cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Impacts of Residual Insecticide Barriers on Perimeter-Invading Ants, with Particular Reference to the Odorous House Ant, Tapinoma sessile

Three liquid insecticide formulations were evaluated as barrier treatments against perimeter-invading ants at a multifamily housing complex in West Lafayette, IN. Several ant species were present at the study site, including (in order of abundance) pavement ant, Tetramorium caespitum (L.); honey ant, Prenolepis imparis (Say); odorous house ant, Tapinoma sessile (Say); thief ant, Solenopsis molesta (Say); acrobat ant, Crematogaster ashmeadi (Mayr); crazy ant, Paratrechina longicornis (Latrielle), field ants, Formica spp.; and carpenter ant Camponotus pennsylvanicus (DeGeer). Studies began in May 2001 and concluded 8 wk later in July. Individual replicate treatments were placed 0.61 m (2 feet) up and 0.92 m (3 feet) out from the ends of 46.1 by 10.1-m (151 by 33-foot) apartment buildings. Ant sampling was performed with 10 placements of moist cat food for 1 h within treatment zones, followed by capture and removal of recruited ants for later counting. All treatments led to substantial reductions in ant numbers relative to untreated controls. The most effective treatment was fipronil, where 2% of before-treatment ant numbers were present at 8 wk after treatment. Both imidacloprid and cyfluthrin barrier treatments had efficacy comparative with fipronil, but to 4 and 2 wk, respectively. Odorous house ants were not sampled before treatment. Comparisons of ant species composition between treatments and controls revealed an increase in odorous house ant frequencies at 1–8 wk after treatment in treated locations only. These results demonstrate efficacy for both nonrepellent and repellent liquid insecticides as perimeter treatments for pest ants. In addition, our findings with odorous house ant highlight an apparent invasive-like characteristic of this species that may contribute to its dramatic increase in structural infestation rates in many areas of the United States.
Understanding of Transdiscipline and Transdisciplinary process

In July 2007, NIOSH sponsored Prevention through Design (PtD) Workshop, which concluded that there was a critical need to include PtD in the education of engineers. The main objective of this paper is to introduce the concept of Prevention through Design to prevent occupational injuries, illnesses, and fatalities to freshman engineers in the introduction to design course. Engineering students should emerge from this transdisciplinary education with a broad perspective of occupational safety and health needs in the design process to prevent or minimize the work-related hazards. Similarities between transdisciplinary process and Prevention through Design concept also introduced and discussed.
Mediation Analysis: A Practitioner's Guide

This article provides an overview of recent developments in mediation analysis, that is, analyses used to assess the relative magnitude of different pathways and mechanisms by which an exposure may affect an outcome. Traditional approaches to mediation in the biomedical and social sciences are described. Attention is given to the confounding assumptions required for a causal interpretation of direct and indirect effect estimates. Methods from the causal inference literature to conduct mediation in the presence of exposure-mediator interactions, binary outcomes, binary mediators, and case-control study designs are presented. Sensitivity analysis techniques for unmeasured confounding and measurement error are introduced. Discussion is given to extensions to time-to-event outcomes and multiple mediators. Further flexible modeling strategies arising from the precise counterfactual definitions of direct and indirect effects are also described. The focus throughout is on methodology that is easily implementable...
Dental and facial asymmetries: a review.

Asymmetry in the face and dentition is a naturally occurring phenomenon. In most cases facial asymmetry can only be detected by comparing homologous parts of the face. The etiology of asymmetry includes: a) Genetic or congenital malformations e.g. hemifacial microsomia and unilateral clefts of the lip and palate; b) Environmental factors, e.g. habits and trauma; c) Functional deviations, e.g. mandibular shifts as a result of tooth interferences. Dental asymmetries and a variety of functional deviations can be treated orthodontically. On the other hand, significant structural facial asymmetries are not easily amenable to orthodontic treatment. These problems may require orthopedic correction during the growth period and/or surgical management at a later point. Patient complaints and desires need to be addressed since they may vary from unrealistic expectations to a lack of concern even in the presence of large deviations. With mild dental, skeletal and soft tissue deviations the advisability of treatment should be carefully considered.
Traffic-related air pollution and alveolar nitric oxide in southern California children.

Mechanisms for the adverse respiratory effects of traffic-related air pollution (TRAP) have yet to be established. We evaluated the acute effects of TRAP exposure on proximal and distal airway inflammation by relating indoor nitric oxide (NO), a marker of TRAP exposure in the indoor microenvironment, to airway and alveolar sources of exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO).FeNO was collected online at four flow rates in 1635 schoolchildren (aged 12-15 years) in southern California (USA) breathing NO-free air. Indoor NO was sampled hourly and linearly interpolated to the time of the FeNO test. Estimated parameters quantifying airway wall diffusivity (DawNO) and flux (J'awNO) and alveolar concentration (CANO) sources of FeNO were related to exposure using linear regression to adjust for potential confounders.We found that TRAP exposure indoors was associated with elevated alveolar NO. A 10 ppb higher indoor NO concentration at the time of the FeNO test was associated with 0.10 ppb higher average CANO (95% CI 0.04-0.16) (equivalent to a 7.1% increase from the mean), 4.0% higher J'awNO (95% CI -2.8-11.3) and 0.2% lower DawNO (95% CI -4.8-4.6).These findings are consistent with an airway response to TRAP exposure that was most marked in the distal airways.
Laser induced fluorescence measurements on a laboratory Hall thruster

In this paper, we describe the results of a study of laser induced fluorescence velocimetry of neutral xenon in the plume of a Hall type thruster operating at powers ranging from 250 to 725 W. Neutral velocities are seen to increase with thruster discharge voltage. There is no evidence for neutrals being accelerated in the near field plume. Velocities appear to remain constant past the cathode plane. In preparation for future ion velocimetry studies, the plume plasma potential profile is measured for a number of conditions. For a low power condition, the plasma potential profile is mapped through the ionization region into the interior of the thruster. For this condition, the electric field profile is calculated. We also find evidence of neutral xenon streaming toward the Hall thruster. These backstreaming neutrals make determination of neutral xenon velocities difficult. We believe the neutrals originate from the thruster plume wall impingement approximately 2 m from the thruster.
PROS-1/Prospero Is a Major Regulator of the Glia-Specific Secretome Controlling Sensory-Neuron Shape and Function in C. elegans

Sensory neurons are an animal's gateway to the world, and their receptive endings, the sites of sensory signal transduction, are often associated with glia. Although glia are known to promote sensory-neuron functions, the molecular bases of these interactions are poorly explored. Here, we describe a post-developmental glial role for the PROS-1/Prospero/PROX1 homeodomain protein in sensory-neuron function in C. elegans. Using glia expression profiling, we demonstrate that, unlike previously characterized cell fate roles, PROS-1 functions post-embryonically to control sense-organ glia-specific secretome expression. PROS-1 functions cell autonomously to regulate glial secretion and membrane structure, and non-cell autonomously to control the shape and function of the receptive endings of sensory neurons. Known glial genes controlling sensory-neuron function are PROS-1 targets, and we identify additional PROS-1-dependent genes required for neuron attributes. Drosophila Prospero and vertebrate PROX1 are expressed in post-mitotic sense-organ glia and astrocytes, suggesting conserved roles for this class of transcription factors.
EARLY-ONSET MENOPAUSAL VASOMOTOR SYMPTOMS ARE ASSOCIATED WITH ENDOTHELIAL DYSFUNCTION: THE NATIONAL HEART LUNG AND BLOOD INSTITUTE-SPONSORED WOMEN’S ISCHEMIA SYNDROME EVALUATION (WISE) STUDY

Vasomotor symptoms (VMS) have been linked to endothelial dysfunction. Relations may depend on the timing of VMS. We tested relations between early onset VMS and brachial artery flow mediated dilation (FMD) in the Women’s Ischemia Syndrome Evaluation (WISE). 104 women undergoing coronary
Spectroscopy and fragmentation of undercoordinated bromoiridates.

We report gas-phase electronic photodissociation spectra of the undercoordinated bromoiridate complexes IrBr4– and IrBr5– at photon energies from 1 to 5.6 eV. Both ions have open-shell ground states with low-symmetry structures. The fragmentation is characterized by thresholds for the loss of one Br atom for IrBr4– and one or two Br atoms for IrBr5–. The experimental spectra consist of ligand-to-metal charge transfer transitions and reveal a large density of electronic states that can be recovered by time-dependent density functional theory.
Impact of Project Management Maturity on Performance of Technological Strategic Alliances

Based on the questionnaire survey,reliability analysis,validity analysis,factor analysis and correlation analysis,the relations between project management maturity and technological strategic alliance performance are analyzed,the relations between three dimensions of project management maturity(technical maturity,organizing maturity and employee maturity)and two dimensions of technological strategic alliance performance(task performance and relationship performance)are analyzed,and the analysis results are discussed. The results show that the relations between project management maturity and technological strategic alliance performance positively promote with each other. Every type of maturity factors has different impact on project performance. It can help business managers to effectively improve the level of project management maturity and technological strategic alliance performance,and then it can provide a certain reference for government to formulate alliance management policies in theory and practice methods.
Symmetric schemes for efficient range and error-tolerant search on encrypted data

Large-scale data management systems rely more and more on cloud storage, where the need for efficient search capabilities clashes with the need for data confidentiality. Encryption and efficient accessibility are naturally at odds, as for instance strong encryption necessitates that ciphertexts reveal nothing about underlying data. Searchable encryption is an active field in cryptography studying encryption schemes that provide varying levels of efficiency, functionality, and security, and efficient searchable encryption focuses on schemes enabling sub-linear (in the size of the database) search time. I present the first cryptographic study of efficient searchable symmetric encryption schemes supporting two types of search queries, range queries and error-tolerant queries. The natural solution to accommodate efficient range queries on ciphertexts is to use order-preserving encryption (OPE). I propose a security definition for OPE schemes, construct the first OPE scheme with provable security, and further analyze security by characterizing one-wayness of the scheme. Efficient error-tolerant queries are enabled by efficient fuzzy-searchable encryption (EFSE). For EFSE, I introduce relevant primitives, an optimal security definition and a (somewhat space-inefficient, but in a sense efficient as possible) scheme achieving it, and more efficient schemes that achieve a weaker, but practical, security notion. In all cases, I introduce new appropriate security definitions, construct novel schemes, and prove those schemes secure under standard assumptions. The goal of this line of research is to provide constructions and provable security analysis that should help practitioners decide whether OPE or FSE provides a suitable efficiency- security-functionality tradeoff for a given application.
Economic Interactions and Economic Integration

The 1980s and early 1990s saw a continuation of the trend toward growing international economic interdependence that has been evident since the end of the Second World War. One manifestation of this trend is the increase in world trade relative to world output. Even more striking was the augmentation of financial interdependence — a more recent phenomenon than the growth of trade. In the 1970s and especially in the 1980s international capital flows among industrial countries increased by large amounts. In the 1990s, such flows went also to developing countries and countries in transition — emerging markets.
Prospects for neutrino spin coherence in supernovae

We present neutrino bulb model simulations of Majorana neutrino coherent spin transformation (i.e., neutrino-antineutrino transformation), coupled to neutrino flavor evolution, for conditions corresponding to the neutronization burst epoch of an oxygen-neon-magnesium core collapse supernova. Significant neutrino spin transformation in, for example, the neutronization burst could alter the fluences of neutrinos and antineutrinos in a way which is potentially detectable for a Galactic core collapse supernova. Our calculations for the first time incorporate geometric dilution in the spin evolution of the neutrinos and combine two-flavor and three-flavor evolution with spin mixing physics. We find that significant spin transformations can occur, but only with a large neutrino luminosity and an electron fraction (${Y}_{e}$) profile which facilitates adiabatic conditions for the spin-channel resonance. Using our adopted parameters of neutrino energy spectra, luminosity, density and ${Y}_{e}$ profiles, our calculations require an unrealistically large neutrino rest mass to sustain the spin transformation. It is an open question whether examining different density profiles or incorporating other sources of nonlinear feedback, such as ${Y}_{e}$ feedback, could mitigate this need. We find that spin transformations are not sensitive to the flavor structure of neutrinos; i.e., the spin transformations occur regardless of whether we simulate two- or three-flavor transformations. In the two-flavor case, spin transformations were insensitive to the choice of solar or atmospheric mass-squared splitting as well as the choice of the Majorana phase. Importantly, our three-flavor simulations, as well as our two-flavor simulations done with the atmospheric mass-squared splitting, show that the inclusion of spin degrees of freedom can significantly and qualitatively alter neutrino flavor evolution.
Hot-Swapping Analysis and Implementation of Series-Stacked Server Power Delivery Architectures

Current data center power delivery architectures consist of many cascaded power conversion stages, where the system-level power conversion efficiency is reduced each time the power is processed through the individual stages. Recently, series-stacked power delivery architectures have shown how the overall power conversion can be reduced through architectural changes, reporting above 99% system-level power conversion efficiencies for data centers. In this paper, we contribute to the development of the series-stacked power delivery architectures by addressing the important hot-swapping challenge, without sacrificing the high power conversion efficiency. We analyze the hot-swapped operation of the series-stacked architecture, and experimentally validate it on a testbed that includes four series-connected 12 V, 120 W servers and four custom-designed differential converters with associated circuitry for hot-swapping. The results show that continuous operation of the series-stacked servers can be maintained while a server is hot-swapped without a significant reduction in the high power conversion efficiency.
Attacking supercomputers through targeted alteration of environmental control: A data driven case study

In this paper, we show that a malicious user can attack a large computing infrastructure by compromising the environmental control systems in the facilities that host the compute nodes. Such violations cannot be easily recognized by the administrators who manage the cluster, because of limited observation of the events in the cyber-physical systems. We describe real cases of failures due to problems in the cooling system of Blue Waters, the petascale supercomputer of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Blue Waters has cooling cabinets that use chilled water provided by the National Petascale Computing Facility (NPCF). We demonstrate, using real data, that the control systems that provide chilled water can be used as entry points by an attacker to indirectly compromise the computing functionality through the orchestration of clever alterations of sensing and control devices. In this way, the attacker does not leave any trace of his or her malicious activity on the nodes of the cluster. Failures of the cooling systems can trigger unrecoverable failure modes that can be recovered only after service interruption and manual intervention.
Child-targeted fast-food television advertising exposure is linked with fast-food intake among pre-school children.

Objective To determine whether exposure to child-targeted fast-food (FF) television (TV) advertising is associated with children’s FF intake in a non-experimental setting. Design Cross-sectional survey conducted April–December 2013. Parents reported their pre-school child’s TV viewing time, channels watched and past-week FF consumption. Responses were combined with a list of FF commercials (ads) aired on children’s TV channels during the same period to calculate children’s exposure to child-targeted TV ads for the following chain FF restaurants: McDonald’s, Subway and Wendy’s (MSW). Setting Paediatric and Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) clinics in New Hampshire, USA. Subjects Parents (n 548) with a child of pre-school age. Results Children’s mean age was 4·4 years; 43·2 % ate MSW in the past week. Among the 40·8 % exposed to MSW ads, 23·3 % had low, 34·2 % moderate and 42·5 % high exposure. McDonald’s accounted for over 70 % of children’s MSW ad exposure and consumption. Children’s MSW consumption was significantly associated with their ad exposure, but not overall TV viewing time. After adjusting for demographics, socio-economic status and other screen time, moderate MSW ad exposure was associated with a 31 % (95 % CI 1·12, 1·53) increase and high MSW ad exposure with a 26 % (95 % CI 1·13, 1·41) increase in the likelihood of consuming MSW in the past week. Further adjustment for parent FF consumption did not change the findings substantially. Conclusions Exposure to child-targeted FF TV advertising is positively associated with FF consumption among children of pre-school age, highlighting the vulnerability of young children to persuasive advertising and supporting recommendations to limit child-directed FF marketing.
Review: The Houses of William Wurster: Frames for Living

The Houses of William Wurster: Frames for Living . Wurster Gallery, University of California, Berkeley. 30 September–15 November 2011 Crossing into Wurster Hall on the University of California, Berkeley campus, the path to the Wurster Gallery branches under a staircase and skirts a couple of bathrooms. By this point, the ponderous concrete building, designed by Joseph Esherick, Vernon DeMars, and Donald Olsen in 1964, the year after William Wurster retired as dean of the College of Environmental Design at Berkeley, has extinguished natural light or the sight of nature. Gallery visitors find themselves in a room floored by linoleum, framed by white drywall, topped by black-painted concrete, and occupied by mechanical equipment and a grid of thin fluorescent filaments. Such a space would doubtless have defeated the best efforts of Wurster, the architect, to create a rapport with its site. Thankfully, the exhibit’s curators, Richard C. Peters and Caitlin Lempres Brostrom, have splashed the gallery so thoroughly with photographs of Wurster’s houses that visitors quickly find themselves contemplating architectural form and space alongside Northern California’s coulisses of dark trees, rocky coasts, and mountain escarpments. The curators divided the smallish 25-by-50-foot space into three parts: an entry zone introducing the scope of the exhibit and background on Wurster’s Stockton childhood and training as an architect in the beaux-arts tradition at Berkeley; a prominent mid-section documenting the houses; and a rear area providing a couple of panels on the non-residential …
Diffusion-induced banding of colloid particles via diffusiophoresis: 2. Non-electrolytes

Abstract We have developed a new experimental technique to observe particle movement driven by diffusiophoresis. This method—the stopped-flow diffusion cell (SFDC)—allows two particle suspensions to be brought into intimate contact while providing an initially steep, well-defined solute gradient at the junction between the suspensions. With this technique the manifestation of diffusiophoresis is the spontaneous formation of a concentrated band of particles, a band that moves in response to the transient decay of the initial step-function solute gradient. We have used the SFDC to measure electrolyte diffusiophoresis of 0.1- to 1-μm diameter charged latex particles in NaCl and KCl gradients. These measurements substantiate Anderson and Prieve's theory of diffusiophoresis. The spontaneous formation of colloidal particle bands has implications for separation processes as well as naturally occurring segregation phenomena, including biological colloids.
Women’s epistemological development: Implications for undergraduate information literacy instruction

Abstract Over the past 30 years, researchers have asked how women learn and how they fit their learning into epistemological, or knowledge, structures. Yet no one has thoroughly related women's stages of knowledge to the Association of College and Research Libraries' (ACRL's) Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education . This article surveys key models of intellectual development, particularly those that have investigated gender differences. It then asks how those woman-centered models might be used to re-read the ACRL's Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education and suggests some possible instructional strategies to ensure that varying stages of development are taken into account. Finally, it suggests directions for further research.
Television Searches Deeper and Farther: Remember, My Darling

The serial Remember, My Darling (2006–2008) recreates the 1960, 1971 and 1980 coups as part of a love affair between young members of two families that were political rivals. The serial foregrounds a child’s paternity as an issue interwoven with questions about the nation’s identity. Tragedies like the execution of youth heroes, the shootings on May Day 1977, and massacres in Maras and Corum are marked as national traumas. In the final episode, the screenwriter addresses the audience with a plea for viewing in history a map to present-day Turkey (i.e. its turn to conservative policies and a neo-liberal economy). Remember, My Darling compares and contrasts fictional and historical narratives, while underscoring social memory.
Production of monosaccharides and whey protein from acid whey waste streams in the dairy industry

The kinetics of Bronsted-acid-catalyzed lactose hydrolysis in water and in acid whey solutions over sulfuric acid and solid acid catalysts were determined at temperatures from 120 to 160 °C. In water, lactose undergoes acid-catalyzed hydrolysis to produce glucose and galactose in near quantitative yield (activation energy 135.5 kJ mol−1). Additionally, lactose undergoes thermal (non-catalytic) hydrolysis to afford glucose and galactose monomers, while glucose and galactose undergo thermal reactions to form unaccountable degradation products (activation energies 156, 106, and 117 kJ mol−1, respectively). The rates at which the reactant and products undergo monomolecular and bimolecular acid-catalyzed degradation reactions are slow, and may be neglected for design purposes within the temperature range considered in this study. In acid whey solutions, hydrolysis of lactose affords 90% monosaccharide selectivity. Undesired reactions catalyzed by the proteins and non-protein nitrogen-containing species present in acid whey result in further degradation of the reactants and products. Ultrafiltration removes the protein and fat from the acid whey without removing lactose, but it does not remove the non-protein nitrogen species responsible for unwanted side reactions and catalyst deactivation, resulting in a 23% increase in hydrolysis rate but no change to the monosaccharide selectivity. Activated carbon treatment removes 33% of the non-protein nitrogen from ultrafiltration acid whey permeate and improves the monosaccharide selectivity to 93% but does not improve the rate, while nanofiltration produces a monosaccharide selectivity of 92% and increases the rate an additional 13% compared to ultrafiltration. Experiments comparing the solid acid catalyst Amberlyst 70 to mineral acid catalysts in aqueous lactose solutions at 150 °C show that both types of catalyst produce monosaccharide selectivities above 94% at high conversion (above 90%). Informed by these observations, we propose a process to convert acid whey waste streams into whey protein concentrates and glucose/galactose syrups, which would effect a significant reduction in the water, energy and carbon footprints associated with whey waste streams in the dairy industry.
Race and gender differences in how sense of belonging influences decisions to major in STEM

Women and students of color are widely underrepresented in most STEM fields. In order to investigate this underrepresentation, we interviewed 201 college seniors, primarily women and people of color, who either majored in STEM or started but dropped a STEM major. Here we discuss one section of the longer interview that focused on students’ sense of belonging, which has been found to be related to retention. In our analysis, we examine the intersections of race and gender with students’ sense of belonging, a topic largely absent from the current literature. We found that white men were most likely to report a sense of belonging whereas women of color were the least likely. Further, we found that representation within one’s STEM sub-discipline, namely biology versus the physical sciences, impacts sense of belonging for women. Four key factors were found to contribute to sense of belonging for all students interviewed: interpersonal relationships, perceived competence, personal interest, and science identity. Our findings indicate that students who remain in STEM majors report a greater sense of belonging than those who leave STEM. Additionally, we found that students from underrepresented groups are less likely to feel they belong. These findings highlight structural and cultural features of universities, as well as STEM curricula and pedagogy, that continue to privilege white males.
Manure management coupled with bioenergy production: An environmental and economic assessment of large dairies in New Mexico

Abstract Consolidation in livestock production generates higher net farm incomes due to economies of scale. However, it also brings manure disposal problems. New Mexico ranks number one in the U.S. in dairy herd size. Dairy manure is a significant source of nitrates, and improper management of manure from large dairy farms can produce adverse environmental and health effects. We use a combination of life-cycle assessment, cost-benefit analysis, and sensitivity analysis to assess environmental and economic impacts of three alternative dairy manure management cases: direct land application (DLA), anaerobic digestion (AD), and anaerobic digestion coupled with microalgae cultivation (ADMC). By modeling a typical large dairy farm in New Mexico, four environmental impacts and the present value of net benefits of each case are evaluated under a baseline scenario and different policy scenarios. Our results show that, for a typical large dairy farm in New Mexico, the DLA case is the least sustainable regarding any of the environmental impacts. AD is most profitable in the baseline, tax credit, and carbon credit scenarios while ADMC is most profitable in the presence of a market for nutrient credits. Policy implications are discussed for dairy manure management coupled with bioenergy production on large dairy farms in arid regions.
Tragical, Comical, Historical

The long quarrel between poetry and philosophy is hard to judge, in part because the two quarrelers speak in different modes and if either adopts the other’s mode he concedes half the quarrel. For the poet who writes a philosophic defense of poetry would seem to concede that poetry cannot defend itself and the philosopher who resorts to poetry to defend philosophy (or perhaps to show its superiority) would seem to concede that philosophy needs poetry. Moreover, when it comes to quarrels and defenses, there is an inequality in the capacities of the two. It is easier for philosophy to carry on a defense, for reasoning and giving arguments is its usual mode; poetry need not be against reason but it is not fond of the mode that pure reason or pure argument favors, namely, the treatise. Poetry is chary of arguments, even ones in its own defense, for it is the way of poetry to present or show things by imitating them.
Functional communication training plus extinction is effective in reducing problem behavior maintained by environmental rearrangement1

Q (1) Is the use of a functional communication training plus extinction procedure effec-tive in reducing problem behavior that is maintained by environmental 10 rearrangement? (2) Does this procedu...
Rethinking the metaphor of light: María Zambrano in dialogue with Jacques Derrida and Hans Blumenberg

The notion of metaphor has been broadly discussed during the twentieth century as an essential and necessary part of language and history. This article examines the theoretical dialogue that links ...
Ensemble-Based Assimilation of Nonlinearly Related Dynamic Data in Reservoir Models Exhibiting Non-Gaussian Characteristics

Inverse modeling techniques for estimating reservoir parameters (e.g., transmissivity, permeability) utilize some dynamic (secondary) information (e.g., hydraulic head or production data at well locations). Ensemble based data assimilation methods are one such class of inverse modeling techniques. Ensemble Kalman filter (EnKF) in particular is built around the basic framework of linearly updating a state vector $${\psi ^f}$$ to $${\psi ^a}$$ , based on observed dynamic data. Components of the state vector are reservoir model parameters such as transmissivity, permeability, storativity, porosity, hydraulic head, and phase-saturation. Although EnKF is able to update a large number of parameters successively as data become available, it has some shortcomings. It is optimal only in the cases where multivariate joint distribution describing the relationship between components in the state vector is Gaussian. The relationship between the model parameters and the observed data space is quantified in terms of a covariance function, which is adequate to describe a multi-Gaussian distribution. These assumptions and simplifications may result in updated models that are inconsistent with the prior geology (exhibiting non-Gaussian characteristics) and that, in turn, may yield inaccurate predictions of reservoir performance. The aim of this research work is to propose a novel method for data assimilation which is free from the Gaussian assumptions. This new method can be used to assimilate dynamic data into reservoir models using an ensemble-based approach. Model updates are performed after transforming the model parameters into indicator variables. The indicator transform is insensitive to non-linear operations, and it thus allows us to overcome some of the limitations of the traditional EnKF.
Gender and Taboo Trade-offs in Organizations

We examined whether women and men react differently to taboo trade-offs, which involve the sacrifice of sacred values (e.g., the well-being of others, honesty) for secular values (e.g., money and s...
Point-of-care ultrasound for the diagnosis of shoulder dislocation: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Abstract Introduction Shoulder dislocations are a common injury causing patients to present to the emergency department. Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) has the potential to reduce time, radiation exposure, and healthcare costs among patients presenting with shoulder dislocations. We performed this systematic review and meta-analysis to determine the diagnostic accuracy of ultrasound compared with plain radiography in the assessment of shoulder dislocations. Methods PubMed, Scopus, CINAHL, LILACS, the Cochrane databases, Google Scholar, and bibliographies of selected articles were assessed for all prospective and randomized control trials evaluating the accuracy of POCUS for identifying shoulder dislocation. Data were dual extracted into a predefined worksheet and quality analysis was performed with the QUADAS-2 tool. Data were summarized and a meta-analysis was performed with subgroup analyses by technique. Diagnostic accuracy of identifying associated fractures was assessed as a secondary outcome. Results Seven studies met our inclusion criteria, comprising 739 assessments with 306 dislocations. Overall, POCUS was 99.1% (95% CI 84.9% to 100%) sensitive and 99.9% (95% CI 88.9% to 100%) specific for the diagnosis of shoulder dislocation with a LR+ of 796.2 (95% CI 8.0 to 79,086.0) and a LR− of 0.01 (95% CI 0 to 0.17). There was no statistically significant difference between techniques. POCUS was also 97.9% (95% CI 10.5% to 100%) sensitive and 99.8% (95% CI 28.0% to 100%) specific for the diagnosis of associated fractures. Conclusions POCUS is highly sensitive and specific for the identification of shoulder dislocations and reductions, as well as associated fractures. POCUS may be considered as an alternate diagnostic method for the management of shoulder dislocations.
collabdraw: An Environment for Collaborative Sketching with an Artificial Agent

Sketching is one of the most accessible techniques for communicating our ideas quickly and for collaborating in real time. Here we present a web-based environment for collaborative sketching of everyday visual concepts. We explore the integration of an artificial agent, instantiated as a recurrent neural network, who is both cooperative and responsive to actions performed by its human collaborator. To evaluate the quality of the sketches produced in this environment, we conducted an experimental user study and found that sketches produced collaboratively carried as much semantically relevant information as those produced by humans on their own. Further control analyses suggest that the semantic information in these sketches were indeed the product of collaboration, rather than attributable to the contributions of the human or the artificial agent alone. Taken together, our findings attest to the potential of systems enabling real-time collaboration between humans and machines to create novel and meaningful content.
Shareholders’ preference for excessively risky projects, equilibrium debt contracts, and bailouts

Abstract I show that bailouts can reduce excessive risk-taking. After receiving debt financing, a limited-liability firm chooses between two projects. The safe project results in higher expected cash flows. The excessively risky project results in lower expected debt repayments because default occurs more often. In equilibrium, the creditor anticipates the risk choice of the firm and sets the debt repayment to obtain its required rate of return. The implicit bailout subsidy allows the creditor to lower the debt service payment. As a result, the incremental default benefit of the risky project is lower, leading to less risk-taking. The results inform the ongoing debate about the determinants of risk-taking by firms.
A Quantitative Analysis of Patients’ Narratives of Heart Failure

Patients with chronic conditions like heart failure are the most likely to be re-hospitalized. One step towards avoiding re-hospitalization is to devise strategies for motivating patients to take care of their own health. In this paper, we perform a quantitative analysis of patients’ narratives of their experience with heart failure and explore the different topics that patients talk about. We compare two different groups of patients- those unable to take charge of their illness, and those who make efforts to improve their health. We will use the findings from our analysis to refine and personalize the summaries of hospitalizations that our system automatically generates.
Dynamic Contrast-Enhanced MRI: Basic Physics, Pulse Sequences, and Modeling

Abstract Dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE)-MRI has evolved into a mature imaging modality that is used to study the physiological processes and to reveal a variety of diseases, tumor stages, and organ functionalities. Quantitative DCE-MRI requires high spatiotemporal resolution to trace the contrast agent changes over time to obtain perfusion maps in the area of interest, where specific imaging challenges emerge. This chapter gives an overview of the basic principles and techniques involved in quantitative DCE-MRI. A review of the contrast agent mechanism is provided. An imaging protocol with advanced acquisition and reconstruction methods, including data undersampling, non-Cartesian sampling, parallel imaging, and constrained reconstruction, are also discussed. These techniques can achieve a higher spatiotemporal resolution for quantitative analysis. Available options for postprocessing of DCE-MRI data are also discussed, involving motion compensation, area- and pixel-wise methods, and tracer kinetic models.
Bilateral vision loss as the initial presentation for central nervous system involvement of mantle cell lymphoma: A case series.

Abstract Purpose Mantle cell lymphoma is a rare aggressive subtype of non-Hodgkins B cell lymphoma. It typically presents with asymptomatic monoclonal lymphocytosis, lymphadenopathy or bulky extranodal disease. Mantle cell lymphoma rarely affects the central nervous system. We present two cases in which vision loss was the initial symptom of central nervous system involvement by the malignancy. Observations Both patients initially received high dose intravenous steroids with notable improvement in their vision. Conclusions and importance Early detection and management of optic nerve infiltration by mantle cell lymphoma is essential as it improves visual outcomes and enables prompt management of the patient's systemic disease.
Hypothesis: How Licensed Vaccines Confer Protective Immunity

By examining experience with evaluation of licensed vaccines we theorize that a critical level of serum IgG confers protection against infectious diseases by killing or inactivating the inoculum. We found that efficacy is reliably predicted by measurement of serum antibodies elicited by vaccines, that serum IgG antibodies alone account for the protection conferred by passive immunization, that vaccine-induced “herd” immunity is best explained by inactivation of the inoculum on epithelial surfaces by serum antibodies and that serum antibodies induced by active immunization will neither treat disease symptoms nor eliminate the pathogen. If valid, this theory should facilitate research because knowledge of the pathogenesis of the disease symptoms may not be essential for vaccine development.
A theory of expressiveness in mechanisms

A key trend in (electronic) commerce is a demand for higher levels of expressiveness in the mechanisms that mediate interactions. We develop a theory that ties the expressiveness of mechanisms to their efficiency in a domain-independent manner. We introduce two new expressiveness measures, 1) maximum impact dimension, which captures the number of ways that an agent can impact the outcome, and 2) shatterable outcome dimension, which is based on the concept of shattering from computational learning theory. We derive an upper bound on the expected efficiency of any mechanism under its most efficient Nash equilibrium. Remarkably, it depends only on the mechanism's expressiveness. We prove that the bound increases strictly as we allow more expressiveness. We also show that in some cases a small increase in expressiveness yields an arbitrarily large increase in the bound. Finally, we study channel-based mechanisms, which subsume most combinatorial auctions, multi-attribute mechanisms, and the Vickrey-Clarke-Groves scheme. We show that our domain-independent measures of expressiveness appropriately relate to the natural measure of expressiveness of channel-based mechanisms: the number of channels allowed. Using this bridge, our general results yield interesting implications. For example, any (channel-based) multi-item auction that does not allow rich combinatorial bids can be arbitrarily inefficient--unless agents have no private information.
Evidence of mid-Holocene climate instability from variations in carbon burial in Seneca Lake, New York

The amounts and types of carbon delivered to the sediments Seneca Lake, New York, have varied since the middle Holocene. Concentrations of CaCO3 first fluctuate between 14 and 6% around 7 ka before decreasing erratically until about 5 ka and then remain 2% in younger sediments. Because the amount of calcite that precipitates in hard-water lakes is related to summertime thermal stratification, the carbonate fluctuations suggest that cyclic strengthening and weakening of seasonality at intervals of about three centuries accompanied the end of the Holocene Hypsithermal in northeast North America. Organic C/total N values record short, decade-long intervals of enhanced delivery of land-plant material during episodes of wetter climate that are independent of the temperature variations. Higher organic δ13C values indicate that recent fertilization of lake waters from soil disturbance and land-derived runoff has increased aquatic productivity.
Myths and facts about vitiligo: An epidemiological study

Vitiligo is a pigmentary disorder associated with many disease conditions that necessitates multiple drug regimens, which make the treatment complicated. This stigmatic disease forces the patient to approach all system of medicines as well as alternative medicines of non proven value, which further worsens the situation. At the same time the nonadherence to the treatment reflects poor prognosis, which is misunderstood for lack of response resulting in poor faith to the medications. The aim of this work was to assess the patient compliance and the factors affecting, and to monitor the adverse effects as well as drug interactions. The study was carried out in the Institute of Applied Dermatology for a period of one year. Patient compliance was assessed using Morisky Medication Adherence Scale and found that 71% of the patients were low adherent to medications. Family support, faith in doctor, higher educational status and effectiveness of the treatment were some of the reasons for medication adherence whereas forgetfulness, feasibility, occupational problem, polypharmacy, longer duration of treatment and the feeling that the disease under is control were some of the reasons listed for nonadherence. Three adverse reactions were reported with narrow band ultraviolet B and topical tacrolimus therapy and they were categorized into possible and probable according to causality assessment by Naranjo scale. Five drug interactions were reported and the causality assessment was done using drug interaction probability scale. None of the reactions were serious or life threatening. The present study revealed the hurdles in providing safe and effective treatment to the patients and also it suggest the need of doing more research on this disease since there is a general belief that vitiligo is an incurable disease.
Determination of ultrasound hydrophone phase from Fourier-Hilbert transformed 1 to 40 MHz time delay spectrometry amplitude

A Fourier-Hilbert transform (FHT) algorithm procedure was developed to obtain the complex characteristics of different hydrophones which included the most widely used membrane and capsule types. The theory presented was experimentally verified using magnitude response of the hydrophone probes determined with the time-delay-spectrometry (TDS) technique. The TDS setup implemented was similar to one used by Wear et al. in 2011, with the frequency range being extended to 1 to 40 MHz to ensure consistency with recently published international standards covering the properties, calibration, and performance evaluation of ultrasound hydrophones. The theoretical and experimental limitations of FHT were examined and revealed that extrapolations of the available logarithmic (volts per pascal magnitude) frequency response were needed to carry out acceptable FHT calculations of the phase response. The complex-valued analytic signal Hilbert transform (HT) algorithm was less practical in developing an efficient minimum phase calculation protocol than the equivalent real-valued discrete convolution HT algorithm. Examples of measured transfer function and FHT calculated phase response spectra of representative membrane and capsule ultrasound hydrophones are presented and are shown to obey the simple rule for minimum phase presented by Heyser in 1969.
A relaxed reduced space SQP strategy for dynamic optimization problems

Abstract Recently, strategies have been developed to solve dynamic simulation and optimization problems in a simultaneous manner by applying orthogonal collocation on finite elements and solving the nonlinear program (NLP) with a reduced space successive quadratic programming (SQP) approach. In this paper we develop a relaxed simultaneous approach that leads to faster performance. The method operates in the reduced space of the control variables and solves the collocation equations inexactly at each SQP iteration. Unlike previous simultaneous formulations, it is able to consider the state variables one element at a time. Also, this approach is compared on two process examples to the reduced gradient, feasible path approach outlined in Logsdon and Biegler. Here nonlinear programs with up to 5500 variables are solved with only 40% of the effort. Finally, a theoretical analysis of this approach is provided.
Conformation polymorphisms and targeted marker development

Summary Genetic markers were developed for three targeted bovine loci using both single-stranded and double-stranded DNA conformation polymorphisms. Eight of nine DNA fragments exhibited single-stranded conformation polymorphisms while only one of nine exhibited a double-strand conformation polymorphism. All but one of the polymorphic fragments exhibited two allelic forms, with the exception being a single-stranded conformation polymorphism with three alleles. Utility of conformation polymorphisms relative to microsatellite markers for linkage map development and quantitative trait loci (QTL) mapping was assessed by comparing frequency of heterozygote parents from reference and resource families. Heterozygosity was greater for microsatellite markers (P < 0.01) and reference family parents (P < 0.01), though the disparity between marker types tended to be less dramatic for the reference family parents (P < 0.09). These results suggest conformation polymorphisms will be a useful tool for targeted marker development in linkage map and comparative map development provided genetically diverse families are studied.