cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Sharp Bounds on the LP Norm of a Randomly Stopped Multilinear form with an Application to Wald’s Equation

This paper presents a sharp bound on the L p norm (1 ≤ p ≤ 2) of a randomly stopped multilinear form of i.i.d. mean zero random variables. As a corollary we obtain optimal conditions for Wald’s equation for this multilinear form to hold. The bound obtained generalizes earlier work of (1991) and (1988). The techniques used include decoupling inequalities and the argument of subsequences.
The Effects of Handedness and Dominance on Motor Task Performance

Two studies were carried out to examine the effects of user handedness and hand dominance on a motor task using Fitts’ law. Study one was designed to validate our previous findings showing differen...
Gas exchange characteristics of giant cacti species varying in stem morphology and life history strategy.

Premise of the study Giant cacti species possess long cylindrical stems that store massive amounts of water and other resources to draw on for photosynthesis, growth, and reproduction during hot and dry conditions. Across all giant cacti taxa, stem photosynthetic surface area to volume ratio (S:V) varies by several fold. This broad morphological diversity leads to the hypothesis that giant cacti function along a predictable resource use continuum from a "safe" strategy reflected in low S:V, low relative growth rates (RGR), and low net assimilation rates (Anet ) to a high-risk strategy that is reflected in high S:V, RGR, and Anet . Methods To test this hypothesis, whole-plant gas exchange, chlorophyll fluorescence, and whole-spine-tissue carbon isotope ratios (δ13 C) were measured in four giant cacti species varying in stem morphology and RGR. Measurements were conducted on five well-watered, potted plants per species. Key results Under conditions of mild diel temperatures and low atmospheric vapor pressure deficit, Anet , transpiration (E), and stomatal conductance (Gs ) were significantly higher, and water-use efficiency (Anet : Gs ) was lower in fast-growing, multi-stemmed species compared to the slower growing, single-stemmed species. However, under warmer, less optimal conditions, gas exchange converged between stem types, and neither δ13 C nor chlorophyll fluorescence varied among species. Conclusions The results add to a growing body of evidence that succulent-stemmed plants function along a similar economic spectrum as leaf-bearing plants such that functional traits including stem RGR, longevity, morphology, and gas exchange are correlated across species with varying life-history strategies.
Understanding individuals’ incentives for climate change adaptation in Nicaragua's coffee sector

Coffee farmers who wish to become more resilient to the impacts of climate change must adopt environmentally sustainable practices that help in their adaptation to a changing environment. Among the...
Stress-Intensity Factor Solutions for Tapered Lugs with Oblique Pin Loads

This paper summarizes five years of research into new stress-intensity factor (SIF) solutions for radially advancing cracks at holes in tapered and obliquely loading lugs. To our knowledge, these solutions are the first direct methods capable of analyzing these fracture critical connections. The new SIF solutions rely on weight function (WF) methods, remain tractable for engineering fatigue and fracture analyses, and span a very wide range of applicable geometries (including loading angles between 0 and 90° and independent lug taper angles between 0 and 90°). These solutions support cracks on either side of the pin hole (the “short ligament” or “long ligament” sides). For cracks on long ligaments, users can select the crack location based on maximum principal stresses or Mises stresses. These solutions are verified by a large database of independent high-fidelity three-dimensional finite element analyses (FEA) generated using an automated approach that accelerates the evaluation process while ensuring solution quality. This work also discusses the underlying sensitivity studies used to determine appropriate boundary conditions and material properties. The powerful new methods used here to generate SIFs for tapered lugs—automated FEA generation of tables of stresses in uncracked bodies, interpolation of these stresses in WF formulations, and automated verification using independent benchmark FEA SIF solutions—can easily be extended to build reliable new SIF solutions for other complex combinations of loads and cracked geometries.
A Non-invasive Wearable Readout System for Bio-fluid Phenomena Detection

This work presents a preliminary evaluation of a complete wearable radiofrequency (RF, 40 MHz bandwidth) readout device for a novel electromagnetic skin patch sensor to monitor health parameters associated with shifts in biofluid volume. The skin patch sensor consists of a continuous trace of copper configured into a square planar spiral surrounded by an embedded coplanar outer loop antenna. When an incident RF wave from the loop antenna impinges upon the planar spiral, the coupled system exhibits a multiband resonant response. The readout system connected to the sensor comprises of an RF signal generator, resistive reflectometer, RF power detector, and a microcontroller unit with an inbuilt 10-bit ADC and a blue-tooth transceiver. During continuous wave sweeping, the recorded response from the sensor was transmitted wirelessly to the host computer for further post-processing and data interpretation. Results: Experimental results demonstrated that the developed prototype could successfully detect resonant frequency of an NFC tag-based fixed resonator and a fluid volume shift of 0 to 600 mL in an in-vitro beaker study using the multiband planar spiral skin patch sensor. The outcomes were further validated against the similar findings from a commercial benchtop vector network analyzer (VNA). Conclusion: This RF readout device provides a wearable alternative to current methods for analyzing the resonant response from the sensor system under different dielectric conditions for biomedical applications including measurement of limb hemodynamics, detect changes in intracranial and ventricular stroke volume, and cardiac function.
Utilization, duration, and outcomes of neoadjuvant endocrine therapy in the United States

To evaluate if real-world utilization of neoadjuvant endocrine therapy (NET) is associated with similar rates of response and breast conservation surgery (BCS) compared to neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC). Our population-based assessment used the National Cancer Data Base to identify women diagnosed with stage II–III, hormone receptor (HR)-positive BC who underwent surgery and received endocrine therapy from 2004 to 2014. Women were categorized by receipt of NET, NAC or no neoadjuvant therapy. We used logistic regression to assess differences in outcomes between therapies using inverse propensity score weighting to adjust for potential selection bias. In our sample of 211,986 women, 6584 received NET, 52,310 received NAC, and 153,092 did not receive any neoadjuvant therapy. After adjusting for multiple relevant covariates and cofounders, there was no significant difference between NET and NAC with regard to BCS [odds ratio (OR) 0.91; 95% confidence interval (CI) (0.82–1.01)]; however, women who received NET were significantly less likely to achieve pCR [OR 0.34; 95% CI (0.23–0.51)] or a decrease in T stage [OR 0.39; CI (0.34–0.44)] compared to women treated with NAC. Patients who received NET for ≥ 3 months had higher odds of BCS (OR 1.59; 95% CI 1.46–1.73) and downstaging (OR 1.79; 95% CI 1.63–1.97) compared to patients who did not receive neoadjuvant therapy. Women who received NET had similar rates of BCS compared to women who received NAC. Those who received NET for longer treatment durations had increased odds of BCS and downstaging compared to women who did not receive neoadjuvant therapy.
Surrogate Modeling Approaches for Ground Vehicle Mobility Simulations

Modeling and simulation of ground vehicles can be a computationally expensive problem due to the complexity of high-fidelity vehicle models. Several common mobility tests also require a large set of simulations to be run in order to determine a desired mobility metric. This paper explores the use of High Performance Computing resources to sample a set of parameter space points using high-fidelity simulations, in order to create a surrogate model that can be used to predict the value of a wider domain of parameter space points. In particular, three approaches to surrogate model function creation are explored: K-Nearest-Neighbor (KNN), Inverse Distance Weighting (IDW), and Kriging. These approaches are compared for a particular ground vehicle mobility modeling and simulation task through the average error between the surrogate model predicted values and the actual full-fidelity simulation results.
Evaluation of genetic diversity, agronomic traits, and anthracnose resistance in the NPGS Sudan Sorghum Core collection

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Plant Germplasm System (NPGS) sorghum core collection contains 3011 accessions randomly selected from 77 countries. Genomic and phenotypic characterization of this core collection is necessary to encourage and facilitate its utilization in breeding programs and to improve conservation efforts. In this study, we examined the genome sequences of 318 accessions belonging to the NPGS Sudan sorghum core set, and characterized their agronomic traits and anthracnose resistance response. We identified 183,144 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) located within or in proximity of 25,124 annotated genes using the genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS) approach. The core collection was genetically highly diverse, with an average pairwise genetic distance of 0.76 among accessions. Population structure and cluster analysis revealed five ancestral populations within the Sudan core set, with moderate to high level of genetic differentiation. In total, 171 accessions (54%) were assigned to one of these populations, which covered 96% of the total genomic variation. Genome scan based on Tajima’s D values revealed two populations under balancing selection. Phenotypic analysis showed differences in agronomic traits among the populations, suggesting that these populations belong to different ecogeographical regions. A total of 55 accessions were resistant to anthracnose; these accessions could represent multiple resistance sources. Genome-wide association study based on fixed and random model Circulating Probability (farmCPU) identified genomic regions associated with plant height, flowering time, panicle length and diameter, and anthracnose resistance response. Integrated analysis of the Sudan core set and sorghum association panel indicated that a large portion of the genetic variation in the Sudan core set might be present in breeding programs but remains unexploited within some clusters of accessions. The NPGS Sudan core collection comprises genetically and phenotypically diverse germplasm with multiple anthracnose resistance sources. Population genomic analysis could be used to improve screening efforts and identify the most valuable germplasm for breeding programs. The new GBS data set generated in this study represents a novel genomic resource for plant breeders interested in mining the genetic diversity of the NPGS sorghum collection.
Advance Care Planning in Chronically Ill Persons Diagnosed With Heart Failure or Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: An Integrative Review.

Introduction:Advance care planning (ACP) discussions help guide future medical care consistent with patient wishes. These discussions should be a part of routine care and should be readdressed freq...
Unexpected Data Dependency Creation and Chaining: A New Attack to SDN

Software-Defined Networking (SDN) is an emerging network architecture that provides programmable networking through a logically centralized controller. As SDN becomes more prominent, its security vulnerabilities become more evident than ever. Serving as the "brain" of a software-defined network, how the control plane (of the network) is exposed to external inputs (i.e., data plane messages) is directly correlated with how secure the network is. Fortunately, due to some unique SDN design choices (e.g., control plane and data plane separation), attackers often struggle to find a reachable path to those vulnerable logic hidden deeply within the control plane.In this paper, we demonstrate that it is possible for a weak adversary who only controls a commodity network device (host or switch) to attack previously unreachable control plane components by maliciously increasing reachability in the control plane. We introduce D2C2 (data dependency creation and chaining) attack, which leverages some widely-used SDN protocol features (e.g., custom fields) to create and chain unexpected data dependencies in order to achieve greater reachability. We have developed a novel tool, SVHunter, which can effectively identify D2C2 vulnerabilities. Till now we have evaluated SVHunter on three mainstream open-source SDN controllers (i.e., ONOS, Floodlight, and Opendaylight) as well as one security-enhanced controller (i.e., SE-Floodlight). SVHunter detects 18 previously unknown vulnerabilities, all of which can be exploited remotely to launch serious attacks such as executing arbitrary commands, exfiltrating confidential files, and crashing SDN services.
Scientific Memes: Using the Language of Social Media to Improve Scientific Literacy and Communication in Lifespan Development:

Social media is riddled with memes (i.e., captioned images intended to convey cultural ideas or beliefs) that often promote maladaptive and unsupported beliefs about human development and parenting...
Freedom and struggling openly in psychotherapy: A qualitative inquiry with LGBQ young adults from religious families.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and queer (LGBQ) young people from religious families are at increased risk of family rejection, poor mental health outcomes, and are overrepresented in mental health services. This article describes a two-part qualitative study aimed at exploring the experiences of LGBQ young adults from religious families in psychotherapy, identifying positive and negative psychotherapy experiences, and understanding the influence of family and religion on the psychotherapy experience. Data were collected through a web-based survey (n = 77) and interviews (n = 7) with LGBQ young adults (ages 18-25) from religious families. The study followed an interpretative phenomenological approach. Integrated results found often invisible, relational therapy processes, and religious discourses as significant to LGBQ young people who seek psychotherapy. Implications for future research, effective systemic family therapy practices with LGBQ young people from religious families, and a critique on ethical and legal limits of confidentiality with policy implications are outlined.
The Entner-Doudoroff Pathway Is an Essential Metabolic Route for Methylotuvimicrobium buryatense 5GB1C.

Methylotuvimicrobium buryatense 5GB1C, a fast-growing gammaproteobacterial methanotroph, is equipped with two glycolytic pathways, the Entner-Doudoroff (ED) pathway and the Embden-Meyerhof-Parnas (EMP) pathway. Metabolic flux analysis and 13C-labeling experiments have shown the EMP pathway is the principal glycolytic route in M. buryatense 5GB1C, while the ED pathway appears to be metabolically and energetically insignificant. However, it has not been possible to obtain a null mutant in the edd-eda genes encoding the two unique enzymatic reactions in the ED pathway, suggesting the ED pathway may be essential for M. buryatense 5GB1C growth. In this study, the inducible P BAD promoter was used to manipulate gene expression of edd-eda, and in addition, the expression of these two genes was separated from that of a downstream gltA gene. The resulting strain shows arabinose-dependent growth that correlates with ED pathway activity, with normal growth achieved in the presence of ∼0.1 g/liter arabinose. Flux balance analysis shows that M. buryatense 5GB1C with a strong ED pathway has a reduced energy budget, thereby limiting the mutant growth at a high concentration of arabinose. Collectively, our study demonstrates that the ED pathway is essential for M. buryatense 5GB1C. However, no known mechanism can directly explain the essentiality of the ED pathway, and thus, it may have a yet unknown regulatory role required for sustaining a healthy and functional metabolism in this bacterium.IMPORTANCE The gammaproteobacterial methanotrophs possess a unique central metabolic architecture where methane and other reduced C1 carbon sources are assimilated through the ribulose monophosphate cycle. Although efforts have been made to better understand methanotrophic metabolism in these bacteria via experimental and computational approaches, many questions remain unanswered. One of these is the essentiality of the ED pathway for M. buryatense 5GB1C, as current results appear contradictory. By creating a construct with edd-eda and gltA genes controlled by P BAD and P J23101 , respectively, we demonstrated the essentiality of the ED pathway for this obligate methanotroph. It is also demonstrated that these genetic tools are applicable to M. buryatense 5GB1C and that expression of the target genes can be tightly controlled across an extensive range. Our study adds to the expanding knowledge of methanotrophic metabolism and practical approaches to genetic manipulation for obligate methanotrophs.
Shifting the Lens: A Primer for Incorporating Social Work Theory and Practice to Improve Outcomes for Clients with Mental Health Issues and the Law Students Who Represent Them

This Essay is an effort to promote the inclusion of interdisciplinary practice in our work as attorneys and in our roles as clinical legal professors. As the legal community continues its renewed emphasis on skills training, law schools should look to other professions in order to produce more lasting solutions for our clients and for more satisfactory outcomes for our lawyers. In this Essay, the authors discuss their work incorporating social work theory and practice into clinical legal education when dealing with clients who have serious mental illness. With some studies reporting up to 64.2% of inmates in the United States having a diagnosed mental illness, it is becoming imperative that law students acquire the skills necessary to adequately represent them. Two pillars of social work practice, Strengths Theory and Systems Theory, are discussed with an emphasis on the role they play in working with this demographic of clients.
Acute Topiramate Toxicity in a Five-Year-Old Child.

Topiramate (TOPAMAX®) is an anti-epileptic drug for which acute toxicity is infrequently reported. We present the case report of a five-year-old, otherwise healthy boy who presented to the emergency department (ED) for symptoms of acute encephalopathy. He was lethargic, having slurred speech, hallucinating, intermittently agitated, and had multiple episodes of urinating on himself. Computed tomography (CT) of the head, lumbar puncture, electroencephalography, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) were all normal. The urine drug screen was also negative. Two days after admission, a saliva toxicology screen was significant for a topiramate level of 3487.8 ng/ml, which he was not taking and which his mother admitted taking for weight loss. The patient was observed for two days, over which time his symptoms completely resolved, and he was back to baseline. The following is the take-away for physicians: Careful history-taking should bedone to identify potential drug exposures in children presenting with acute encephalopathy. Especially, given the emerging off-label use of drugs, like in this case, topiramate, which was used by the mother for weight loss. We postulated a possible idiosyncratic reaction vs true drug toxicity, which correlates with findings in a previous case reportout of Boston Children's Hospital by Taub et al.; and in this case, serum level was about one-third the reported level in this case report. The patient presented with comparable symptoms and time to recovery.
Baseline Knowledge Attitudes Satisfaction and Aspirations With Advance Care Planning: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Background:Studies have consistently demonstrated low rates of adoption of Advance Care Planning in the community.Methods:We studied Medicare enrollees age 65 and over and non-Medicare patients usi...
Key Factors of Design: 3D Printed Occupational Therapy Products in Developing Communities

This paper presents the initial determination of key factors of design desirability for 3D printed occupational therapy products in rural communities in Sub-Saharan Africa. As most disabled persons worldwide are living in low-income countries, it is crucial to have supply chains to provide access to appropriate therapy tools. 3D printing technology can address poverty in these countries by addressing individual product needs and improving industrial capabilities. It has been proven that 3D printing technology can be employed to produce feasible and viable products, but the key issue of product desirability is currently unaddressed. This paper addresses the problem of misunderstood design desirability to provide appropriate occupational therapy tools in this market. To address this issue, all known occupational therapists in Kisumu County, Kenya were interviewed about eleven key factors of design desirability. Of the ten hospitals with occupational therapy programs, six occupational therapists were interviewed, first informally to understand their experience and perception of 3D printing and then formally to understand their unique desires for appropriate products. These interviews suggested that portability, customizability, and cost are the most important considerations when designing new occupational therapy products. Patients cannot afford transportation to large hospitals, increasing the value of home programs. Patient needs are not met by traditional devices, and therapists are eager to work with designers to create appropriate, customized products. Occupational therapy is viewed as "less critical" than other departments, so budgets are low. To make claims with greater specificity, therapists in the additional 47 counties in Kenya need to be interviewed. The length and depth of the survey should be extended to provide better, quantitative data. Once a specific determination is made, these desirability factors should be used to guide product design of 3D printed occupational therapy tools to provide appropriate occupational therapy tools, increasing the availability of effective care for patients seeking education and employment.
Effects of transcranial magnetic stimulation on anhedonia in treatment resistant major depressive disorder.

BACKGROUND Anhedonia is one of the defining features of depression but it remains difficult to target and treat. Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a proven treatment for depression, but its effects on anhedonia and whether anhedonia can be used as a predictive biomarker of response is not well known. METHODS Snaith-Hamilton Pleasure Scale was administered to patients with depression before and after a standard course of TMS in a naturalistic outpatient setting. RESULTS 144 patients were analyzed. There was an overall significant improvement in anhedonia from pre- to post-treatment (7.69 ± 3.88 vs. 2.96 ± 3.45; p < .001). Significant correlations between improvements in anhedonia and other depressive symptoms were present (r = 0.55, p < .001). Logistic regression revealed that baseline anhedonia severity was not a significant predictor of clinical outcome. CONCLUSION This is the first large, naturalistic study examining the effects of standard, non-research TMS on anhedonia. Among depressed patients, TMS resulted in significant improvements in anhedonia. Patients with severe baseline anhedonia had an equal chance of achieving clinical response/remission. Patients with anhedonia should not be excluded from treatment if they are safe for outpatient care and otherwise appropriate candidates for treatment.
CO2 Exchange of Peas in Relation to Late Season Growth and Development in the Field

Experimental manipulation of photosynthesis and pod development in peas has suggested that symbiotic nitrogen fixation declines after flowering in response to the development of the pods (Bethlenfalvay et al 1978). However, Flinn (1974) showed that the rate of photosynthetic CO2 uptake varies in response to changes in the rate of fruit growth. Thus, at a time when fixation and fruit growth are supposedly competing for assimilates, a decrease in fruit growth resulted in decreased CO2 uptake rather than a diversion of photosynthate to other sinks. In these experiments, the relationships among photosynthetic CO2 uptake, fruit growth and acetylene reduction were examined in the field using pea genotypes exhibiting different rates of pod development (Mahon, Hobbs 1933).
Weak Neutral Currents in Nuclear Processes

Some five years have now passed since the discovery at CERN and at FNAL of muonless neutrino-induced events, events whose interpretation strongly suggested the existence of a {weak neutral current (WNC)} × {weak neutral current (WNC)} interaction. At present, such a {WNC} × {WNC} is not only firmly established with its structure essentially determined, but its relationship to the {weak charged current (WCC)} × {weak charged current (WCC)} interaction and to the electromagnetic {EM} interaction is also rather well understood.
Comparison of perceptions and treatment practices between neurosurgeons and plastic surgeons for infants with deformational plagiocephaly.

Object Deformational plagiocephaly (DP) is the leading cause of head shape abnormalities in infants. Treatment options include conservative measures and cranial molding. Pediatric neurosurgeons and craniofacial plastic surgeons have yet to agree on an ideal therapy, and no definable standards exist for initiating treatment with helmets. Furthermore, there may be differences between specialties in their perceptions of DP severity and need for helmet therapy. Methods Requests to participate in a web-based questionnaire were sent to diplomates of the American Board of Pediatric Neurological Surgery and US and Canadian members of the Pediatric Joint Section of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons and the Congress of Neurological Surgeons and the American Cleft Palate–Craniofacial Association. Questions focused on educational background; practice setting; volume of DP patients; preferences for evaluation, treatment, follow-up; and incentives or deterrents to treat with helmet therapy. Six examples...
Longitudinal physical activity changes in older men in the Osteoporotic Fractures in Men Study.

OBJECTIVES: To describe the change in physical activity (total, leisure, household, occupational) in men over a mean 5-year follow-up period and to identify sociodemographic and health factors associated with change in physical activity. DESIGN: Prospective cohort study; Osteoporotic Fractures in Men Study; data collected March 2000 through May 2006. SETTING: Six U.S. clinical centers. PARTICIPANTS: Volunteer sample of ambulatory community-dwelling men aged 65 and older (N=5,161). MEASUREMENTS: Self-reported physical activity assessed at baseline and Visit 2 (V2) (5 years apart) according to the Physical Activity Scale for the Elderly (PASE) (unitless, relative measure of physical activity). RESULTS: At baseline, PASE scores averaged 16.8±35.5 for occupational, 37.0±34.0 for leisure, 95.9±43.2 for household, and 149.7±67.6 for total physical activity. Occupational (−6.2±33.9), leisure (−3.2±37.3), household (−9.9±44.3), and total (−19.3±67.7) physical activity change scores declined, on average, from baseline to V2. On average, change in total PASE scores declined more with age: −15.6±71.6 for men younger than 70, −16.4±67.0 for men aged 70 to 74, −21.4±66.9 for men aged 75 to 79, and −29.5±60.7 for men aged 80 and older. Living alone, smoking cigarettes, poor health, and higher blood pressure were associated with greater declines in physical activity over time. Although average scores declined, some older men (1,335, 26%) reported increasing physical activity levels. Better physical and mental health, living with others, and being younger were associated with the probability of increasing physical activity over time. CONCLUSION: Over the 5-year period, the majority of men reported declines in total physical activity. Older men in poor health who live alone have a high risk of physical activity declines and may be an important group to target for exercise interventions.
The Impacts of Involuntary Foreign Delistings: An Empirical Analysis

This study investigates for the first time the effects of involuntary foreign delistings from the U.S. stock exchanges. Upon announcement of delisting, prices drop a significant 4.5% permanently. The price effects do not seem to differ significantly by various measures of differential market segmentation and indirect investment barriers. We explore further explanations for the permanent price drop, including changes in risks, liquidity, and demand, and show that the price effects are consistent with the downward sloping demand curve hypothesis. Finally, the price drop is appreciably smaller than that reported by previous studies for purely domestic delistings.
Understanding infant formula

Abstract The World Health Organization recommends breast feeding infants for the first six months of life. When this breast feeding does not occur either through parental choice or medical need, infant formulas will be required. There is a bewildering array of formulas on the UK market for many different requirements. When faced with an unsettled infant many parents (and health care professionals) will experiment with the infant formula available and then attend the paediatric clinic looking for help and advice. It is therefore essential that paediatricians understand what milks are available and what the key differences between different products are. This review attempts to provide a simple guide through many of the formulations currently available in the UK; and offers advice for the dietary management of the child with extra calorie requirements, infants with cow's milk protein allergy, gastro oesophageal reflux disease, apparent unresolved hunger and infantile colic. Whatever the underlying condition, there is likely to be an infant formula that is suitable in this generation of ever expanding formulations.
Near-tip Fields During Creep Crack Growth by Grain Boundary Cavitation

ABSTRACT A synopsis of recently obtained results (Li, Needleman and Shih, 1988b) on near tip fields during transient creep crack growth under plane strain and small scale creep conditions is presented. In the analyses, full account is taken of the finite geometry changes accompanying crack tip blunting and the material is characterized as an elastic-power law creeping solid with an additional contribution to the creep rate arising from a given density of cavitating grain boundary facets. When the crack growth rate is faster than the growth rate of the creep zone, HR singular fields (Hui and Riedel, 1981) dominate over the crack tip region. For a crack that grows more slowly than the creep zone, HRR type fields (Hutchinson, 1968, Rice and Rosengren, 1968 and Hutchinson, 1983) dominate over the crack tip region. Regardless of which of the two singular fields dominates for the growing crack, finite strain effects are significant over a size scale of the order of the crack opening displacement at crack growth initiation.
Host–guest encapsulation of materials by assembled virus protein cages

Self-assembled cage structures of nanometre dimensions can be used as constrained environments for the preparation of nanostructured materials1,2 and the encapsulation of guest molecules3, with potential applications in drug delivery4 and catalysis5. In synthetic systems the number of subunits contributing to cage structures is typically rather small3,6. But the protein coats of viruses (virions) commonly comprise hundreds of subunits that self-assemble into a cage for transporting viral nucleic acids. Many virions, moreover, can undergo reversible structural changes that open or close gated pores to allow switchable access to their interior7. Here we show that such a virion — that of the cowpea chlorotic mottle virus — can be used as a host for the synthesis of materials. We report the mineralization of two polyoxometalate species (paratungstate and decavanadate) and the encapsulation of an anionic polymer inside this virion, controlled by pH-dependent gating of the virion's pores. The diversity in size and shape of such virus particles make this a versatile strategy for materials synthesis and molecular entrapment.
Dictatorships for Democracy: Takeovers of Financially Failed Cities

States have traditionally offered support to their fiscally distressed municipalities. When less intrusive forms of assistance fail to bring stability, some states employ supervisory institutions that exercise approval authority over local budgets or, more intrusively, that displace locally elected officials. These "takeover boards" are frequently accused of representing an antidemocratic form of local government and a denial of local autonomy.In this Article, I suggest that the extent to which takeover boards are subject to an anti-democratic critique is frequently overstated. Efforts to revive near-insolvent localities cannot be oblivious to the causes that generated their distress. Depopulation, high unemployment, depleted municipal services, and blight do not arise spontaneously. They are frequently the consequence of long periods of local mismanagement, in which expenditures deviate substantially from those goods and services that residents prefer, inducing the most mobile among them to gravitate to more hospitable jurisdictions. Any viable response must therefore address the causes of political dysfunction. I contend that by addressing the political underpinnings of fiscal distress, takeover boards may be more capable of satisfying the interests of local residents for public goods than local elected officials, and may also represent the interests of nonresidents and creditors who are not considered by those officials. Moreover, I suggest, the authority of takeover boards should be expanded to allow them to engage in restructuring of municipal governance in order to avoid the entrenched and defragmented institutions that are often associated with local fiscal distress. The temporary nature of takeover board jurisdiction means that when local governance returns to the realm of normal politics, residents will be in a more informed position to evaluate the optimal structure of local governance.
Early Student Support for a Process Study of Oceanic Responses to Typhoons

Abstract : The purpose of this project is to support a graduate student, Andy Hsu, pursuing the PhD degree in Physical Oceanography at the School of Oceanography. For the master research, he studies the estimate of drag coefficient under a tropical cyclone in western Pacific using direct oceanic measurements with the help of numerical model simulations for understanding the dynamics. The major findings include an abnormally large down-wind stress at intermediate wind speed and a significant cross-wind stress at high wind speed, presumably due to effects of surface waves. He successfully passed the master defense in Spring 2014 and was admitted to the PhD program. He will continue and extend the study of the estimate and parameterization of surface wind stress under extreme winds. The primary focus of his PhD study is to better quantify and understand the effects of surface waves on surface wind stress.
Dynamic Binary Instrumentation-Based Framework for Malware Defense

Malware is at the root of a large number of information security breaches. Despite widespread effort devoted to combating malware, current techniques have proven to be insufficient in stemming the incessant growth in malware attacks. In this paper, we describe a tool that exploits a combination of virtualized (isolated) execution environments and dynamic binary instrumentation (DBI) to detect malicious software and prevent its execution. We define two isolated environments: (i) a Testingenvironment, wherein an untrusted program is traced during execution using DBI and subjected to rigorous checks against extensive security policies that express behavioral patterns of malicious software, and (ii) a Realenvironment, wherein a program is subjected to run-time monitoring using a behavioral model (in place of the security policies), along with a continuous learning process, in order to prevent non-permissible behavior. We have evaluated the proposed methodology on both Linux and Windows XP operating systems, using several virus benchmarks as well as obfuscated versions thereof. Experiments demonstrate that our approach achieves almost complete coverage for original and obfuscated viruses. Average execution times go up to 28.57X and 1.23X in the Testingand Realenvironments, respectively. The high overhead imposed in the Testingenvironment does not create a severe impediment since it occurs only once and is transparent to the user. Users are only affected by the overhead imposed in the Realenvironment. We believe that our approach has the potential to improve on the state-of-the-art in malware detection, offering improved accuracy with low performance penalty.
The Solution to Economic Crisis: The Legal Tender Act of 1862

The Legal Tender Act of 1862 offers a blueprint solution to our current economic crisis. The U.S. Government issued its own currency rather then relying on banks. This allowed the North to finance and win the civil war while keeping the economy solvent. The same solution can be used today to bring the U.S. economy out of the greatest recession since the great depression.
The Historical Investigation of Science in North America

Dieser Bericht enthalt zunachst eine Skizze der Entwicklung der Wissenschaftsgeschichtsschreibung in den USA und Canada. Sodann werden die Aktivitaten der History of Science Society of North America besonders vorgestellt. Schlieslich betrachtet der Bericht besonders wichtige Publikationen im einzelnen. Im Anhang finden sich Ubersichten uber die jahrlichen Versammlungen, eine vergleichende Statistik der Forschungsschwerpunkte der amerikanischen und internationalen Tatigkeit auf den einzelnen Gebieten sowie eine Liste der Forschungsstatten und der „Grading Programs“.
Blebitis, Early EndophthalmitS, and Late Endophthalmitis after Glaucoma-filtering Surgery

Abstract Purpose: The differentiating characteristics in blebitis and early and late endophthalmitis after glaucoma filtration surgery are reviewed. Methods: All admission records and operative reports, as well as available office notes, on patients with blebitis or bleb-associated endophthalmitis admitted to a large referral eye center from 1985 to 1995 were reviewed retrospectively. Results: Ten cases of blebitis and 33 cases of bleb-associated endophthalmitis were identified. One patient with blebitis progressed to culture-positive endophthalmitis. Of the 33 cases of bleb-associated endophthalmitis, there were 6 cases of early endophthalmitis (before postoperative week 6) and 27 cases of late endophthalmitis. In early endophthalmitis, Staphylococcus epidermidis was isolated on vitreous culture in 4 (67%) of 6 cases, whereas in late endophthalmitis, this organism was isolated in only 1 (4%) of 27 cases. In the 27 late cases, Streptococcus species and gram-negative organisms comprised 48% of isolates; of 33 cases of endophthalmitis, 15 (45%) demonstrated no growth on vitreous culture. Patients with endophthalmitis fared more poorly than those with blebitis in terms of visual outcome. Conclusions: Because blebitis may be prodromal to endophthalmitis, aggressive antimicrobial therapy, perhaps with oral quinolones, is warranted. In addition, patients with blebitis should be observed closely to identify extension into the vitreous cavity so that intravitreous antibiotics can be administered in a timely fashion. Finally, clinicians should not extrapolate the results of the Endophthalmitis Vitrectomy Study to the postfiltration surgery endophthalmitis given the differing pathogenesis and unique spectrum of organisms.
Conducting Evaluation Research — Integrity Intact

Abstract Taking the position that too little attention has been given to the systematic study of the nature of, and dangers in, the relationship between sponsors of evaluation research and social scientists, this paper offers statements of situations, relationships, and conditions one should avoid or foster in doing such research. Suggestions are given concerning how sociologists might control the misuses of data.
Experimental study on the difference between acoustic communication channels in freshwater rivers/lakes and in oceans

Underwater acoustic (UWA) communications and networking have drawn considerable attentions in the last decades, while most of the research effort has been paid to oceanic environment. Given a wide range of potential applications of UWA techniques in freshwater rivers and lakes, it is imperative to understand the acoustic channel characteristics in the above environment. Based on the data sets collected from several field experiments in the Great Lakes region and off the coast of Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, this work characterizes the freshwater river/lake acoustic channels in aspects of sound propagation loss and channel multipath properties, and compares the channel characteristics with those in oceans. Data analysis shows that relative to oceanic channels, freshwater river/lake channels have larger temporal coherence, higher correlation among densely distributed channel paths, and less sound absorption loss. Insights on acoustic transceiver design based on the above channel characteristics are also provided.
The Allocative Efficiency of Material Input Use in Russian Agriculture

This paper examines the allocative efficiency of use of material inputs, and fertiliser in particular, in Russian agriculture during the transition from a planned to a market economy. The results indicate that inputs in the aggregate are overused (their purchase price exceeding the value of their marginal product), though fertiliser is underused. The findings support the argument that the substantial drop in agricultural input use during transition has been economically rational.
The Test of Logical Thinking as a predictor of first-year pharmacy students' performance in required first-year courses.

Objectives. To investigate the correlation of scores on the Test of Logical Thinking (TOLT) with first-year pharmacy students’ performance in selected courses.Methods. The TOLT was administered to 130 first-year pharmacy students. The examination was administered during the first quarter in a single session.Results. The TOLT scores correlated with grades earned in Pharmaceutical Calculations, Physical Pharmacy, and Basic Pharmacokinetics courses.Conclusion. Performance on the TOLT has been correlated to performance in courses that required the ability to use quantitative reasoning to complete required tasks. In the future, it may be possible to recommend remediation, retention, and/or admission based in part on the results from the TOLT.
A Pd-doped perovskite catalyst, BaCe1−xPdxO3−δ, for CO oxidation

Abstract Perovskite BaCeO 3 materials with low levels of substitution of Pd(II) on the Ce site and a corresponding number of oxygen vacancies were prepared by a high-temperature synthesis method. Although their surface areas are low (ca. 1.0 m 2 g −1 ), their low-temperature ( 2 O 3 . When the doped perovskites are reduced extensively in H 2 , causing extrusion of Pd(0) from the lattice, their catalytic activity declines dramatically. Consequently, activity is attributed to the presence of cationic Pd(II) in the perovskite lattice. Density functional theory was used to investigate the atomic and electronic character of the structures containing oxygen vacancies. Both experimental and theoretical evidence support a catalytic mechanism involving labilization of lattice and surface oxygen by cationic Pd(II).
Optimizing the Surgeon-Robot Interface: The Effect of Control-Display Gain and Zoom Level on Movement Time

While many advances have been made in surgical robotics technology, even for surgeons with relatively high levels of robotic surgery experience, many tasks take less time to perform manually. Although there are other benefits to surgical robotics that may outweigh task completion time, relatively lower efficiency will hinder the adoption of this technology. This study focused on two interface parameters: Control-Display Gain (CDG, i.e., the amount of robot movement resulting from a given robot controller movement) and the optical Zoom level that defines the working field of view. Results from a study with 10 participants suggest that CDG is a promising interface parameter for optimizing movement time in robot-assisted surgical tasks. The results have implications for the development and implementation of intelligent surgeon-robot interface technology and hold the potential to greatly improve the efficiency of robotic-assisted surgery techniques.
Using on ethnographic process to conduct requirements analysis for agile systems developmet

Since the late 1990s, agile or lightweight software development methodologies have experienced a meteoric rise of interest among systems developers who consider traditional systems development methodologies (such as Structured Systems Development, Information Engineering, and Rational Unified Process) too inflexible for building systems having unpredictable and changing requirements. Agile methodologies try to adapt to rapid requirement changes by having short, iterative development cycles and by encouraging frequent, open communication with customers. However, agile methodologies are still in the process of devising systematic approaches on how to be adaptive to unpredictable and changing requirements and how to incorporate customers into the systems development process. In this study, we show how an ethnographic research process called Strip Resolution can be applied as a systematic complement to projects applying agile development principles. We illustrate, in detail, how the Strip Resolution Process (SRP) enabled us, in the role of systems developers, to adapt to changing and unpredictable user requirements and to incorporate customers into the systems development process.
Functional scaffolding and self-scaffolding

Abstract Models of the nature of representation and cognition ground and constrain models of the construction of representation in learning and development: models of what is being constructed ground and constrain models of the processes of construction. Insofar as the notion of scaffolding is intended to refer to particular kinds of supports for learning and development, it too will be variously enabled and constrained by underlying assumptions concerning representation and cognition. I will argue that action based models of representation, which have their own powerful supports, also make possible a functional notion of scaffolding that, in turn, makes sense of processes of self-scaffolding as a central field of development.