studied longitudinally in a sample of 287 students. Survey data were collected at a summer orientation and one semester into freshman year. No sex differences in self-concept were found before college, but males' real self-concept became more positive over the transition. Females were more depressed than males at both times, although depressive symptom scores increased in both sexes. Real self-concept scores were negatively correlated with depressive symptoms in both sexes at both times, while the discrepancy between real and ideal self-concepts was positively correlated with depressive symptoms among females before college and in both sexes midway through freshman year. A one-year follow-up revealed that females' real self-concept scores increased to match those of males by mid-sophomore year. These sex differences are discussed in relation to psychological development during adolescence.
Terascale chip multiprocessor memory hierarchy and programming model

Small scale chip multiprocessors are being shipped in volume by all microprocessor vendors. Many of these vendors are also investigating large scale chip multiprocessors targeted towards highly parallel workloads in media, graphics, and others. One of the most challenging aspects of architecting terascale processors is the design of a scalable memory hierarchy. Current proposals for providing coherent shared memory in terascale systems require a sophisticated coherence protocol and memory hierarchy. In this paper we propose an alternate memory configuration along with a programming model that significantly simplifies the terascale memory hierarchy. Our proposal still provides fully coherent shared memory but eliminates the hardware coherence protocol. Our programming model enables the programmer to better express the memory characteristic of terascale workloads. Finally, our proposed memory hierarchy performs better and is more scalable than conventional designs.
On the setting properties of acrylic bone cement.

In the one batch of methylmethacrylate tested the surface of the setting cement never exceeded 70 degrees centigrade while the setting time was prolonged by lowering the ambient temperature, decreasing the powder to liquid ratio, and increasing the mass of cement. Working time, that is, the interval between the dough stage and setting, did not change as the powder-liquid ratio varied but decreased with rises in ambient temperature and mass. Batch to batch variation should be expected, and even greater variation will occur with minor variations in composition of cement.
Androgen Deprivation Followed by Acute Androgen Stimulation Selectively Sensitizes AR-Positive Prostate Cancer Cells to Ionizing Radiation.

PURPOSE The current standard of care for patients with locally advanced prostate cancer is a combination of androgen deprivation and radiation therapy. Radiation is typically given with androgen suppression when testosterone levels are at their nadir. Recent reports have shown that androgen stimulation of androgen-deprived prostate cancer cells leads to formation of double-strand breaks (DSB). Here, we exploit this finding and investigate the extent and timing of androgen-induced DSBs and their effect on tumor growth following androgen stimulation in combination with ionizing radiation (IR). EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN Androgen-induced DNA damage was assessed by comet assays and γH2A.X foci formation. Effects of androgen stimulation and radiation were determined in vitro and in vivo with xenograft models. RESULTS We document that androgen treatment of androgen-deprived prostate cancer cell lines resulted in a dose- and time-dependent induction of widespread DSBs. Generation of these breaks was dependent on androgen receptor and topoisomerase II beta but not on cell-cycle progression. In vitro models demonstrated a synergistic interaction between IR and androgen stimulation when IR is given at a time point corresponding with high levels of androgen-induced DSB formation. Furthermore, in vivo studies showed a significant improvement in tumor growth delay when radiation was given shortly after androgen repletion in castrated mice. CONCLUSIONS These results suggest a potential cooperative effect and improved tumor growth delay with androgen-induced DSBs and radiation with implications for improving the therapeutic index of prostate cancer radiation therapy. Clin Cancer Res; 22(13); 3310-9. ©2016 AACRSee related commentary by Chua and Bristow, p. 3124.
Corporate Greenhouse Gas Accounting: Carbon Footprint Analysis

Stakeholder climate change actions worldwide have prompted companies to measure their greenhouse gas emissions and reduce their carbon footprints by decreasing energy and fuel use. In the process, they are cutting costs, decreasing exposure to severe weather, reducing energy vulnerability, and potentially opening up revenue sources for carbon credit sales in the emerging markets for carbon trading. This note is effective in MBA, undergraduate, and executive education courses on clean commerce innovation, carbon markets, sustainability, and environmental and regulatory issues. This technical note stands alone and also works as a companion note to "Frito-Lay North America: The Making of a Net-Zero Snack Chip" (UVA-ENT-0112). For instructors, a teaching note is available, along with a supplemental Excel spreadsheet for use in performing carbon emissions calculations.
14.4 A 21.5M-query-vectors/s 3.37nJ/vector reconfigurable k-nearest-neighbor accelerator with adaptive precision in 14nm tri-gate CMOS

Energy-efficient k-nearest-neighbor (kNN) computations are key building blocks for computer vision, classification, and machine-learning workloads [1–3]. Determining distances to high-dimensional vectors within a large vector database results in high compute cost. Adaptive precision improves energy efficiency by eliminating a majority of vectors without costly full-precision computation, with as-needed precision refinement to guarantee kNN accuracy of closely matched vectors. A special-purpose on-die kNN accelerator with 128-dimensions by 128 parallel reference vectors, targeted across mobile SoCs to multi-core microprocessors, and reconfigurable for either Manhattan or Euclidean distance, is fabricated in 14nm tri-gate CMOS [6]. Partial distance compute circuits, 2b window-based sort, MSB-to-LSB-based selective distance refinement, robust ultra-low voltage circuits, and state tracking control to selectively resume next-nearest candidates enable nominal energy efficiency of 3.37nJ/query vector or 9.7TOPS/W (measured for 21.5M vectors/s, 16 cycles/vector at 750mV, 25°C) with a dense layout occupying 0.333mm2 (Fig. 14.4.7) while achieving: i) scalable performance up to 26.4M vectors/s, 114mW measured at 850mV, ii) 2-cycle latency and 43pJ energy to find each subsequent nearest neighbor, iii) up to 5.2× higher throughput while maintaining full-precision kNN accuracy, iv) 16× search-space reduction for next-nearest neighbor, v) ultra-low voltage operation measured at 360mV, 1.1M vectors/s, 1.44mW, and vi) peak energy efficiency of 1.23nJ/vector at 390mV (near-threshold), 25°C.
Band-Limited Signal Reconstruction From Irregular Samples With Variable Apertures

Sampling plays a critical role in remote sensing and signal analysis. In conventional sampling theory, the signal is sampled at a uniform rate at a minimum of twice the signal bandwidth. Sampling with an aperture function requires a fixed-aperture function, which can be removed by deconvolution after signal reconstruction. However, in some cases, the signal samples are available only at irregular positions, and different samples use different aperture functions. In this paper, the theory of finite-length signal reconstruction with irregular samples and variable apertures in one and two dimensions is considered. In the 1-D case, a band-limited discrete signal can be exactly reconstructed from a finite number of arbitrarily spaced samples with few restrictions on the aperture functions. Exact reconstruction in the 2-D case requires the sampling matrix be invertable, and is not always possible. Variable aperture functions, while complicating the process, can enable reconstruction for a broader range of sample locations. Practical issues are discussed, and numerical examples are provided. Variable aperture reconstruction has application in a variety of remote sensing problems. In this paper, reconstruction from 2-D irregular sampling with variable apertures is illustrated using Special Sensor Microwave/Imager radiometer observations.
Updates on the Molecular Pathology of Selected Ocular and Ocular Adnexal Tumors: Potential Targets for Future Therapy

Ophthalmic pathologic studies of retinoblastoma first definitively elucidated a genetic etiology for cancer three decades ago. Advances in DNA sequencing, protein expression profiling, and the exploration of epigenetics have since led to categorization of tumors and clinical prognostication based on genetic aberrancy. There are now many neoplasms that are defined by a characteristic genetic signature. In the past several years alone, much has been discovered in regard to the original tumor-suppressor gene initially defined in retinoblastoma as well as in other intraocular tumors such as medulloepithelioma. Our further understanding of ocular adnexal tumors that result in substantial morbidity and mortality, such as sebaceous carcinoma, has also benefited from a genetic approach. In this article, we review the clinicopathologic features of the foregoing three entities--retinoblastoma, medulloepithelioma, and sebaceous carcinoma--in order to highlight discoveries in their underlying abnormal molecular genetic functioning.
Machine Learning with Big Data An Efficient Electricity Generation Forecasting System

Abstract Machine Learning (ML) is a powerful tool that can be used to make predictions on the future nature of data based on the past history. ML algorithms operate by building a model from input examples to make data-driven predictions or decisions for the future. The growing concept “Big Data” has brought much success in the field of data science; it provides data scalability in a variety of ways that empower data science. ML can also be used in conjunction with Big Data to build effective predictive systems or to solve complex data analytic problems. In this work, we propose an electricity generation forecasting system that could predict the amount of power required at a rate close to the electricity consumption for the United States. The proposed scheme uses Big Data analytics to process the data collected on power management in the past 20 years. Then, it applies a ML model to train the system for the prediction stage. The model can forecast future power generation based on the collected data, and our test results show that the proposed system can predict the required power generation close to 99% of the actual usage. Our results indicate that the ML with Big Data can be integrated in forecasting techniques to improve the efficiency and solve complex data analytic problems existing in the power management systems.
Estimation of Plume Concentration from a Moving Source with an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

space ( ) 2 L  and denoted by ( ) ( ) , , , t e t = ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ e , the closed loop operator cl  is defined via Eq. (14) and Eq. (4) as ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) 0 0 0 ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) d d d X Y Z cl XX YY ZZ
Volumetric Seismic Dip and Azimuth Estimation With 2D Log-Gabor Filter Array

In this paper, we propose a novel method of orientation estimation in seismic data. Unlike conventional methods of orientation estimation with a context window, our method is inspired by the neural mechanism of visual perception. The primary visual cortex in the brain contains orientation columns, which are composed of an array of orientation detectors. A log-Gabor filter with a specific orientation and scale configuration simulates the neuronal mechanism of the orientation detector, while an array of such filters simulates the orientation columns. The resulting orientation is derived at the sample level of the input seismic data: the filter response competes with each other in the array, and the maximum response defines the seismic orientation. Our proposed method has many applications in seismic interpretation, e.g., calculating the volumetric azimuth and dip attributes without picking, guiding seismic attribute computation, and detecting seismic texture patterns.
The Establishment of Legal Structures on the Frontier: The Case of Revolutionary Vermont

Inside the small wooden jailhouse in Bennington, Vermont, David Redding waited for frontier justice to exact its price. A Vermont court had found Redding, a New York Tory, guilty of fighting with the British against his fellow Americans and of stealing horses for Gen. John Burgoyne's recently defeated army. But on that very morning, June 4, 1778, John Burnham, the only person in that part of Vermont who could make any claim to knowledge of the law, had pointed out to the governor and his council that a jury of only six men had passed judgment on Redding, whereas English common law required twelve. The embarrassed council ordered a stay of execution. The crowd of angry Vermonters gathered outside the jail, denied the spectacle of a public execution, was calling for vengeance; they had come to hang Redding, not to protect his inalienable rights as a freeborn Englishman. Just as the sheriff was getting nervous and had sent a call for reinforcements, a long-absent but familiar voice was heard clearly shouting above the crowd's din, "Attention the whole!" After two years as a prisoner of the British, Ethan Allen made his dramatic reentry to Vermont politics, leaping onto a tree stump and immediately obtaining the attention of the crowd in his usual flamboyant fashion. Witnesses reported that Allen made a colorful and amusing speech, quieting the crowd's disappointment and calling on them not to besmirch the fair name of Vermont with any hint of injustice. He closed with the peculiar and unlikely reassurance that by the next day someone would be hanged, if not Redding, then Allen himself. The crowd roared with approval and dispersed to the taverns to toast Ethan Allen. To ensure that his promise to the crowd was fulfilled, Allen had his old friend Gov. Thomas Chittenden appoint him state prosecutor. The fact that Redding's crimes had occurred in New York, which had requested his extradition, was overcome by appointing Allen, in effect, a United States attorney. The proclamation naming him prosecutor read that "Colonel Ethan Allen . . . is hereby chosen to act in the Capacity & to do the duty of State Attorney in the cause depending Be-
Hydraulic integrated alarm system based on multimedia and mobile communications

With the improvement of hydropower plant automation level and change of operating mode,a new requirement for real-time alerts publishing is proposed.From the view point of automatic operation and management of hydropower plant,the paper describes the establishment of an integrated automatic alarm system,which is not only relatively independent but also closely associated with the monitoring system,proposes its position in plant,system architecture and main functions,emphasizes this system's hub role in the operation and management of hydropower plants and equipment maintenance in the future.
A Study on Fractal Image Coding Algorithm in Wavelet Domain

In view of long coding time of classical fractal image compression algorithm,the paper studied the wavelet transformation in the fractal image coding application.According to the energy of the image mainly concentrates in thelow frequency coefficient after the wavelet transformation and between the same direction,high frequency wavelet coefficient has similar characteristic,but the fractal coding essence uses precisely the image's similarity.A Fractal Image Coding Algorithm in Wavelet Domain is proposed.The simulation experiment indicated that the algorithm in guaranteed the quality of the reconstructed image.Under the premise,this method can reduce the coding time and enhance compression ratio of the reconstructed image to some extent.
Theory and Experience of Time: Philosophical Aspects

The concept of time is among the most fundamental elements of the set of philosophical concepts. It has a very rich history and is closely connected with a large, diverse set of ongoing philosophical debates that involve other fundamental concepts such as space, motion, substance, causation, the infinite, and consciousness. It is notorious for leading to philosophical perplexity, despite its familiarity and ubiquitous use in thought, conversation and action. In addition, it has been examined from a wide variety of perspectives including the logical, mathematical, physical, metaphysical, epistemological, psychological, linguistic, sociological, and biological. Those perspectives are by no means mutually disjoint or jointly exhaustive, nor is any one of them pre-eminently philosophical. On the contrary, research on the concept of time from one perspective is enhanced by a familiarity with insights gained from other perspectives.
“Now” Has an Infinitesimal Positive Duration

This article offers the nonstandard or “hyperreal” line as a model for Time, thereby to resolve a persistent controversy of the meaning of “Now.” As a “monad” in the Leibnitzian time axis, “Now” is a time interval shorter than any standard positive interval, yet longer than any infinitesimal.
Uptake of 3-iodothyronamine hormone analogs inhibits the growth and viability of cancer cells

3-Iodothyronamine (T1AM) is a structural analog of thyroid hormone that has been demonstrated to have potent affects on numerous physiological systems. Most studies on T1AM have explored its effects in healthy functional systems; while its potential therapeutic uses and safety, and efficacy in pathological conditions are largely unknown. We sought to evaluate the effects of T1AM and its structural analog SG-2 on cancer cell growth and viability. We analyzed the cytotoxicity of these analogs on MCF7 breast cancer cells, HepG2 hepatocellular cancer cells as well as normal control cells using primary human foreskin fibroblasts and mouse preadipocytes control cells. The cytotoxicity of T1AM and SG-2 was determined by cell growth curves, and validated by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide cell viability assays. Cellular uptake analysis was conducted using confocal microscopy. Real-time (RT)-PCR was conducted to identify gene pathways affected by SG-2 in cancer cells. The IC 50 of T1AM was approximately double the concentration of its analog SG-2 in cancer cells. Cytotoxicity studies on normal cells revealed that IC 50 concentrations of SG-2 in cancer cells had no significant impact on cell viability in these cell types. Cell-imaging experiments demonstrated rapid uptake and localization to the mitochondrial membrane. T1AM and SG-2 are able to reduce cancer cell growth and viability. These findings support the potential for use of these compounds and related analogs for their antiproliferation properties in cancer cells.
Evolving the Taxonomy Based on Hierarchical Clustering Approach

Taxonomy is an effective mean of organizing, managing and accessing large amount of information available in today's digital world. However, data changes frequently in today's digitally connected world. Taxonomy needs to be evolved when underlying data set changes, otherwise, it could not represent the changed data set accurately. Many automatic techniques are available that are generating taxonomy effectively for large to small data sets but, very less focus has been made on the evolution of taxonomy. One way to update taxonomy is to regenerate it from scratch. In this research, we attempt an alternate way i.e., we propose a novel approach to evolve an existing taxonomy by incrementally updating it whenever changes in a data set occur. In the proposed system, an initial taxonomy is generated based on hierarchical clustering and then it is incrementally updated whenever underlying data set changes. We tested our methodology, in comparison to regeneration, on a text data set belonging to computing domain. We observed that regeneration of taxonomy from scratch when data set changes consumes more time and resources as compared to evolving the existing taxonomy. The results obtained show that evolution is a better approach as compared to regeneration, as far as time efficiency is considered. Moreover, quality of the evolved taxonomy is equally comparable to the regenerated taxonomy. Thus, one can get an updated taxonomy in a shorter period of time through evolution.
Behind the Bears Ears: Climate, Environment, and Human Occupation in the Early Pueblo Era on Elk Ridge, Southeast Utah

The Pueblo I period was a time of tumultuous change throughout the Four Corners region. Long regarded as an era of gradual transition, it is now recognized by most authors as a discrete and decisive turning point in North American prehistory. Although this topic has been studied extensively in the central Mesa Verde area of southwestern Colorado, very little formal research has occurred for the early Pueblo era in southeast Utah. The high uplands area of Elk Ridge contains probably the greatest concentration of Pueblo I sites in this region. Cultural resource inventories on Elk Ridge itself, and an extensive published literature on nearby landforms such as Cedar Mesa, comprise a useful dataset for investigating the early Pueblo archaeology of southeast Utah. This paper presents a synthetic analysis of Pueblo I settlement patterning in the Elk Ridge area in terms of climatic and environmental factors.
Let People Speak for Themselves: Interracial Unions and the General Social Survey:

Social scientists from Gunnar Myrdal (1944), Gordon Allport (1958), Milton Gordon (1964), and more recently, Joseph Washington (1993), have discussed some serious obstructions to intermarriage. Yet, these scholars and others have also emphasized the ideal nature of intermarriage as a symbol of social equality. Professor G. A. Borghese of the University of Chicago asserts that "only when [the] two bloods mix freely in marriage will [the] color problem be solved" (as cited in Spickard, 1989, p. 288); and in The Nature of Prejudice, Allport (1958) argued that "intermarriage would symbolize the abolition of prejudice that is so strenuously fought" (p. 353). On the basis of these assumptions and others, it is possible to hypothesize that conceptions of color and views of social equality will be reflected in attitudes toward intermarriage. If intergroup marriage can neutralize color and offset perceived human differences in which color has only superficial value or esthetic meaning, the unions will generate nothing more than indifference. On the other hand, when color is intrinsically connected to biology and culture, is a marker of difference, and is the standard by which
Digital restoration of images: recent advances and future trends

This article is designed to serve as a review of digital image restoration, and as an analysis of the current and possible future trends in the field. The primary issues addressed here are the past accomplishments in the area, the present status of research in digital image restoration, and the future paths that researchers in this field may take. This critical analysis also serves to outline many of the important driving applications in this field.
A tractable model of limited enforcement and the life-cycle dynamics of firms

Abstract We develop a continuous-time model of optimal lending contracts under limited enforcement and provide closed-form solutions. We characterize the dynamics of firms’ growth rate, Tobin’s Q, and capital structure over their life cycles.
Design of resonance based DC current sensor using BAW quartz resonators

Abstract A novel approach is attempted to measure DC current in the range of 0–0.7 A in this paper. The proposed current sensing system is designed using an AT-cut BAW quartz resonator sandwiched at the center of the rectangular beam. The SMA wire bonded over the rectangular beam changes its shape with the change in input current. The quartz crystal resonator is maintained at first mode resonance frequency using a closed loop resonator electronics. The electric current change in the SMA wire contracts its length which bends the beam and produces an axial force on the quartz resonator which changes the resonance frequency of the BAW crystal placed in between the beam. The shift in quartz crystal resonant frequency is related to the input electrical current in the SMA wire. The analytical model of the entire current sensing system is derived, and the proposed concept is verified experimentally. It is observed that the experimentation results are highly linear, and it has the sensitivity of 350 Hz/A DC current.
Patient- and Hospital-Level Factors Associated With Readmission for Malignant Pleural Effusion

Purpose:Readmission after hospitalization for malignant pleural effusion (MPE) may represent gaps in the quality of health care delivery. The goal of this study was to determine the frequency of 30...
Projecting biological impacts from climate change like a climate scientist

Our ability to project changes to the climate via anthropogenic forcing has steadily increased over the last five decades. Yet, biologists still lack accurate projections about climate change impacts. Despite recent advances, biologists still often rely on correlative approaches to make projections, ignore important mechanisms, develop models with limited coordination, and lack much of the data to inform projections and test them. In contrast, atmospheric scientists have incorporated mechanistic data, established a global network of weather stations, and apply multi‐model inference by comparing divergent model projections. I address the following questions: How have the two fields developed through time? To what degree does biological projection differ from climate projection? What is needed to make similar progress in biological projection? Although the challenges in biodiversity projections are great, I highlight how biology can make substantial progress in the coming years. Most obstacles are surmountable and relate to history, lag times, scientific culture, international organization, and finances. Just as climate change projections have improved, biological modeling can improve in accuracy by incorporating mechanistic understanding, employing multi‐model ensemble approaches, coordinating efforts worldwide, and validating projections against records from a well‐designed network of biotic stations. Now that climate scientists can make better projections of climate change, biologists need to project and prevent its impacts on biodiversity. This article is categorized under: Climate, Ecology, and Conservation > Modeling Species and Community Interactions
Sonographic Diagnosis of Unilateral Synchronous Testicular Tumors

Testicular cancer accounts for 1% of all male cancers yet is the most common cancer affecting men aged 15–44 years. Most testicular cancers are seminomas or non-seminomatous germ cell tumors. Rarely, multiple testicular cancers may occur simultaneously, most often of the same histological type. However, synchronous tumors of different histological types may occur, although rarely. In this case study, we present the sonographic features with histopathologic correlation in a case of unilateral synchronous testicular tumors of discordant histology.
Single agent immunotherapy for relapsed or refractory small cell lung cancer (rrSCLC).

e20094Background: There are limited effective treatment options for rrSCLC. Based on results from CheckMate 032 (n = 98) and KEYNOTE-158 (n = 107), both of which were limited to performance status ...
Browser-Server Communication

This chapter explains how information is sent from a browser to a server. It begins with a description of the request from a browser and a response from a server. Each of these has a format that is determined by the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP).
Effect of UCS intensity on the acquisition and extinction of a one-way avoidance response

Forty one female albino rats received 50 trials of acquisition training in a one-way avoidance task with UCS (shock) intensities of 0.5, 1.5, 2.5, or 3.5 ma, and were subsequently extinguished. The 0.5 ma group made significantly fewer avoidance responses and had longer response latencies in acquisition and on the first extinction trial. The highest shock level produced significantly longer escape latencies on early trials but did not retard avoidance learning. These results are compared with those found using other avoidance tasks.
Observers And Predictors For Wireless Time-Sensitive Control Loops

The present work deals with diminishing the effects of wireless communication latency in time-sensitive networks. It takes advantage of modern approaches that offer bounded latency and it focuses on methods to cope with the nondeterministic delays introduced by communication latency.An observer-predictor scheme module is designed and added in the control loop to prevent the performance degradation when a wireless network is introduced. The goal is to allow the use of same controllers used in wired networks. This module may exploit information provided by the wireless communication devices, such as expected latency, timestamp, and time synchronization along the network.The proposed module allows the controller to have a performance similar as when in a wired network. This enables wireless networked control in systems with low time constants (i.e. timesensitive).Lab experiments are presented in real-time to illustrate the observer-predictor scheme module proposed. Finally, the conclusions and future work are presented.
Action Recognition Using Super Sparse Coding Vector with Spatio-temporal Awareness

This paper presents a novel framework for human action recognition based on sparse coding. We introduce an effective coding scheme to aggregate low-level descriptors into the super descriptor vector (SDV). In order to incorporate the spatio-temporal information, we propose a novel approach of super location vector (SLV) to model the space-time locations of local interest points in a much more compact way compared to the spatio-temporal pyramid representations. SDV and SLV are in the end combined as the super sparse coding vector (SSCV) which jointly models the motion, appearance, and location cues. This representation is computationally efficient and yields superior performance while using linear classifiers. In the extensive experiments, our approach significantly outperforms the state-of-the-art results on the two public benchmark datasets, i.e., HMDB51 and YouTube.
All Punishment is Local: The Effects of Jurisdictional Context on Sentence Length

Objectives This article investigates the extent to which contextual and individual factors influence the length of prison sentences in California. Methods The analysis applies a hierarchical linear model to individual and county-level data. Results Some characteristics of the racial, organizational, and public safety environments are found to influence the length of prison terms. Conclusions The findings support the organizational maintenance perspective and the idea of minority incarceration as a response to a perceived crime threat. Political environment is not found to have a significant effect on sentence lengths, and the findings do not support the racial threat hypothesis. The effects of contextual factors are more modest than those of individual attributes, including legally relevant variables, such as offense severity, prior record, parole status, and three strikes eligibility. African-American and younger offenders receive longer sentences, but this effect is not found for Latinos. Substantive, methodological, and policy implications are discussed.
Recent temporal trends in hospital costs for non-surgical patients receiving implantable cardioverter defibrillators.

Many studies have analyzed the cost-effectiveness of implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs), but hospital costs have not been as thoroughly reported. This study reviewed the associated hospital costs for non-surgical patients who received ICDs from 2015 to 2019. We performed a retrospective single-center analysis of patients who received an ICD between 2015 and 2019. ICD cost was analyzed with respect to time using linear regression t-test analysis. For 304 patients, we trended cost of the devices over time. 168 (55.2%) cases were single-chamber devices, 53 (17.4%) were dual-chamber, 59 (19.4%) were cardiac resynchronization therapy-defibrillators (CRT-D), and 24 (7.9%) were subcutaneous devices. The cost of all ICDs decreased by -$1.82/day (p<0.001), R2 = 0.056. By type, cost of single-chamber devices decreased by -$2.56/day (p<0.001), R2 = 0.47, dual-chamber ICD by -$3.50/day (p<0.001), R2 = 0.51, CRT-D by -$4.07/day (p<0.001), R2 = 0.47, and subcutaneous by -$3.33/day (p<0.001), R2 = 0.83. This is the first detailed analysis of ICD costs that we are aware of. The cost of all ICDs decreased modestly and became much greater when categorized by type. Overall hospital cost associated with ICD implantation did not show a significant trend, but total supply cost showed a significant decrease over time.
Orthogonal Degron System for Controlled Protein Degradation in Cyanobacteria.

Synechococcus elongatus PCC 7942 is a model cyanobacterium for study of the circadian clock, photosynthesis, and bioproduction of chemicals, yet nearly 40% of its gene identities and functions remain unknown, in part due to limitations of the existing genetic toolkit. While classical techniques for the study of genes (e.g., deletion or mutagenesis) can yield valuable information about the absence of a gene and its associated protein, there are limits to these approaches, particularly in the study of essential genes. Herein, we developed a tool for inducible degradation of target proteins in S. elongatus by adapting a method using degron tags from the Mesoplasma florum transfer-mRNA (tmRNA) system. We observed that M. florum lon protease can rapidly degrade exogenous and native proteins tagged with the cognate sequence within hours of induction. We used this system to inducibly degrade the essential cell division factor, FtsZ, as well as shell protein components of the carboxysome. Our results have implications for carboxysome biogenesis and the rate of carboxysome turnover during cell growth. Lon protease control of proteins offers an alternative approach for the study of essential proteins and protein dynamics in cyanobacteria.
Symbolic partial order reduction for rule based transition systems

Partial order (PO) reduction methods are widely employed to combat state explosion during model-checking. We develop a partial order reduction algorithm for rule-based languages such as Murphi [4] based on the observation that for finite-state systems, independence conditions used for PO reduction can be encoded as boolean propositions and checked using SAT methods. Comparisons against static-analysis based PO reduction algorithms have yielded encouraging results.
Rational Choice Explanation: Philosophical Aspects

Rational choice explanation is the progeny of the Scottish Enlightenment and neoclassical economics. It is essentially reasoning from economic assumptions of what actors value to reach conclusions about both individual actions and aggregate- or collective-level outcomes. It is applied to virtually any significant behavior or social outcome, from political participation, crime, and drug addiction to institutional structures, legislative and interest group politics, law, norms, failures of collective action, and revolution. The most extensively developed parts of such theory are in democratic theory, the analysis of law under the rubric of law and economics, the study of group behavior, and game theory.
Branched-chain amino acid fermentation by a marine spirochete: strategy for starvation survival.

An anaerobic marine spirochete (strain MA-2) fermented glucose and formed ethanol, acetic acid, CO2, and H2 as end products. The organism required carbohydrates as growth substrates. Amino acids did not support the growth of strain MA-2. However, when the spirochete was grown in media containing branched-chain amino acids and glucose, significant quantities of 4- and 5-carbon branched-chain volatile fatty acids were formed in addition to products of glucose fermentation. Smaller quantities of branched-chain alcohols were also formed under these conditions. The spirochete converted l-valine, l-isoleucine, and l-leucine to isobutyric, 2-methylbutyric, and isovaleric acids, respectively. CO2 formation accompanied each of these conversions. Spirochete MA-2 did not require branched-chain amino acids for growth, but these compounds could serve as sole sources of nitrogen for the organism. In addition, the survival of starving cells (no growth substrate available) of spirochete MA-2 was prolonged significantly when l-valine, l-isoleucine, and l-leucine were present in starvation media. Starving cells fermented these amino acids, forming adenosine 5′-triphosphate and branched-chain fatty acids. Our findings indicate that energy derived from amino acid fermentation allows the spirochete to survive periods of growth substrate starvation. Apparently, dissimilation of branched-chain amino acids can provide this bacterium with maintenance energy for cell functions not related to growth. In its natural environment spirochete MA-2 may catabolize branched-chain amino acids as a strategy for survival when growth substrates are not available.
Multicenter acellular pertussis vaccine trial: a National Institutes of Health perspective.

The Pertussis Program within the Division of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), National Institutes of Health, is responsible for the development, management, and monitoring of several research and training initiatives in the field of pertussis. As directed by Congress through the National Childhood Injury Act, and with support by the National Vaccine Program Office, the NIAID has a mandate to accelerate scientifically and systematically the development and clinical testing of new candidate acellular pertussis vaccines, with the goal of licensure of an improved product that is less reactogenic than, and equally effective as, conventional whole-cell vaccine. A major portion of this activity is done through contracted Vaccine Treatment and Evaluation Units (VTEUs) in the form of phase I and II clinical trials. Much of this effort involves close collaboration with vaccine manufacturers and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The success of the NIAID9s vaccine evaluation program has relied heavily on this unique interaction with industry during the past 14 years, which has proved beneficial for all parties. Furthermore, this interaction has provided vaccines and antigens for use in the clinical setting and the laboratory, respectively, promoting the rapid evaluation and testing of many of these products. Although the conventional whole-cell pertussis vaccine used in the United States is efficacious in preventing disease, there is concern about its safety. Recent advances in the characterization of the antigenic and biologically active components of Bordetella pertussis have allowed for the development and production of a new generation of more highly purified acellular vaccines, which we hope will prove to be much safer.
The impact of race, age, and sex in follicular lymphoma: A comprehensive SEER analysis across consecutive treatment eras

The impact of race/ethnicity and the additional factors of age, sex, and socioeconomic status (SES) on follicular lymphoma (FL) outcomes have not been comprehensively studied and are not well defined. We examined population-based FL data from >18,000 patients in SEER-13 (1992–2009) investigating race/ethnicity and the impact of relevant factors including sex, age, and SES. Further, we compared data over two consecutive periods: Era-1 (1992–2000, n = 8,355) and Era-2 (2001–2009, n = 10,475). We identified 18,830 FL patients (White: n = 15,116; Hispanic: n = 1,627; Asian/Pacific Islander (A/PI): n = 1,002; and Black: n = 846). Median ages (years) differed significantly by race/ethnicity: White: 62.1, Hispanic: 57.3, A/PI: 60.7, and Black: 56.8 (P < 0.01 each race versus White). Overall survival (OS) was superior in Era-2 versus Era-1 for all patients (5-year: 76.7% versus 67.4%, respectively, P < 0.001). Further, survival was significantly improved for all age groups <80 years, for males (P = 0.0019), and females (P < 0.001) across eras. Females had superior OS compared with males in Era-1 (P = 0.004), but not in Era-2. Additionally, all races, except A/PI, had improved 5-year OS rates from Era-1 to Era-2. Finally, OS improved across eras for lower and higher SES populations; however those with higher SES were superior to lower SES patients in both eras. In conclusion, and in the largest comprehensive evaluation of US-based FL patients to date, we show that despite improvements in OS for FL over time, critical disparities across races/ethnicities, sex, and age groups remain in the modern era and warrant further studies. Am. J. Hematol. 89:633–638, 2014. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
What Kind of Obscured AGN Make the Cosmic X-ray Background?

While it is understood that the origin of the Cosmic X-ray Background (CXRB) can be explained in terms of a combination of obscured and unobscured AGN, the identity of these obscured AGN showing up in large numbers at faint fluxes remains unclear. Deep surveys are showing up increasingly large numbers of AGN at the faintest fluxes which have broad optical lines but flat X-ray spectra. It is commonly assumed that there must a new population of sources making a substantial contribution to the CXRB. We show that we need not look further than our own backyard to find familiar examples of such sources and there is no compelling reason to invoke a mysterious, new population.
Building Consensus from Transition Experts on Social Integration Outcomes and Interventions

This study surveyed transition experts—individuals with federally funded model demonstration programs in transition—to build consensus on the validity of a range of social integration outcomes and interventions related to youths' making the transition from school to employment. Experts were asked if they had assessed any of the outcomes proposed or had implemented any suggested interventions. Respondents ranked harriers to achieving social integration, and respondent characteristics were related to these rankings. Transition experts agreed that social integration is a multidimensional concept whose outcomes need to be measured from multiple perspectives; this multidimensionality implies that varying interventions are needed to enhance the social lives of youths with disabilities.
Measuring Productivity in a Shared Stock Fishery: A Case Study of the Hawaii Longline Fishery

Abstract Fisheries productivity is the result of many factors, including endogenous and exogenous elements, such as regulation and stock condition. Understanding changes in productivity and the factors affecting that change is important to fishery management and a sustainable fishing industry. However, no study has been conducted to measure productivity change in the Hawaii longline fishery, the largest fresh bigeye tuna and swordfish producer in the United Stated. Using a Lowe productivity index, productivity change in the Hawaii longline fleet between 2000 and 2012 is measured in this study. In addition, a biomass quantity index is constructed to disentangle biomass impacts in a pelagic environment in order to arrive at an “unbiased” productivity metric. This is particularly important in the Hawaii longline fishery where catches rely mostly on transboundary (shared) stocks with little control on the total amount of extraction. As resource depletion of the transboundary stocks occurs, productivity loss may follow if less output is obtained from the same input usage, or more inputs are used to extract the same catch level from the fishery. Finally, the study compares productivity change under different fishing technologies.
A stability theorem for a class of second order nonlinear systems with an application to robotics

Optimal control theory is used to generate a feedback control which stabilizes a class of second-order nonlinear systems. Specifically, the Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman (HJB) equation of dynamic programming is used to show that the control is the solution to a quadratic optimal control problem in which the second-order system serves as a dynamic constraint. The stability result follows from the fact that the solution to the HJB equation serves as a Lyapunov function for the given system. An application of this result to the trajectory tracking of a robot manipulator is given. >
A Game Theoretical Analysis of the Mating Sign Behavior in the Honey Bee

Queens of the honey bee, Apis mellifera (L.), exhibit extreme polyandry, mating with up to 45 different males (drones). This increases the genetic diversity of their colonies, and consequently their fitness. After copulation, drones leave a mating sign in the genital opening of the queen which has been shown to promote additional mating of the queen. On one hand, this signing behavior is beneficial for the drone because it increases the genetic diversity of the resulting colony that is to perpetuate his genes. On the other hand, it decreases the proportion of the drone’s personal offspring among colony members which is reducing drone fitness. We analyze the adaptiveness and evolutionary stability of this drone’s behavior with a game-theoretical model. We find that theoretically both the strategy of leaving a mating sign and the strategy of not leaving a mating sign can be evolutionary stable, depending on natural parameters. However, the signing strategy is not favored for most scenarios, including the cases that are biologically plausible in reference to empirical data. We conclude that leaving a sign is not in the interest of the drone unless it serves biological functions other than increasing subsequent queen mating chances. Nevertheless, our analysis can also explain the prevalence of such a behavior of honey bee drones by a very low evolutionary pressure for an invasion of the nonsigning strategy.
Nano-arrays of optically addressable rare-earth-doped semiconductor quantum dots for quantum computing

Results have been presented on isolating rare earth atoms in small numbers in semiconductor nanoparticles so as to use their organized arrays as hardware for quantum computing. We have tailored atomic states of rare earths, fabricated nanoparticles where these atomic systems are incorporated in small numbers and have patterned arrays of nano-holes on semi-conducting and polymer surfaces to encapsulate these rare earth doped nanoparticles. Results are presented on fabrication, microscopy and spectroscopy of these structures.