cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Methodological Issues in Group-Matching Designs: α Levels for Control Variable Comparisons and Measurement Characteristics of Control and Target Variables

Group-matching designs are commonly used to identify the diagnosis-specific characteristics of children with developmental disabilities. In this paper, we address three issues central to the use of this design. The first concerns the α level to be used for considering groups to be matched on the control variable(s). The second involves the measurement characteristics of the control and target variables. We discuss the properties of standard scores, raw scores, and age equivalents and argue against the use of age equivalents. In addition, we consider the appropriateness of the commonly made prediction that groups that are matched for a control variable such as language ability or nonverbal reasoning ability but are not matched for chronological age should perform at equivalent levels on the target variable. Finally, we discuss issues related to the interpretation of significant between-group differences on the target variable, assuming groups are well-matched on the control variables, and describe the benefits of a method that focuses on characterizing a disorder on a case-by-case basis and then aggregating the cases, using the measures of sensitivity and specificity from signal detection theory.
Peripheral display of digital handwritten notes

We present a system for the peripheral display of digital handwritten notes, motivated by the joint observation that people seldom refer back to their notes and that these notes often contain useful information. We describe the user-led design of the system, incorporating interviews, paper prototypes, and interactive prototypes. A preliminary field trial of the system indicates that users derive value from the system both for low-distraction reminding and for serendipitous idea generation. These promising initial results suggest significant scope for future work.
BIMA OBSERVATIONS OF GAMMA-RAY BURSTERS GRB 970111 AND GRB 970228

The Satellite per Astronomia X (BeppoSAX) is successfully producing small error boxes to gamma-ray bursts, permitting rapid follow-up multiwavelength searches for fading and quiescent counterparts. For GRB 970228 this led to the discovery of the first convincing fading counterpart. However, no counterpart was found for GRB 970111. In this Letter, we present our observations approximately 1 week after GRB 970228 and 1 month after GRB 970111 using the Berkeley-Illinois-Maryland Association (BIMA) array at 3.5 mm. No fading millimeter-wave sources were detected, but we demonstrate that BIMA is well suited for performing future searches.
Dilated cardiomyopathy: learning to live with yourself.

Two new studies outline the causes of dilated cardiomyopathy, an autoimmune reaction that slowly destroys the heart ( pages 1477–1483 and 1484–1490 ).
Surface and Deep Structures in Individual Differences

Professor Eysenck has made another contribution with the deep substance and strong architecture we have come to expect from him. His paper is cogent, and although its central themes are not new from his pen, the particular data and organization he now presents are newly compelling.
Large-scale decentralized unit commitment

Abstract A method for formulating and solving a decentralized unit commitment problem is presented in this work. The method, which extends the alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM), is presented along with several heuristics and refinements to mitigate oscillations and traps in local optimality that result from the nonconvexity of unit commitment. We present and discuss the promising results from testing the method on large-scale systems of more than 3000 buses. The scalability observed so far suggests that this method is a practical option for use with large systems and may provide a significant benefit for computational speed.
Peroxisome Proliferator–Activated Receptor γ Regulates Chronic Alcohol-Induced Alveolar Macrophage Dysfunction

Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR) γ is critical for alveolar macrophage (AM) function. Chronic alcohol abuse causes AM phagocytic dysfunction and susceptibility to respiratory infections by stimulating nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide oxidases (Nox), transforming growth factor-β1, and oxidative stress in the AM. Because PPARγ inhibits Nox expression, we hypothesized that alcohol reduces PPARγ, stimulating AM dysfunction. AMs were examined from: (1) patients with alcoholism or control patients; (2) a mouse model of chronic ethanol consumption; (3) PPARγ knockout mice; or (4) MH-S cells exposed to ethanol in vitro. Alcohol reduced AM PPARγ levels and increased Nox1, -2, and -4, transforming growth factor-β1, oxidative stress, and phagocytic dysfunction. Genetic loss of PPARγ recapitulated, whereas stimulating PPARγ activity attenuated alcohol-mediated alterations in gene expression and phagocytic function, supporting the importance of PPARγ in alcohol-induced AM derangements. Similarly, PPARγ activation in vivo reduced alcohol-mediated impairments in lung bacterial clearance. Alcohol increased levels of microRNA-130a/-301a, which bind to the PPARγ 3' untranslated region to reduce PPARγ expression. MicroRNA-130a/-301a inhibition attenuated alcohol-mediated PPARγ reductions and derangements in AM gene expression and function. Alcohol-induced Toll-like receptor 4 endocytosis was reversed by PPARγ activation. These findings demonstrate that targeting PPARγ provides a novel therapeutic approach for mitigating alcohol-induced AM derangements and susceptibility to lung infection.
Police Policy and Practice in Urban America: Does Local Politics (Still) Matter?

Recent research suggests that professionalization trends, diffusion of innovations and federal influences have combined to eclipse local political influences over policing (Zhao and Hassell, 2005). Still other work suggests that local policing practices, especially with respect to order maintenance and social control, are a function of the extent to which a city’s economy situates it in the competition for creative class attractiveness and global city status (Beckett and Herbert, 2008; Gibson, 2003). The proposed paper is designed to test whether local political factors are nevertheless crucial predictors of variation in police policy and practice, even net the effects of these other explanations. The key police practice at issue is racial bias in order maintenance arrests.Political factors examined include the extent of minority representation on the city council, presence of a minority mayor, extent of minority representation among sworn police officers and form of government. One key to the significance of the proposed paper is that these competing political, economic, and professional imperative explanations of police policy and practice have not been conjointly subjected to empirical test across a systematic sample of cities. Drawing upon detailed arrest data from the FBI (to measure the degree of emphasis on order maintenance policing), data from the Law Enforcement Management and Administrative Statistics (LEMAS) survey (to measure extent of community policing, complaint handling policies and outcomes, and departmental professionalization), data on black public officials in city government from the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, and Census data on cities’ economies, the proposed paper tests these hypotheses for all U.S. cities above 100,000 population, controlling for important rival explanations. The results show that form of government and some elements of racial representation are conjointly very important in shaping the extent of racial bias in order maintenance arrests.
Rational suicide: how can we respond to a request for help?

For some persons who are facing terminal illness, severe permanent disability, or extreme old age, suicide may seem to be a rational choice. Suicide prevention services, however, do not provide for suicide as a sane, honorable choice in such circumstances. This paper identifies 17 specific considerations a mental-health professional may use to help such a person explore whether suicide would be rational or irrational. These considerations are formulated without antecedent bias towards prevention and without interpreting interest in suicide as evidence of depression or mental illness. Dying, severely disabled, and aged persons considering suicide on what seem to them to be rational grounds may thus trust and consult mental-health professionals about their plans. Language: en
Andrea Dworkin, Hustler, and First Amendment Protection for Opinion: Is Something Rotten in the House of Libel?

(1996). Andrea Dworkin, Hustler, and First Amendment Protection for Opinion: Is Something Rotten in the House of Libel? Free Speech Yearbook: Vol. 34, No. 1, pp. 41-48.
UCSB Method for Simulation of Broadband Ground Motion from Kinematic Earthquake Sources

The representation theorem (equation 1.1) (Maruyama, 1963; Burridge and Knopoff, 1964; Haskell, 1964) relates slip on the fault to ground displacement at an arbitrary point in the field and can be deceptively simple as follows: ![Graphic][1] (1.1)in which ![Graphic][2] is the n th component of the ground displacement recorded at position ![Graphic][3] and time t ; ![Graphic][4] is the i th component of slip (a discontinuity in displacement field) on the fault plane Σ at position ξ and time τ ; ν j is the j th component of the normal to fault plane, c ijpq is the fourth‐order tensor of elastic coefficients; is the n th component of the Green’s function for a point source applied in the p direction. The integral over d Σ is the summation over the fault of the convolution (the integral of dτ ) between the slip on the fault and the spatial derivative of the Green’s function G np , q . So all one needs is the geometry of the fault plane (Σ and ν j ), an accurate description of the medium (densities, elastic velocities, and attenuation in 3D space) to compute G np , and the slip‐time function ![Graphic][5] everywhere on the fault. Suppose one has a particular location ![Graphic][6] where the ground motion is to be computed from an earthquake on a specified fault. The first step would be to use reciprocity of the Green’s function and apply the point forces at the location of the observer to compute the tractions ![Graphic][7] on the fault (Archuleta and Day, 1980; Spudich and Archuleta, 1987). Because one cannot compute tractions everywhere on the fault, one has to decide a priori on the locations for which the tractions are to be computed. Moreover computing the tractions assumes that one knows the velocity, density, and attenuation structure throughout … [1]: /embed/inline-graphic-1.gif [2]: /embed/inline-graphic-2.gif [3]: /embed/inline-graphic-3.gif [4]: /embed/inline-graphic-4.gif [5]: /embed/inline-graphic-5.gif [6]: /embed/inline-graphic-6.gif [7]: /embed/inline-graphic-7.gif
Hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy following vaso-occlusive crisis in hemoglobin SC disease

A 56-year-old African American woman with hemoglobin SC disease, hypertension, and diabetes mellitus presented to the emergency department after she was found unresponsive at home. The patient was last seen normal approximately 8 hours prior to presentation. According to family, she complained of severe arthralgias in her hands and knees for the prior 2 days. Physical examination revealed an obese woman who was unresponsive to verbal stimulus. Blood pressure was 130/70 mm Hg, heart rate was 103 beats per minute, and respirations were 18 per minute and labored. Lung examination revealed diffuse wheezes and decreased breath sounds over the left-upper lobe. On neurologic examination, the patient's brainstem reflexes were intact; her tone and bulk were normal; and equal, purposeless movements were noted in all limbs. She flexed only her upper extremities to painful stimuli. A complete blood count showed a leukocytosis of 22.0 K/μL and hemoglobin of 9.4 g/dL. A chest X-ray film showed hazy opacification of the left hemithorax with an area of confluent density in the left upper lung suggestive of an infiltrate and …
Effect of Dried Distillers’ Solubles, Whey and Lactose upon Enlarged Hocks in Turkeys

Abstract In a recent report (Scott, 1951a) results were presented which indicated that both dried distillers’ solubles and dried whey caused an increase in the incidence of enlarged hocks in young turkeys when added at a level of 5 percent to a diet containing 2 percent of fish liver oil. The results obtained with the single sample of distillers’ solubles were not thought to represent typical results to be expected from this material because this sample did not produce the growth response usually obtained in young poults (Scott, 1951b) upon the addition of distillers’ solubles to this type of diet. The increased incidence of enlarged hocks obtained when dried whey was used was believed to be due to an unfavorable effect of the lactose contained in dried whey upon certain beneficial microorganisms in the intestinal tract of the turkey. In order to obtain a more representative picture of the value of . . .
Determination of Blood Alcohol Concentration by Headspace gas Chromatography

[Objective]To establish a headspace gas chromatography method for determining blood alcohol concentration.[Methods] Headspace gas chromatography method was adopted for detection,and ammonium sulfate was added to decrease the solubility of alcohol in blood,quantified by internal standard method.[Results] The calibration curves of the ratio of alcohol and the internal standard peak area were linear(r=0.9987) between alcohol concentration in the range of 0.2～10 mg/ml.The average rates of recovery were 99.5 %～102.9 %,and the relative standard deviations were 1.57%～3.26%.[Conclusion]This method is simple,sensitive,and accurate and applicable to determination of blood alcohol.
On Cultural Industry Innovation and Its Development

Cultural industry innovation could be defined as a process of producing cultural artifacts in a large scale and converting cultural works into cultural products by adding scalability,profitability,structurality,convertibility and standard.In order to promote the scale development of cultural industry,the public cultural service network should be improved and the export of cultural products should be increased.In order to promote the profitability development of cultural industry,the cultural industry chains should be extended and the tax preferential policies should be reinforced.In terms of structural adjustment,the cultural industry system should be reformed and the cultural industry should be developed collaboratively in both urban and rural areas.When it comes to promoting the convertibility development of cultural industry,the independent innovation capability of cultural technology should be strengthened.
Intubating laryngeal mask airway versus laryngoscopy and endotracheal intubation in the nuclear, biological, and chemical environment.

Objective: Intubation is a difficult skill under normal circumstances and more so with a limited visual field such as wearing a protective mask in a chemical or biological incident. This study sought to determine whether successful intubation using the intubating laryngeal mask airway (ILMA) under protective mask conditions was equivalent to standard endotracheal intubation. Methods: A pilot study was conducted using emergency medicine personnel. Participant's attempted intubation of a manikin while wearing a standard U.S. Army M-40 protective mask. Two attempts were performed with each method. Results: One hundred percent of the ILMA placements were successful with only 78% success with endotracheal intubation (p = 0.1). Time to successful intubation and ventilation was significantly less for the ILMA versus endotracheal intubation (p = 0.005). Conclusion: This study suggests that under simulated chemical and biological conditions using an M-40 protective mask, intubation is accomplished faster and with more success with the ILMA.
Biology of temperature: the mammalian fetus.

Most of these fetal studies have used animals, principally the sheep, and have focused on such questions as (i) how much heat is produced in the uterus and by what means, (ii) how the mother's body regulates the fetus' temperature, (iii) by what means is additional heat produced as a defense against chilling, (iv) how thermogenesis can be detected, and (v) what triggers thermogenesis in the newborn
Comparative effectiveness of ledipasvir/sofosbuvir ± ribavirin vs. ombitasvir/paritaprevir/ritonavir + dasabuvir ± ribavirin in 6961 genotype 1 patients treated in routine medical practice.

Summary Background Real-world data are needed to inform hepatitis C virus (HCV) treatment decisions. Aim To assess the comparative effectiveness of ledipasvir/sofosbuvir ± ribavirin (LDV/SOF ± RBV) vs. ombitasvir/paritaprevir/ritonavir + dasabuvir (OPrD) ± RBV in genotype 1 HCV patients treated in routine medical practice. Methods Observational intent-to-treat cohort of genotype 1 patients initiating 8 or 12 weeks of LDV/SOF ± RBV or 12 weeks of OPrD ± RBV. Sustained virological response (SVR) required RNA below the limit of quantification at least 10 weeks after end of treatment. Results 6961 patients initiated LDV/SOF (N = 4478), LDV/SOF + RBV (N = 1269), OPrD (N = 297), and OPrD + RBV (N = 917) at 126 facilities. Intention-to-treat SVR rates were 91.4% (3813/4170) for LDV/SOF, 90.0% (1098/1220) for LDV/SOF + RBV, 95.1% (269/283) for OPrD and 85.8% (746/869) for OPrD + RBV. SVR rates in those completing 8 weeks of LDV/SOF were 91.7% (1223/1333) and 12 weeks of LDV/SOF 94.6% (2475/2615), LDV/SOF + RBV 92.2% (1033/1120), OPrD 98.0% (248/253) and OPrD + RBV 95.5% (705/738). Significant predictors of SVR were African American race (OR 0.71, 95%CI 0.59–0.86, P 30 kg/m2 (OR 0.73, 95% CI 0.60–0.89, P = 0.002), FIB4 > 3.25 (OR 0.60, 95% CI 0.49–0.72, P 3.25 and high BMI remained significant predictors. Conclusions In this robust real-world cohort, SVR rates were similar to clinical trials. FIB-4 > 3.25 and high BMI were significant negative predictors of SVR. Reduced odds of SVR in African Americans and with OPrD + RBV likely arose from excess early discontinuation as these factors were no longer significant, when limited to patients completing a 12-week course.
Future of the Internet of Things in Mission Critical Applications

The “Internet of Things” (IoT) promises many benefits to improve efficiency and quality of life for consumers and society as a whole. As IoT devices develop and proliferate, new vulnerabilities open up to bad actors, and the wide range of devices present heightened risk that some will interfere with others, risking potentially catastrophic failures. The Silicon Flatirons Center for Law, Technology, and Entrepreneurship held a roundtable in Washington, D.C. on June 22, 2016 to discuss the promise of IoT technology and what role, if any, the government can play in the oversight of security and spectrum interference concerns. This report captures the insights from that discussion and supplements them with relevant research. For those developing IoT technology, addressing security concerns is a core challenge. For innovators and regulators, security is also a timing challenge, as they must determine how secure these devices must be before going to market. Where a product is already in the market, another challenge is to address security vulnerabilities to prevent or limit harm once a vulnerability is discovered. Many IoT devices use wireless spectrum to send and receive data, so manufacturers also need to ensure that their devices operate reliably, even when potential jammers and spoofers seek to do harm. Moreover, because the spectrum used is frequently unlicensed, it is important to ask whether and how mission-critical IoT should operate without interference protection. In short, a key part of the challenge comes down to ensuring that manufacturers understand the risks of interference and share this information with end users so that they can prevent, mitigate, or manage potential harms. As IoT devices become more popular, policymakers are considering the role, if any, the federal government should play in this area. Because IoT technology is at a nascent stage, federal agencies need to be working closely with industry to ensure that regulations are flexible and do not limit innovation, thereby preventing deployment of these technologies. Two basic questions for policymakers emerge: how can they help consumers understand the relevant risks and encourage information sharing to identify and resolve issues as they arise.
Enriching the ant tree of life: enhanced UCE bait set for genome-scale phylogenetics of ants and other Hymenoptera

Summary Targeted enrichment of conserved genomic regions (e.g. ultraconserved elements or UCEs) has emerged as a promising tool for inferring evolutionary history in many organismal groups. Because the UCE approach is still relatively new, much remains to be learned about how best to identify UCE loci and design baits to enrich them. We test an updated UCE identification and bait design workflow for the insect order Hymenoptera, with a particular focus on ants. The new strategy augments a previous bait design for Hymenoptera by (i) changing the parameters by which conserved genomic regions are identified and retained, and (ii) increasing the number of genomes used for locus identification and bait design. We perform in vitro validation of the approach in ants by synthesizing an ant-specific bait set that targets UCE loci and a set of ‘legacy’ phylogenetic markers. Using this bait set, we generate new data for 84 taxa (16/17 ant subfamilies) and extract loci from an additional 17 genome-enabled taxa. We then use these data to examine UCE capture success and phylogenetic performance across ants. We also test the workability of extracting legacy markers from enriched samples and combining the data with published datasets. The updated bait design (hym-v2) contained a total of 2590-targeted UCE loci for Hymenoptera, significantly increasing the number of loci relative to the original bait set (hym-v1; 1510 loci). Across 38 genome-enabled Hymenoptera and 84 enriched samples, experiments demonstrated a high and unbiased capture success rate, with the mean locus enrichment rate being 2214 loci per sample. Phylogenomic analyses of ants produced a robust tree that included strong support for previously uncertain relationships. Complementing the UCE results, we successfully enriched legacy markers, combined the data with published Sanger datasets and generated a comprehensive ant phylogeny containing 1060 terminals. Overall, the new UCE bait design strategy resulted in an enhanced bait set for genome-scale phylogenetics in ants and other Hymenoptera. Our in vitro tests demonstrate the utility of the updated design workflow, providing evidence that this approach could be applied to any organismal group with available genomic information.
Low-Income Urban Filipino Mothers’ Experiences With Community Violence

Community violence exposure has profound implications for individuals’ psychological well-being, and yet, little is known about its effects on parents residing in high-risk neighborhoods. Using qua...
Applying parallel programming and high performance computing to speed up data mining processing

Water quality assessment and prediction of Lake Michigan are becoming major challenges in Northwest Indiana, USA. Traditionally, mechanistic simulation models are employed for water quality modeling and prediction. However, given the complicate nature of Lake Michigan in Northwestern Indiana, the detailed simulation model is extremely simple in comparison and, at some point, additional detail exceeds our ability to simulate and predict with reasonable error levels. In this regard, my project applied data mining technologies, as an innovative alternative, to develop an easy and more accurate approach for water quality assessment and prediction. The drawback of the data mining modeling is that the execution takes quite long time, especially when we employ a better accuracy but more time consuming algorithm in clustering. Therefore, we applied the High Performance Computing System of the Northwest Indiana Computational Grid to deal with this problem. Up to now, the pilot experiments have achieved very promising preliminary results. The visualized water quality assessment and prediction obtained from this project would be published in an interactive website so that the public and the environmental managers could use the information for their decision making.
Conceptualising paediatric health disparities: a metanarrative systematic review and unified conceptual framework.

Objective There exists a paucity of work in the development and testing of theoretical models specific to childhood health disparities even though they have been linked to the prevalence of adult health disparities including high rates of chronic disease. We conducted a systematic review and thematic analysis of existing models of health disparities specific to children to inform development of a unified conceptual framework. Methods We systematically reviewed articles reporting theoretical or explanatory models of disparities on a range of outcomes related to child health. We searched Ovid Medline In-Process & Other Non-Indexed Citations, Ovid MEDLINE, Ovid Embase, Ovid Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Ovid Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, and Scopus (database inception to 9 July 2015). A metanarrative approach guided the analysis process. Results A total of 48 studies presenting 48 models were included. This systematic review found multiple models but no consensus on one approach. However, we did discover a fair amount of overlap, such that the 48 models reviewed converged into the unified conceptual framework. The majority of models included factors in three domains: individual characteristics and behaviours (88%), healthcare providers and systems (63%), and environment/community (56%), . Only 38% of models included factors in the health and public policies domain. Conclusions A disease-agnostic unified conceptual framework may inform integration of existing knowledge of child health disparities and guide future research. This multilevel framework can focus attention among clinical, basic and social science research on the relationships between policy, social factors, health systems and the physical environment that impact children9s health outcomes.
Investigating Support Seeking from Peers for Pregnancy in Online Health Communities

We report a study of peer support in online health communities for pregnancy care along three gestational stages (trimesters) to investigate how pregnant women seek and receive peer support during different stages of pregnancy. Using Babycenter.com as our research setting, we found that pregnant women sought peer support due to constrained access to healthcare providers, dissatisfaction with healthcare services/medical advice, limited offline social support, and unavailability of information in other venues. While the particular topics of concern typifying each trimester were distinct, pregnant women consistently sought advice, informal and formal knowledge, reassurance, and emotional support from peers during each stage of pregnancy. BabyCenter.com peers provided support by leveraging their own experiential knowledge and passing along clinical expertise acquired during the course of their own healthcare. We discuss design implications for health services and IT systems that meet pregnant women's temporal and multi-faceted needs during prenatal care.
Control of glyphosate-resistant giant ragweed (Ambrosia trifida L.) with premix of iodosulfuron/thiencarbazone applied alone or in tank mixtures in no-till corn (Zea mays L.)

The objectives of this study were to evaluate the efficacy of a new premix of iodosulfuron (6%) /thiencarbazone (45%) applied alone or tank-mixed with 2,4-D, dicamba, glyphosate, or metribuzin in fall and/or early spring followed by pre-emergence (PRE) and post-emergence (POST) herbicide applications for control of glyphosate-resistant giant ragweed and their effect on corn yield. Field experiments were conducted in no-till corn fields infested with glyphosate-resistant giant ragweed (20 to 30 plants m─2) near Clay Center and McCool Junction, Nebraska, USA in 2013 and 2014, respectively. A premix of iodosulfuron /thiencarbazone applied alone or in split applications in fall and early spring controlled glyphosate-resistant giant ragweed < 60% and resulted in a density of 14 giant ragweed plants m─2, which was comparable to the nontreated control at 28 d after early spring treatment (DAEST). Metribuzin or 2,4-D applied alone resulted in < 75% giant ragweed control at 28 DAEST; however, 2,4-D or dicamba tank...
Conceptual blending, creativity, and music

This article explores the use of conceptual blending theory for the study of creativity, especially as creativity is manifested in musical utterances. The first part of the article offers an overvi...
Demystifying the marine-terrestrial biodiversity gradient: response to Vermeij et al.

We respond to seven criticisms made by Vermeij et al. () regarding Miller & Wiens (). Their criticisms generally reflect misunderstandings, unsupported speculations, and topics that were explicitly addressed in our paper.
Reactance to Personalization: Understanding the Drivers Behind the Growth of Ad Blocking

AbstractFueled by advancing technologies that continually expand Web data tracking and aggregating capabilities, online advertising has become increasingly personalized and pervasive. This trend is largely responsible for a growing number of consumers (more than 615 million worldwide) choosing to install ad-blocking software on their computers and mobile devices. As a result, U.S. publishers and advertisers estimate that ad blockers cost them more than $28 billion in revenue in the first half of 2017, and this figure is forecast to exceed $35 billion by 2020. Rooted in a theoretical foundation of psychological reactance theory (PRT), the present study examines key cognitive and affective factors driving consumers to reject personalized advertising messages and install ad-blocking software. A structural equation analysis reveals privacy-related threats, along with benefits rooted in relevance and rewards, moderated by the type of data being used to personalize advertising messages, are contributing to this...
Exploiting locality of interactions using a policy-gradient approach in multiagent learning

In this paper, we propose a policy gradient reinforcement learning algorithm to address transition-independent Dec-POMDPs. This approach aims at implicitly exploiting the locality of interaction observed in many practical problems. Our algorithms can be described by an actor-critic architecture: the actor component combines natural gradient updates with a varying learning rate; the critic uses only local information to maintain a belief over the joint state-space, and evaluates the current policy as a function of this belief using compatible function approximation. In order to speed the convergence of the algorithm, we use an optimistic initialization of the policy that relies on a fully observable, single agent model of the problem. We illustrate our approach in some simple application problems.
Numerical Simulations of Shock-Turbulence Interactions

The interaction of turbulence with a shock wave is investigated by a direct two-dimensional numerical simulation of the compressible Euler equations using a shock-fitted approach. The numerical method involves a compact 6 th order discretization scheme for the spatial derivatives, while time advancement is based on a low-storage 5 stage, 4 th order accurate Runga-Kutta scheme. For small amplitudes, the numerical calculations are compared to linear theory for validation. Comparisons include the interaction of a single oblique vorticity wave, and turbulence viewed as a collection of single vorticity waves. Nonlinear effects are analyzed by presenting one-dimensional power spectra for the vorticity and divergence. The interaction of a single vortex and a shock wave is also investigated and compared to linear results. Results are presented for various vortex strengths and at various Mach numbers.
HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors: issues in assessing their benefits in coronary heart disease.

As Pedersen and Tobert[1] point out, despite the resounding success of 4S, 111 patients in the group randomised to simvastatin died of coronary disease during the course of the study. Thus, we still have a long way to go before we can eliminate the risk for premature death and disability from CHD, to find a way to ‘inoculate’ individuals to prevent them from ever developing atherosclerotic lesions, and to provide a 90% effective way of protecting those who have already experienced their first event.
The Potential of Higher Education Faculty as a Resource to Address the K-12 Science Achievement Gap in the United States

This study assessed the preparedness and willingness of faculty at a land grant university to conduct outreach to youth about science. Using a mixed-methods design, faculty were aware of some components of effective youth outreach, but fail to acknowledge the importance of other critical pieces such as linking outreach to educational standards. This study has implications for higher education administrators, particularly those who perceive our universities as a resource for addressing the low science achievement in the United States.
Review: Scientific Basis of Adjuvant Chemotherapy in Breast Cancer

This group of papers centers on preclinical and clinical observations, their impact on recent achievements in adjuvant chemotherapy, and conceptual changes that may further alter the course of breast cancer. The overtone ranges from pessimism to guarded optimism with a general feeling that progress, at least for the time being, has plateaued. Nevertheless, several observations critical to further progress in disease detection and management are brought to light.
The Hygrometer and Other Meteorological Instruments

As was noted in Chapter I, the ancient Greeks had a fairly accurate grasp of the hydrological cycle—the ascent of water from the lakes, rivers, and oceans into the atmosphere, and its return again to the earth as precipitation. One problem with this cyclic concept was that at some stage in the process the water became invisible. To resolve this difficulty, Aristotle and other Greek natural philosophers assumed that some, but not all, of the ascending water turned into air.1 The reason for the “hedge” on not having all of the rising water turning into air was that Aristotle realized that clouds consisted of drops of water.2
Developing Rural School Leaders through Leadership Coaching: A Transformative Approach.

In this article, we report the findings of a study of a three-year, research-practice partnership designed to enhance the leadership capabilities of school leaders in 12 predominantly rural, high-p...
The Handbook of Policy Practice.

In The Handbook of Policy Practice, Dr. Ira Colby offers an accessible and practical guidebook that covers most of the essential elements educators need to prepare social workers for policy practic...
A framework for checking regression test selection tools

Regression test selection (RTS) reduces regression testing costs by re-running only tests that can change behavior due to code changes. Researchers and large software organizations recently developed and adopted several RTS tools to deal with the rapidly growing costs of regression testing. As RTS tools gain adoption, it becomes critical to check that they are correct and efficient. Unfortunately, checking RTS tools currently relies solely on limited tests that RTS tool developers manually write. We present RTS Check, the first framework for checking RTS tools. RTSCheck feeds evolving programs (i.e., sequences of program revisions) to an RTS tool and checks the output against rules inspired by existing RTS test suites. Violations of these rules are likely due to deviations from expected RTS tool behavior, and indicative of bugs in the tool. RTSCheck uses three components to obtain evolving programs: (1) AutoEP automatically generates evolving programs and corresponding tests, (2) DefectsEP uses buggy and fixed program revisions from bug databases, and (3) EvoEP uses sequences of program revisions from actual open-source projects' histories. We used RTSCheck to check three recently developed RTS tools for Java: Clover, Ekstazi, and STARTS. RTSCheck discovered 27 bugs in these three tools.
Antiviral activity of ribavirin and favipiravir against human astroviruses.

Abstract Background Recent recognition of invasive astrovirus infections, including encephalitis and viremia in humans, have highlighted the need for effective anti-astrovirus therapeutics. However, there is a paucity of data regarding the in vitro activity of broad-spectrum RNA antivirals against astroviruses, including ribavirin and favipiravir. Objectives We quantified the EC50 values for ribavirin and favipiravir against two human astrovirus strains, astrovirus VA1 (VA1) and human astrovirus 4 (HAstV4). Study Design Caco-2 cells were infected with VA1 or HAstV4 in the presence of ribavirin or favipiravir (dose range 0.1–1000 μM), and the cells were maintained in media containing the drugs for 72 h. Viral RNA was extracted and quantified by qRT-PCR. As a surrogate for cytotoxicity, cellular adenosine triphosphate (ATP) from each drug treatment was also measured. Results VA1 replication was inhibited 10-100-fold by both ribavirin (EC50 = 154 μM) and favipiravir (EC50 = 246 μM). In contrast, ribavirin inhibited HAstV4 replication (EC50 = 268 μM) but favipiravir only reduced replication by 44% at the highest dose. Mild reductions in ATP (17–31%) was only observed at the highest concentration of ribavirin (1000 μM) and no significant decrease in ATP was detected for any concentration of favipiravir. Conclusions Ribavirin inhibited both human astrovirus species and favipiravir was only active against VA1. In the future, the in vivo efficacy of these drugs could be tested with development of an animal model of human astrovirus infection.
Interventions to reduce shame: A systematic review

Abstract Shame is a painful emotion associated with an array of poor health outcomes, yet is understudied in intervention research. The purpose of this study was to systematically review interventions to reduce shame and summarize instruments used in its measurement. We searched PubMed, PsycINFO, and CINAHL databases for the initial pool of articles. After deleting duplicates, we screened titles and abstracts on 1518 records, resulting in 63 studies forwarded for full-text review. Thirty-seven studies met inclusion criteria. Risk of bias tools were used to assess study quality. Data were extracted on study design, intervention, sample characteristics, shame measure, context, and effectiveness or efficacy. A pooled sample of 5128 individuals participated across 37 included studies; 16 used an RCT design, and 21 used pre/post-test. Seventeen standardized measures of shame were used. Shame was treated in a variety of behavioral health contexts. The most common interventions were Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and mindfulness. Eighty-nine percent of studies (n = 32) reported reductions in shame at post-test. Nine studies reported sustained reductions in shame over time. Shame occurs in a variety of contexts and is malleable. Common evidence-based interventions widely available to practitioners effectively reduced shame. Further research to clarify the construct of shame and its measurement is needed.
Advances in agricultural cooperative research since 2007: A review of Chinese Agricultural Economics literature

Following implementation of the Agricultural Cooperative Law in July 2007, the number of cooperatives increased dramatically, as did the related research in China. The objective of this paper is to describe articles written in Chinese and published in the top six Chinese Agricultural Economics journals between 2007 and 2017, identify research trends and issues, generate observations, and provide insights for future research. A secondary objective is to introduce to the non‐Chinese speaking world a literature written by Chinese scholars as they view the emergence of this new organizational form in the agricultural sector. Our interest is to illustrate Chinese cooperative literature within two general approaches: articles which address agricultural cooperatives’ inter‐firm coordination issues and articles which study the mechanism design which we call intra‐firm coordination. A total of 443 articles were reviewed, 163 dealing with inter‐firm coordination and 280 with intra‐firm coordination. The inter‐firm coordination articles focused on firm coordination mechanisms and formal institutions such as cooperative law, accounting rules, financial markets, and government support. Intra‐firm coordination articles focused on organization design, cooperative governance, relationships between members and cooperative, property rights, and hierarchical structures with embedded principal–agent issues. We conclude with observations about trends, quality, and the cooperative future and also propose useful research fields for Chinese scholars.
The Vantage Point of a Bully

This chapter describes the defining characteristics of a bully as well as motivations to bully. Perpetration of bullying is characterized by repetitive harm to a less powerful individual carried out with intentionality. Bullying can take on numerous forms including physical, verbal, and relational bullying, often targeting a particular group of students. Perpetration of bullying is often not provoked, but rather in the purpose of achieving particular goals, such as a central position in the peer hierarchy. Differences in prevalence based on differences by sex, age, race/ethnicity, and socioeconomic status are outlined. Prevention and intervention efforts based on ecological supports are suggested as most effective in preventing bullying. Implications of social media on bullying are addressed.
Cosmetic Dermatology and the Ethics of Enhancement

Cosmetic dermatology is a subspecialty that encompasses procedures and treatments intended to enhance patients’ ideal aesthetic. It poses unique challenges for physicians, forced to step out of the typical physician role of restoring and protecting health and into the role of bringing the body towards a subjective preference of beauty and youth. Cosmetic dermatologists are at risk of promoting arbitrary and false ideals of beauty. However, refusal to treat may violate the patient’s rights of autonomy and beneficence. Cosmetic enhancements have several benefits for the patient that go beyond aesthetic satisfaction, and if provided ethically, can make a positive contribution to the patient and potentially to society at large. This chapter discusses the unique ethical considerations that arise in cosmetic dermatology and how dermatologists should navigate them.
An experimental investigation on the characteristics of fluid–structure interactions of a wind turbine model sited in microburst-like winds

Abstract An experimental investigation is performed to assess the characteristics of the fluid–structure interactions and microburst-induced wind loads acting on a wind turbine model sited in microburst-liked winds. The experiment study was conducted with a scaled wind turbine model placed in microburst-like winds generated by using an impinging-jet-typed microburst simulator. In addition to quantifying complex flow features of microburst-like winds, the resultant wind loads acting on the turbine model were measured by using a high-sensitive force–moment sensor as the turbine model was mounted at different radial locations and with different orientation angles with respect to the oncoming microburst-like winds. The measurement results reveal clearly that, the microburst-induced wind loads acting on the turbine model were distinctly different from those in a conventional atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) wind. With the scales of the wind turbine model and the microburst-like wind used in the present study, the dynamic wind loadings acting on the turbine model were found to be significantly higher (i.e., up to 4 times higher for the mean loads, and up to 10 times higher for the fluctuation amplitudes) than those with the same turbine model sited in ABL winds. Both the mean values and fluctuation amplitudes of the microburst-induced wind loads were found to vary significantly with the changes of the mounted site of the turbine model, the operating status (i.e., with the turbine blades stationary or freely rotating), and the orientation angle of the turbine model with respect to the oncoming microburst-like wind. The dynamic wind load measurements were correlated to the flow characteristics of the microburst-like winds to elucidate underlying physics. The findings of the present study are helpful to gain further insight into the potential damage caused by the violent microbursts to wind turbines to ensure safer and more efficient operation of the wind turbines in thunderstorm-prone areas.
Intra-Catalyst Reductant Chemistry and Nox Conversion of Diesel Lean Nox Traps at Various Stages of Sulfur Loading

Due to increasingly stringent emissions regulations, Lean NOX Trap (LNT) catalysts are being researched as a potential solution for diesel engine emissions reduction. LNTs are practical for diesel NOX reduction due to their ability to reduce NOX from the O2 rich environment produced by diesel engines. LNTs function by storing NOX on the catalyst surface during efficient lean operation then, under rich conditions, releasing and reducing the trapped NOX. One method of producing this rich environment which regenerates a LNT involves manipulating the fuel injection parameters and throttling the air intake. This process is called in-cylinder regeneration. Experiments will be described here in which a 1.7 L common rail diesel engine has been used to regenerate LNTs at various stages of sulfur exposure, a known poison of the LNT. In-cylinder regeneration strategies were used to produce a range of reductant chemistries which enabled the study of the role of various reductants as NOX was converted across the LNT. This study gives insight into how to most efficiently regenerate the LNT. Sulfur poisoning of a fresh LNT was accelerated via the use of bottled SO2. Regeneration studies at various states of sulfation and after catalyst desulfation are discussed, highlighting intra-catalyst measurementsmore » of reductant chemistry and NOX conversion through the catalyst. Results showed that as sulfur loading increased, NOX conversion efficiency decreased and reductant utilization shifted downstream. Hydrogen from in-cylinder combustion was consumed over the first half of the LNT then produced from other available reductants over the last half for some strategies and conditions. Hydrogen production over the last portion of the catalyst was found to be affected by sulfur.« less
S100A1: Another Step Toward Therapeutic Development for Heart Failure⁎

It has been nearly 130 years since Sydney Ringer's astute observations on the indispensability of extracellular Ca2+ to heart muscle contraction ([1][1]). At the cellular level, we now know that fluctuations of cytosolic Ca2+ are coordinated by several myocyte proteins in order to functionally