cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
An optimized template matching approach to intra coding in video/image compression

The template matching prediction is an established approach to intra-frame coding that makes use of previously coded pixels in the same frame for reference. It compares the previously reconstructed upper and left boundaries in searching from the reference area the best matched block for prediction, and hence eliminates the need of sending additional information to reproduce the same prediction at decoder. In viewing the image signal as an auto-regressive model, this work is premised on the fact that pixels closer to the known block boundary are better predicted than those far apart. It significantly extends the scope of the template matching approach, which is typically followed by a conventional discrete cosine transform (DCT) for the prediction residuals, by employing an asymmetric discrete sine transform (ADST), whose basis functions vanish at the prediction boundary and reach maximum magnitude at far end, to fully exploit statistics of the residual signals. It was experimentally shown that the proposed scheme provides substantial coding performance gains on top of the conventional template matching method over the baseline.
The effects of triacontanol on seedling growth and polyphenol oxidase activity in dark and light growth lettuce

Abstract The present study was designed to study the effects of various concentrations (0.00; 0.01, 0.10 and 1.00‐mg/ml) of triacontanol on root, stem and leaf growth and polyphenol oxidase activity in each respective tissue; in Grand Rapids and Great Lakes varieties of eleven‐day‐old dark and light grown lettuce seedlings. Root, stem and leaf growth was less than in non‐triacontanol‐treated Grand Rapids seedlings in both TC‐treated dark and light exposed seedlings. With respect to Great Lakes seedlings, all dark‐grown roots exhibited greater growth than the corresponding untreated control. Light‐grown Great Lakes roots treated with 0.01‐mg/ml and 1.0‐mg/ml or triacontanol respectively, grew more than control or 0.1‐mg/ml triacontanol‐treated seedlings. Both dark and light‐grown triacontanol‐treated stem and leaf tissues of Great Lakes seedlings all produced less growth than the untreated controls. The Grand Rapids variety had less polyphenol oxidase activity in both dark and light‐grown root and stem tis...
USE OF RAMAN SPECTROSCOPY TO DECREASE TIME FOR IDENTIFYING THE SPECIES OF CANDIDA GROWTH IN CULTURES

Background: The objective of this study is to establish Raman signatures from pure cultures of different Candida species using Raman Spectroscopy (RS) and use these signatures for rapid identification of unknown Candida species. Methods: Pure cultures of five Candida species were evaluated using RS to build a limited signature library. ‘Raman Processing’ (RP) software was used for Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Differential Functional Analysis (DFA). Results: Eleven principal components described at least 95% variance in the spectra. Raman signatures from these known Candida species were able to identify the species of unknown Candida cultures with 100% accuracy. Conclusion: Raman spectroscopy can improve early identification of Candida species and may facilitate early optimal antifungal therapy.
The production of soldiers and the maintenance of caste proportions delay the growth of termite incipient colonies

In a termite colony, the incipient phase is the most critical part of the life of the colony. The quality of the investment in the first offspring by the primary reproduc- tives may determine the rate of success of the colony to survive the first year and its growth rate in the following years. However, termite colonies possess a physiological constraint, forcing the group to maintain a relatively fixed caste proportion. During the development of the incipient colony, there is therefore a conflict for the group on the developmental pathways of larvae into workers or soldiers. On the one hand, the more workers produced, the more work forces would be available to provide for the primary re- productives, the brood and the nest maintenance (overall nurturing capacity). On the other hand, some larvae must develop into soldiers to maintain the caste proportion, reducing the potential number of workers. Using incipient colonies of Coptotermes gestroi (Wasmann), we investi- gated the cost of maintaining the soldier proportion over the growth of the colony within the first year. Our results showed that an incipient colony maintains a stable soldier proportion regardless of the stress imposed. The resources redirected into the replacement of soldiers not only reduced the total number of workers, but it also reduced the overall growth of the colony by delaying the development of the remaining eggs. Our observations suggest that in termite incipient colonies, because of physiological constraints, the maintenance of the soldier proportion overrides the devel- opment of the colony.
The eventual failure of price fixing schemes

This essay examines the feasibility of a government buffer stock program which attempts to fix a relative price over time. In the model, m risk averse agents with random endowments of two commodities maximize expected utility over an infinite horizon. It is shown that a price fixing scheme will fail with probability 1, regardless of the price set by the government and regardless of the initial level of buffer stocks. The proof of this proposition turns on some well-known properties of random walks.
Extra-Terrestrial Radio Tracking and Communication

When the U. S. Army lunar program was initiated in 1958, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) was assigned the responsibility for the upper rocket stages and the payload. Payload responsibility included radio tracking and communication with the lunar probe. JPL's Microlock system, used for communicating with the early Explorer satellites, did not have sufficient range to perform this mission. Therefore, a new radio system designated TRAC(E) (TRacking And Communication, Extra-terrestrial) was designed. To the best knowledge of the authors, the TRAC(E) system is the first deep-space communication link to provide accurate tracking and telemetry data at lunar distances. The design principles of the TRAC(E) system are presented in this paper in conjunction with a description of the equipment and actual performance data taken during the Pioneer IV lunar mission in March, 1959. The TRAC(E) system is an integral part of the NASA/JPL radio tracking station located near Goldstone Lake north of Barstow, Calif. Future plans for improving the performance of the TRAC(E) system are indicated.
Just Being Friendly Means a Lot - Women, Friendship, and Aging

This article examines friendship patterns and interactional skills among older, noninstitutionalized women. It draws on two studies, one quantitative and the second qualitative, of friendship undertaken by the author. Friendship is viewed in relation to age, related socio-environmental transitions and psychological growth in later life including the issues of intimacy, reciprocity and relational identity.
Curiosity and Interest: The Benefits of Thriving on Novelty and Challenge

Animbalance existsbetweentheroleofcuriosity asamotivational forceinnearlyallhumanendeavorsand thelack of scientific attentiongiventothe topic. Inrecent years, however, there has beena proliferation of concepts that capture the essence of curiosity-recognizing, seeking out, and showing a preference for the new. In this chapter, we combine this work to address the nature of curiosity, where it fits in the larger scheme of positive emotions, the advantages of being curious in social relationships, links between curiosity and elements of well-being, and how it has been used in interventions to improve people’s quality of life. Our emphasis is on methodologically sophisticated findings that show how curiosity operates in the laboratory and everyday life, and how, under certain conditions, curiosity can be a profound source of strengthoraliability.Peoplewhoareregularlycuriousandwillingtoembracethenovelty,uncertainty,and challenges that are inevitable as we navigate the shoals of everyday life are at an advantage in creating a fulfilling existence compared with their less curious peers. Our brief review is designed to bring further attention to this neglected, underappreciated, human universal.
Matrix elements for relativistic hydrogenic ions by a semiclassical method

Summary form only given, as follows. Calculation of matrix-elements for radiative transition is a demanding test of approximate wave functions. A new relativistic WKB (Wentzel-Kramer-Brillouin) wave-function has been developed which exactly reduced to the nonrelativistic semiclassical limit, has the analytic properties required for calculation of matrix-elements, and gives good answers for the relativistic changes in radiative rates. The method can easily be generalized to any screened-Coulomb potential.
“Cut Out to do Work”: Recruitment Experiences of a Folk Healer

There exists a variety of types of folk healers in African American society. This paper examines the sequence of dreams and visions whereby a woman realized the status of evangelical healer. "It was hypothesized that these altered states functioned as facilitating mechanisms whereby the subject could alleviate anxiety while at the same time realize a new master status. By gathering extensive interview data and employing a structuralist analysis, it was possible to relate the dreams and visions to personal crises, thus substantiating the hypothesis. In addition to offering processual insight to Anthony Wallaces "mazeway reconstruction,” this analysis provides a fresh perspective from which to examine the recruitment process to the status of "healer.”
The role of alcohol use in intimate partner femicide.

The purpose of this study was to examine alcohol use by victims and perpetrators as a risk factor for intimate partner violence and femicide. A case control design was used to describe alcohol use among Femicide/Attempted Femicide victims (n = 380), Abused Controls (n = 384) and Non-Abused Controls (n = 376), and their intimate partners. Telephone interviews of proxies (family members or friends) of femicide victims and actual survivors of attempted femicide were conducted in 10 cities. The purpose of the interviews was to gather information about relationship violence and alcohol use by femicide victims, attempted femicide survivors, and their perpetrators. Telephone interviews of controls, recruited from the same cities by random digit dialing, were also conducted. Perpetrator problem drinking was associated with an eight fold increase in partner abuse (e beta = 8.24, p < .0001) and a two fold increased risk of femicide/attempted femicide (e beta = 2.39, p = .001), controlling for demographic differences.
Subjective and Objective Methods of Evaluating Social Programs.

Reviewers have compared experimental methods with case studies or with analytical studies. These reviews facilitate the practitioners understanding of the trade-off between experimental evaluation and more qualitative approaches but leave the distinction between subjective and objective methods unanswered. This article focuses on the distinction between these 2 methods and the trade-offs involved in choosing 1 of them. The evaluator who categorically relies on either subjective or objective methods might be foregoing the advantages provided by the alternative approach. This article argues how the choice between Bayesian versus traditional statistics decision versus cost-benefit analysis and anthropological versus more traditional case studies involves balancing the advantages of 1 against the other method. These comparisons exemplify some of the trade-offs between subjective and objective methods. These comparisons suggest that each method is valuable in a particular situation. The diversity of methods available to the evaluator is the sign of a healthy science capable of adjusting techniques to the particular situation at hand. Future research and cumulation of experience in this area may lead to a contingent prescription of when to use which method. For now it is important that the awareness of alternative methods be increased.
The Relationship Between Balance Confidence and Cognitive Motor Interference in Individuals With Multiple Sclerosis

Gait and cognitive impairments are compounded when performed simultaneously in individuals with multiple sclerosis (MS), and this is termed cognitive-motor interference (CMI). The authors examined whether CMI is related to balance confidence in individuals with MS. They hypothesized that individuals with low balance confidence would exhibit greater CMI possibly indicating a behavioral modification during dual task conditions. Thirty-four individuals with MS completed Activity-specific Balance Confidence (ABC) scale and a cognitive assessment as well as single and dual task walking trials at a comfortable pace. CMI was calculated as the percent change in walking velocity and cognitive task performance from single- to dual-task conditions and termed dual-task cost (DTC). A correlation analysis was performed to determine the relationships between DTCs of gait and cognitive performance and ABC scores. The correlation analysis revealed no significant association between ABC and DTC of walking velocity (p > .05). A significant relationship between balance confidence and DTCs of cognition was observed. The observed relationships suggest individuals with MS tend to alter their cognitive performance rather than manipulating their gait when confronted with a dual task. Overall, the findings partially support a behavioral explanation of CMI in individuals with MS.
There Is a "U" in Clutter: Evidence for Robust Sparse Codes Underlying Clutter Tolerance in Human Vision.

The ability to recognize objects in clutter is crucial for human vision, yet the underlying neural computations remain poorly understood. Previous single-unit electrophysiology recordings in inferotemporal cortex in monkeys and fMRI studies of object-selective cortex in humans have shown that the responses to pairs of objects can sometimes be well described as a weighted average of the responses to the constituent objects. Yet, from a computational standpoint, it is not clear how the challenge of object recognition in clutter can be solved if downstream areas must disentangle the identity of an unknown number of individual objects from the confounded average neuronal responses. An alternative idea is that recognition is based on a subpopulation of neurons that are robust to clutter, i.e., that do not show response averaging, but rather robust object-selective responses in the presence of clutter. Here we show that simulations using the HMAX model of object recognition in cortex can fit the aforementioned single-unit and fMRI data, showing that the averaging-like responses can be understood as the result of responses of object-selective neurons to suboptimal stimuli. Moreover, the model shows how object recognition can be achieved by a sparse readout of neurons whose selectivity is robust to clutter. Finally, the model provides a novel prediction about human object recognition performance, namely, that target recognition ability should show a U-shaped dependency on the similarity of simultaneously presented clutter objects. This prediction is confirmed experimentally, supporting a simple, unifying model of how the brain performs object recognition in clutter. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT The neural mechanisms underlying object recognition in cluttered scenes (i.e., containing more than one object) remain poorly understood. Studies have suggested that neural responses to multiple objects correspond to an average of the responses to the constituent objects. Yet, it is unclear how the identities of an unknown number of objects could be disentangled from a confounded average response. Here, we use a popular computational biological vision model to show that averaging-like responses can result from responses of clutter-tolerant neurons to suboptimal stimuli. The model also provides a novel prediction, that human detection ability should show a U-shaped dependency on target–clutter similarity, which is confirmed experimentally, supporting a simple, unifying account of how the brain performs object recognition in clutter.
Boitani, L., and R. A. Powell, eds. 2012. Carnivore Ecology and Conservation: A Handbook of Techniques. Oxford University Press, New York, New York, 506 pp. ISBN 978-0-19-955852-0, price (hardbound), $135.00

L. Boitani, R. A. Powell eds. 2012. Carnivore Ecology and Conservation: A Handbook of Techniques. Oxford University Press, New York, New York, 506 pp. ISBN 978-0-19-955852-0, price (hardbound), $135.00. Carnivores have captured the imagination, fascination, and fear of people for millennia. This moderately speciose, yet ecologically diverse, order of mammals is one of the most difficult taxa to study in the field. The comparative low densities, often nocturnal habits, and secretive behaviors of carnivores can make obtaining adequate sample sizes exceedingly difficult. Since the early monographs of carnivores (Murie 1940; Errington 1943; and Mech 1966), the array of techniques used to study carnivores has increased almost exponentially. This, along with the recent accelerated extinction risks and conservation challenges associated with carnivores and other mammal species (e.g., Hoffmann et al. 2011), makes a book that compiles the most important carnivore techniques to further our understanding of their ecology and enhance conservation a welcome addition. Providing a comprehensive synthesis of the peer-reviewed literature in a single volume, irrespective of topical area, is a daunting task. Whenever a new book on techniques for a taxon is published, I am always cognizant of the potential for duplication with previous techniques books on other taxa or volumes specific to a suite of techniques (e.g., resource selection). However, I was pleasantly surprised to find this had not occurred in this volume and commend the authors for focusing their writing and keeping examples as specific and relevant to carnivores as possible. I also commend editors L. Boitani and R. Powell for working …
Judging Competence: When the Psychiatrist Need, or Need Not, Be Involved

Although competency is a legal concept and, under the law, can only be determined by a judge, the clinical realities of patient care require that physicians often make their own assessments of whether a patient is competent or not [19].‘Psychological competency’ rather than ‘legal competency’is actually what physicians are determining. Although competency and capacity are used interchangeably, capacity properly is a narrower concept than competency.
Outcomes after inappropriate nuclear myocardial perfusion imaging: A meta-analysis

The relationship between inappropriate MPI and cardiovascular outcomes is poorly understood. We sought to systematically review the literature on appropriate use criteria (AUC) for MPI, including temporal trend of inappropriate testing and resulting cardiovascular outcomes. We searched the MEDLINE database for studies related to AUC and MPI. The co-primary outcomes were abnormal test results and the presence of cardiac ischemia. Random effects odds ratios (OR) were constructed using DerSimonian-Laird method. A total of 22 studies with 23,443 patients were included. The prevalence of inappropriate testing was 14.8% [95% confidence interval (CI) 11.6%-18.7%]. Inappropriate MPI studies were less likely to be abnormal (OR 0.41 95% CI 0.35-0.49, P < .0001) and to demonstrate ischemia (OR 0.40, 95% CI 0.24-0.67, P < .0001) compared to appropriate testing. No difference in the rate of inappropriate tests was detected based on the midpoint of the enrollment year (P = .54). The pattern of ordering inappropriate studies was not different between cardiology and non-cardiology providers (OR 0.74, 95% CI 0.51-1.06, P = .10). Inappropriate MPI studies are less likely to yield abnormal results or demonstrate myocardial ischemia. The rate of inappropriate MPI has not decreased over time.
Research on the National Traditional Sport:From the Perspective of Cultural Anthropology

National traditional sport is an important part of the non-material cultural heritage and a traditional Chinese culture with local characteristics.From an anthropological perspective,we not only pay attention to specific projects and style of the National Traditional Sport,but also pay more attention to the cultural environment,and analysis the reason.Thus,we may get the ways and means in order to protect and inherit the national traditional sports.
Technology Investigation of Antistatic and Anti-abrasive Coatings Prepared by Plasma Spray on Porcelain Roller

Objective To improve the antistatic and anti-abrasive properties of the porcelain rollers in the textile industry. Methods The antistatic and anti-abrasive composite coatings were prepared by plasma spray. Ni package Al was the transition layer,and the Al2O3-TiO2ceramic coatings was the surface layer. The plasma spray processing parameters were optimized by experiments. Results The optimized process of plasma spraying was obtained. The silicon carbide grinding wheel was suitable for the following abrasive machining. Conclusion Plasma spraying is one of the valid ways to prepare the anti electrostatic coatings for rollers. Rollers with antistatic and anti-abrasive coating prepared by plasma spray were successfully applied.
Characterization of Rabbit Neutrophil Membrane Proteins. A 140K Major Membrane Protein is the Predominant Con A‐Binding Protein

The major plasma membrane proteins of rabbit neutrophils were characterized by SDS-PAGE, surface iodination, 125I-concanavalin A binding, and detergent extraction. Neutrophil membranes were prepared which lacked significant intracellular contamination with good retention of protease-sensitive proteins. The major protein and predominant Con A-binding protein was as surface exposed, 140,000 D (gp 140) protein which was solubilized by nonionic detergents but not low ionic strength. Actin and myosin but not other cytosol proteins were prominently associated with the isolated membrane particularly in a Triton-insoluble form. Membranes were also prepared from surface-iodinated neutrophils previously stimulated with a chemotactic peptide or degranulated. The granule membrane enzyme alkaline phosphatase was incorporated into the plasma membrane fraction of degranulated neutrophils. However, the membrane proteins in the different membrane preparations were identical on SDS-PAGE and autoradiography. Therefore, using these techniques, no major alterations in protein composition of the plasma membrane could be detected following stimulation or degranulation of rabbit neutrophils.
Case Studies: Spirituality and Sustainability

This chapter presents select case summaries which highlight certain teachings and behaviors which have affected the business decision-making skills of several well-known business leaders. Exposure to religious teachings and interaction with family members, school instructors, friends, and work colleagues may have intentionally—or even unwittingly—created an impressionable effect upon each of the following featured entrepreneurs, predisposing them to an astute awareness of social obligations and commitment to environmental stewardship. It is that certain individual, imbued with respect, understanding, and benevolence toward others and dedication to the preservation of resources for future generations, who embraces moments of intuitive perception with a newfound and all-encompassing passion and zeal, and moves him outside of his comfort zone, prepared to act, risk, and lead. These summaries are followed by a particular case study of a sustainable initiative launched in the United States as narrated through segments of an interview. Questions are then presented about both the selected case and the chapter overall for the reader to reflect upon and discuss.
Linear Systems Over Rings: From R. E. Kalman to the Present

The paper begins with a brief history of the role played by R.E. Kalman in the establishment of the field of linear systems over a commutative ring. The theory of systems over rings is motivated by considering integer systems, systems with time delays, parameter-dependent systems, and multidimensional systems including spatially-distributed systems. Then a brief survey is given of existing work on the control of systems over rings along with some discussion of open research problems.
Towards Epistolary Dialogue

In this essay, we investigate the potential of letters as a communicative genre that embodies dialogue, and thus, disrupts power relations. To do so, we first outline a theoretical framework that draws upon feminist and critical communication pedagogies. We specifically focus on two scholars—Nel Noddings and Paulo Freire—for the ways they utilize dialogue in developing their pedagogical positions. We then explain our epistolary method of letter writing, which stood as the central component of a semester-long project between us as student and teacher. We use excerpts from our letters to analyze the epistolary form as conducive to dialogic engagement—what we call epistolary dialogue . We argue that epistolary dialogue is made possible due to letters being invitational, temporal, personal, and constructive.
Software Fault Resistance is Futile: Effective Single-Glitch Attacks

Fault attacks are a serious threat for the secure embedded software running on a wide spectrum of embedded devices. Fault attacks can be thwarted using countermeasures in software. Among them, instruction-level countermeasures provide a fine-grained protection by executing redundant copies of an assembly instruction, and verifying their results for fault detection. It is assumed that this fine-grained security can only be broken by injecting multiple faults with expensive tools. In this work, we break the security of state-of-the-art instruction-level countermeasures by injecting single clock glitches with a low-cost fault injection setup. We first analyze their vulnerabilities by considering micro-architectural aspects such as pipelining effects. Second, we experimentally demonstrate the feasibility of exploiting these vulnerabilities on a SAKURA-G board. Finally, as a case study, we apply a recent biased fault attack on a fault-resistant software implementation of LED block cipher, and retrieve its secret key.
Myova Vesicle Transport through Biomimetic Actin Networks Visualized by 3D Storm Microscopy

Intracellular vesicular transport through the cell's physically challenging, three dimensional (3D), actin cytoskeleton requires teams of Myosin Va (MyoVa) motors to navigate vastly different structures, such as the dense cortical actin network and bundled actin filaments in filopodia. To understand how MyoVa cargo transport is achieved through and along these cytoskeletal structures, we created 3 µm thick biomimetic actin networks in vitro, using actin organizing/binding proteins (fascin, Arp2/3, WASP, gelsolin) and imaged the networks using 3D STORM microscopy.
El silencio de Guamán Poma de Ayala ante Supay: de duende, espíritu y fantasma a diablo

En este articulo abordo muestras textuales del silencio u omision que Guaman Poma de Ayala adopta frente a terminos quechuas que designan lo sobrenatural y/o sagrado andino y se transforman, en los diccionarios coloniales y la historiografia espanolas, en otredades malignas. Con este fin, analizo la retorica escrita e iconico-visual guamanpomiana alrededor de supay y diablo/demonio que llaman la atencion por la ambivalencia discursiva que el autor crea y mantiene a lo largo de su obra. El tratamiento de supay, en comparacion con el diablo del cristianismo, ofrece una respuesta alternativa a la logica de la colonialidad planteada por Mignolo (2007). Esto, a su vez, permite leer la obra de Guaman Poma como un ejemplo de desprendimiento de la retorica de la modernidad que domina el genero historiografico acerca de America indigena.
ACTIVITY PATTERNS AND SOCIAL ORGANIZATION OF RACCOONS (PROCYON LOTOR) IN EAST TEXAS

Motion-sensor cameras provide several benefits for research not available through mark-recapture and other more traditional methods of assessment of medium-sized mammals. Urban systems provide unique pressures on a population that can alter the activity of the population. The current study investigates the activity and social organization of raccoons taken in photos from cameras located in a small urban system on the Environmental Studies Area of East Texas Baptist University in Marshall, TX (32°33’N; 942°2’W). Multiple raccoons were in close enough proximity to be in a single photo on 33 occasions. Seven photos exhibited mating behaviour. Mating behaviour occurred on the site between 26 Sep. and 27 Feb. Monthly activity periods concurred with previously reported activity from Sep. - May. Activity during the summer months (Jun. – Aug.) showed a shift towards sunset away from ca. 2300 h.
Monopoly Spillover Effects

In a market that goes from many suppliers to just one supplier, the advent of monopoly has an immediate effect: change in supply in that market. The pure monopoly model, discussed in Chap. 2, represents the monopoly effect in a given market. The effect is anti-competitive: price rises above the many-supplier competitive level, and goods quantity falls, doubly bad for consumers. The simplicity of the pure monopoly model is a virtue but also limits the range of behavior and outcomes that can be discussed within it.
Bridge Structural Identification Using Moving Vehicle Acceleration Measurements

Identification of dynamic characteristics of structures is a desired objective for existing infrastructure and has been accounted as a serious challenge for civil engineers. In this research, a structural identification method is proposed, which is capable of identifying dynamics of structures using sensor data inside vehicles passing over a bridge. The methodology utilizes a special type of identification algorithm facilitated by Expectation Maximization (STRIDEX) that is capable of identifying systems using mobile data networks. In this study, it is assumed that the mobile sensor measurements are the accelerations inside rigid vehicles and are primarily a mixtures of accelerations caused by the road roughness and bridge dynamic acceleration. With this regard, a stochastic State-Space model represents the equation of motion for a linear dynamic vehicle-bridge system consisting of an impure input. The observation vector is treated as a linear mixture of two sources that are not known. Therefore, the problem turns to a Blind Source Separation (BSS) procedure that is aiming to draw out the bridge vibrations from the mixture. An algorithm called Second Order Blind Identification (SOBI) has been utilized for source separation and validated using simulation. The entire algorithm, including both SOBI and STRIDEX acting together, could successfully identify natural frequencies and mode shapes of a numerical bridge model.
The Reliability of Scores from Affective Instruments

In psychometrics, reliability is used to describe the consistency of a measure. Reliability can be understood in the terms when describing its meaning in the instrument development process. The goal of reliability becomes the determination of how much variability in the instrument score is due to “measurement error” and how much is due to variability in “true score” of the respondent. This chapter approaches reliability from the classical test theory (CTT) model. Most importantly in this chapter, however, the focus is on the concept of correlation and how to index it for purpose of understanding the “reliability” or consistency of the instrument under the CTT framework. This chapter discusses a variety of ways that reliability can be understood and how each represent distinct quantifications of consistency. Through several examples, different types of reliability are illustrated along with “acceptable” levels of consistency that should be expected from their measurement of characteristics in the affective domain. One of the central limitations of true score theory is that only one type of error can be addressed at a time. This chapter provides brief introduction to the conceptual framework of Generalizability theory (G-theory), which provides one potential solution to this issue. The chapter concludes with a discussion that links validity and reliability, the two central concepts that frame all the work behind the development of instruments for measuring affective characteristics.
The spatial response of mammals to Quaternary climate changes

The Quaternary was characterized by rapid climatic fluctuations (Dansgaard et al. 1993) which had dramatic effects on terrestrial biotas, especially the mammalian fauna (Graham & Mead 1987). These climatic events controlled the composition and spatial distribution of continental mammal faunas by regulating intercontinental movements, by driving intracontinental shifts in the geographic distributions of species, and by creating environmental conditions for diversification and extinction. For this discussion, I will focus only on intercontinental and intracontinental movements of species. Diversification (evolution) and extinction are covered, respectively, by Lister (1996) and Sher (1996).
Justice: A Moral Test for Health Care and Health Policy

The distribution of health care services in the United States has come under increasing critical review during the past decade. Even though most observers would admit that the North American system of health care is imperfect, only a few would argue that the perceived defects are severe enough to justify tossing it on the garbage dump of meritless institutions and customs. A recognition of the excellence of certain practices has counseled a cautious and prudential response to contemporary calls for total reorganization. The language of reason and reform, rather than the rhetoric of revolution, has received a more sympathetic hearing by providers of health care services and makers of public policy.
Detachable object detection with efficient model selection

We describe a computationally efficient scheme to perform model selection while simultaneously segmenting a short video stream into an unknown number of detachable objects. Detachable objects are regions of space bounded by surfaces that are surrounded by the medium other than for their region of support, and the region of support changes over time. These include humans walking, vehicles moving, etc. We exploit recent work on occlusion detection to bootstrap an energy minimization approach that is solved with linear programming. The energy integrates both appearance and motion statistics, and can be used to seed layer segmentation approaches that integrate temporal information on long timescales.
Ascorbic acid as a reductant for extraction of iron-bound phosphorus in soil samples: a method comparison study

ABSTRACTSequential extraction is commonly used to identify and quantify different forms of phosphorus (P) associated with particulate samples. Iron (Fe)-bound P is an important fraction of total particulate phosphorus because iron (Fe) is ubiquitous in natural environments. Three reductant solutions, i.e., sodium hydroxide (NaOH), dithionite, and ascorbic acid, have been used to extract solid phase reactive iron and associated phosphorus from sediments and soils. This study compares the efficiencies of three different methods in extracting Fe and Fe-bound P and evaluates the potential and limitation of each method. Based on the results of this comparative study it is recommended that the ascorbic acid reduction method is used for extraction of Fe-bound P in particulate samples, such as soil and sediment.
Inactivation of Viable Surrogates for the Select Agents Virulent Newcastle Disease Virus and Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza Virus Using Either Commercial Lysis Buffer or Heat

Introduction:Federal Select Agent Program regulations require laboratories to document a validated procedure for inactivating select agents prior to movement outside registered space. Avian influen...
PREVALENCE OF CONGENITAL HEART DEFECTS AMONG 1- TO 64- YEAR-OLDS RECEIVING HEALTHCARE AT FIVE U.S. SITES, 2011-2013

Congenital heart defects (CHD) affect about 1% of U.S. births. Due to improvements in treatment, many individuals with CHD now survive to adulthood. However, few data exist to estimate the population prevalence of CHD beyond early childhood. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention grantees
The Community Bases of Minority Educational Attainment.

The reduction of the disparity in educational attainment between minority groups and whites in the U.S. is a key factor in greater economic and occupational equality. Research on factors which promote or retard the increase of this disparity have been inadequate for two reasons. As a result, educational policy decisions which might reduce this problem have been either misinformed or unaided by previous research. The point is raised that the effects of what is called "community contexts" is a large, untapped area of research which will help inform policy decisions and thus encourage greater minority educational attainment. Several measures of education attainment of the Chicano population of 34 counties in the state of Kansas are analyzed for the role of "community contexts." Generalizations from this population are made to other minority groups.
Deep Q -Network-Based Feature Selection for Multisourced Data Cleaning

The Internet of Things (IoT) integrates information collected from multisources and is able to support various intelligent smart city applications, such as industrial manufacturing, power systems, and mobile healthcare. In the big data era, multisourced data are collected on a daily basis, whereas a large part of the data may be irrelevant, redundant, noisy, or even malicious from a machine learning perspective. Feature selection has been a powerful data cleaning technique to reduce data redundancy and improve system performance in machine learning. Inspired by reinforcement learning that learns from its experience, in this article, we propose a novel efficient deep $Q$ -network (DQN)-based feature selection method for multisourced data cleaning. In particular, we model the feature selection problem as a competition between an agent and the environment in dynamic states, which is solved by a DQN. Traditional DQN suffers from high computational complexity and requires a significant amount of time in order to converge in the training process. To tackle these challenges, we develop a space searching algorithm called SS to speed up the training process of the DQN agent. To validate the efficacy and efficiency of the proposed method, we conduct extensive experiments on various types of IoT data. Simulation results show that the proposed DQN-based feature selection algorithms achieve much better performance compared with state-of-the-art methods, and are robust under data poisoning attacks.
Authoring Dis/ability Identities: Mapping the Role of Ableism in Teacher Candidate Identity Construction

Ableism, or the belief that abled ways of being and knowing are superior, perpetuates deficit views of ability differences, and constructs dis/ability as a problem in need of remediation so that individuals achieve “normalcy.” Ableism’s entrenched pervasiveness in education systems can be a significant barrier in teacher education when preparing critical educators who can work towards radical forms of dis/ability justice. In this paper, we argue that dis/abled teacher candidates can afford particular insight into the ways in which ableism operates in educational institutions and that dis/ability should be considered an asset to inclusive and socially just teacher preparation. Using Critical Conversation Journey Mapping as a methodology, we use sociocultural theory and a critical dis/ability studies framework to explore ways in which dis/abled teacher candidates in teacher preparation programs both experienced ableism throughout their educational trajectories and how these experiences served as cultural resources in their teacher preparation.
A Deep Learning Approach to Intrinsic Force Sensing on the da Vinci Surgical Robot

In robot-assisted minimally-invasive surgery (RAMIS), force estimation remains a challenging issue. We seek to estimate external forces based on available measurements from the joint encoders and motor currents. To this end, we propose a deep learning approach for end-to-end force estimation on the da Vinci Surgical System that is trained using data collected by both moving an instrument in free space and by palpating a tissue phantom that has an embedded force sensor for ground truth. The trained neural network provides reasonable force estimates (within about 1N to 2N precision given a full range of 10N) and is generalizable to other regions of the robot workspace. We further show that our proposed system can provide useful haptic feedback in a pilot study to differentiate stiffness in various tissue phantoms.
The role of endometrial sampling for surveillance of recurrence in postmenopausal patients with medically inoperable stage I endometrial cancer.

Abstract It is unclear if surveillance for postmenopausal women with medically inoperable stage 1 endometrial cancer (EC) should differ depending on their management strategy. Thus, we investigated the utility of surveillance endometrial sampling among 53 postmenopausal women with medically inoperable, clinical stage I, grade 1 endometrioid EC who received either progestin therapy or radiation between 2009 and 2018, at a single academic institution. Frequency and results of endometrial sampling, as well as recurrence and survival rates were studied. Of 53 patients, 18 (34.0%) received progestin therapy and 35 (66.0%) radiation. Medically managed patients were treated with megestrol acetate (27.7%), a levonorgestrel intrauterine device (27.7%), or both (44.4%). Radiated patients were mostly treated with high-dose rate brachytherapy only (77.1%). Surveillance endometrial sampling (median procedures = 4, range 1–10) was strictly adhered to among all patients who received progestin therapy, but infrequently (6/35, 17.1%) performed among radiated patients, yielding no positive results. Three recurrences occurred over the median follow-up of 38 months. Two (11%) women in the progestin therapy group recurred locally and were diagnosed by endometrial sampling. One (3%) patient in the radiation group recurred distally in the lung 25.3 months after completing brachytherapy. We conclude that appropriate surveillance for women with medically inoperable, clinical stage I, grade 1 EC depends on the management strategy. For those treated with progestins, surveillance with endometrial sampling every 3–6 months can reveal local recurrence. However, given the excellent local control after radiation, endometrial sampling may not be warranted for women treated with definitive radiation.
Novel Bit-Sliced Near-Memory Computing Based VLSI Architecture for Fast Sobel Edge Detection in IoT Edge Devices

For today’s Internet-of-Things (IoT) edge devices, there is an acute need for fast and power-efficient hardware for an image processing task. Traditional hardware solutions with sequential and/or pipelined architectures incur high latency and power. This motivates us to propose a novel near-memory computing architecture for rapid image processing. We propose a bit-sliced near-memory computing architecture for CMOS VLSI implementation for fast Sobel edge detection in IoT edge devices. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work to propose near-memory computing based VLSI architecture for edge detection. The novelty of the proposed work is that one image can be processed in constant time irrespective of the image size. Binary images are used as input to the design. The Sobel operator equations are simplified by operator strength reduction, bit manipulation, and common term sharing across equations. The captured image is loaded into the design and all block-level operations are executed in parallel close to where the data resides. The architecture is highly modular and can be scaled for any image size. The block processing element (PE) is implemented at the gate-level with the Synopsys Design Compiler in 32 nm CMOS technology node using SAED 32/28 nm Process Design Kit. For processing one block frame (3x3 pixel block), the number of logic gates required is 22 with a worst-case delay of 1.5 fs and a total area of 111 n m2. The average power dissipation is 2.27 μW at 1.05 V supply voltage.
The Real World of Arbitrariness Review

The Administrative Procedure Act instructs federal courts to invalidate agency decisions that are “arbitrary” or “capricious.” In its 1983 decision in the State Farm case, the Supreme Court firmly endorsed the idea that arbitrariness review requires courts to take a “hard look” at agency decisions. The hard look doctrine has been defended as a second-best substitute for insistence on the original constitutional safeguards; close judicial scrutiny is said to discipline agency decisions and to constrain the illegitimate exercise of discretion. In the last two decades, however, hard look review has been challenged on the plausible but admittedly speculative ground that judges’ policy preferences affect judicial decisions about whether agency decisions are “arbitrary.” This study, based on an extensive data set, finds that the speculation is correct. Democratic appointees are far more likely to vote to invalidate, as arbitrary, conservative agency decisions than liberal agency decisions. Republican appointees are far more likely to invalidate, as arbitrary, liberal agency decisions than conservative agency decisions. Significant panel effects are also observed. Democratic appointees show especially liberal voting patterns on allDemocratic panels; Republican appointees show especially conservative voting patterns on allRepublican panels. Our central findings do not show that judicial votes are dominated by political considerations, but they do raise grave doubts about the claim that hard look review is operating as a neutral safeguard against the errors and biases of federal agencies. Because judicial policy commitments are playing a large role, there is a strong argument for reducing the role of those commitments, and perhaps for softening hard look review. * Assistant Professor of Law, University of Chicago Law School. ** Karl N. Llewellyn Distinguished Service Professor, Law School and Department of Political Science, University of Chicago Law School. We thank Eric Posner, Richard Posner, Peter Strauss, and Adrian Vermeule for helpful comments. We are grateful to Rachael Dizard, Casey Fronk, Darius Horton, Matthew Johnson, Bryan Mulder, Brett Reynolds, Matthew Tokson, and Adam Wells for superb research assistance.
The Evolutionary Nature of Breakthrough Innovation: An Empirical Investigation of Firm Search Strategies

Breakthrough innovation has been an important topic of study for generations of scholars. Previous research in this domain has focused on exploring the way breakthroughs emerge from cumulative comb...