cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A Cooperative, Self-Configuring High-Availability Solution for Stream Processing

We present a collaborative, self-configuring high availability (HA) approach for stream processing that enables low-latency failure recovery while incurring small run-time overhead. Our approach relies on a novel fine-grained checkpointing model that allows query fragments at each server to be backed up at multiple other servers and recovered collectively (in parallel) when there is a failure. In this paper, we first address the problem of determining the appropriate query fragments at each server. We then discuss, for each fragment, which server to use as its backup as well as the proper checkpoint schedule. We also introduce and analyze operator-specific delta-checkpointing techniques to reduce the overall HA cost. Finally, we quantify the benefits of our approach using results from our prototype implementation and a detailed simulator.
Detekcja i monitorowanie przyrostu pęknięć zmęczeniowych z wykorzystaniem fal sprężystych generowanych przez przetworniki PZT

Streszczenie w pracy zaprezentowano wybrane wyniki monitorowania struktury samolotu PZL–130 Orlik TC II w trakcie pelnoskalowej proby zmeczeniowej. w strukturze samolotu rozmieszczono siec czujnikow piezoelektrycznych PZT, podlączoną do dedykowanego systemu komputerowego, umozliwiającego zdalne monitorowanie konstrukcji. W pracy przedstawiono opis wielokanalowego urządzenia rejestrującego sygnaly uzyskane z przetwornikow piezoelektrycznych oraz wyniki uzyskane w wybranych punktach pomiarowych na roznych etapach rozwoju pekniec zmeczeniowych. Proponowane sposob monitorowania konstrukcji oparty jest na tzw. wskaźnikach uszkodzen zachowujących znikomą informacje o przebiegu czasowym rejestrowanych sygnalow, związanych z ich energią. w pracy przedstawiono opis wykorzystywanych charakterystyk sygnalowych oraz sposobow wnioskowania o obecności i rozwoju pekniec zmeczeniowych. Opracowane techniki zostaly zweryfikowane na podstawie danych uzyskanych w trakcie pelnoskalowej proby zmeczeniowej. Uzyskane wyniki potwierdzają zalety korzystania z systemu monitorowania uszkodzen w oparciu o przetworniki PZT, zwlaszcza w lokalizacjach trudno dostepnych dla standardowych technik badan nieniszczących. Abstract This paper presents an approach to the health monitoring of the PZL–130 TC II Orlik aircraft structure during the full scale fatigue test (FSFT). A network of PZT piezoelectric transducers was assembled on the aircraft structure and a dedicated hardware enabling remote control and programmed measurement performance was elaborated. A multichannel acquisition system of large dataset of measurements from the ‘hot-spot’ locations of the sensors on different stages of the fatigue tests is described in the paper. In the adopted approach a set of Damage In- dices (DI’s), carrying marginal signal information content and correlated with the total energy received by a given sensor are proposed. The paper provides the description of elaborated techniques for the signal processing and inference about the damage presence. Damage detec- tion capabilities are exemplified by data collected from selected network nodes where damages were found during the project run and the results of their monitoring will be highlighted. The necessity of the use of nDE assisted technology for early damage detection has been proven within the project, especially for the ‘hard to access’ locations in the aircraft structure.
Cooperating when you know your outcomes will differ

This article presents a new form of prisoner's dilemma (PD) game called asymmetric dilemmas (ADs). The underlying structure of ADs conforms to the requirements of a PD game, but mutually cooperative choices by the two parties give them known, different outcomes. Similarly, mutually noncooperative choices also give them different outcomes. This article summarizes the results of a series of experiments on ADs and presents the theoretical rationale derived from those findings. The results question the generality of Axelrod's confidence in the general utility of the tit-for-tat strategy and show that asymmetries are best solved via systems of complex alternation. Finally, the games and the theory can be easily adapted for classroom or training exercises on complex strategic planning in negotiations.
A New Multilevel Inverter - Hexagram Inverter for Medium Voltage Adjustable Speed Drive Systems Part II. Three-phase Motor Drive

A new multilevel inverter - Hexagram inverter [6] is proposed for medium-voltage adjustable speed drive systems. The new inverter is constructed by interconnecting six three-phase inverter modules. With six output terminals, hexagram inverter has two operation options: six-phase motor drive or three-phase motor drive (neutral floating). Article [7] has analyzed and verified the six-phase operation; therefore, the three-phase operation will be the focus of this paper. The study shows that the voltage stress of the hexagram inverter is only one sixth of a single VSI with the same output voltage. Simulation and experiment have verified the theoretical findings related to the proposed new inverter. With the eminent features, including modular structure, low component count, low voltage stress, low dc capacitor energy storage requirement, automatic current and power sharing, and easy control, the proposed hexagram inverter is an excellent candidate for high power motor drive applications.
Glibenclamide Administration Attenuates Infarct Volume, Hemispheric Swelling, and Functional Impairments following Permanent Focal Cerebral Ischemia in Rats

Studies from a single laboratory have shown that in rodent models of permanent stroke, administration of the sulfonylurea glibenclamide (Glib) is highly effective in reducing edema, mortality, and lesion volume. The Stroke Therapy Academic Industry Roundtable (STAIR) recommends that new acute treatments for ischemic stroke to be replicated across different laboratories. Accordingly, we examined the effect of low-dose Glib in a permanent suture occlusion model of stroke. Male Sprague-Dawley rats underwent permanent middle cerebral artery occlusion (pMCAO) followed by an initial intraperitoneal injection of Glib (10 μg/kg) and the start of a constant infusion (200 ng/h) via miniosmotic pump at the onset of ischemia. Functional deficits were assessed by Neurological Severity Score (NSS) and grip-strength meter at 24 and 48 h after pMCAO. Glib-treated rats showed a significant reduction in infarct volume, lower NSS, and less hemispheric swelling compared to vehicle. Grip strength was decreased significantly in pMCAO rats compared to shams and significantly improved by treatment with Glib. Taken together, these data indicate that Glib has strong neuroprotective effects following ischemic stroke and may warrant further testing in future clinical trials for human stroke.
Mirror hopping approach for selective denial of service prevention

This paper focuses on a category of denial of service (DoS) attacks, a growing concern in the information security arena, namely the selective DoS (S-DoS). We propose an S-DoS prevention approach by extending the well-known mirror sites idea by redirecting different access requests from the same user to different mirror sites. We develop an HTTP (hypertext transfer protocol) parser that fragments the HTTP requests for communication between the client and server. Random assignment of the requests to different mirror sites ensures that the attacker cannot succeed by capturing requests for a single Web server and the high degree of unpredictability in mirror selection makes it computationally and resource intensive for an attacker to predict the next chosen mirror site. A suite of analysis of the proposed scheme is presented as a merit of this approach.
Escherichia coli O157:H7 Requires Intimin for Enteropathogenicity in Calves

Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) strains require intimin to induce attaching and effacing (A/E) lesions in newborn piglets. Infection of newborn calves with intimin-positive or intimin-negative EHEC O157:H7 demonstrated that intimin is needed for colonization, A/E lesions, and disease in cattle. These results suggest that experiments to determine if intimin-based vaccines reduce O157:H7 levels in cattle are warranted.
Development of the Family Ritual Questionnaire: Initial reliability and validation studies.

In light of the increasing interest in the role of family rituals in promoting mental health, a self-report questionnaire was developed. The Family Ritual Questionnaire (FRQ) assesses family rituals across 7 settings ranging from dinnertime to religious celebrations and across 8 dimensions ranging from roles to symbolic significance.
The importance of adhesion for electronic module encapsulation

Epoxy based systems are well suited as encapsulates fo a wide variety of electronic and electrical components because of their outstanding mechanical and electric properties as well as excellent thermal endurance and chemical resistance. In many of such applications, the components to be encapsulated are potted in thin- walled housings, typically injection molded from a variety of mineral filled thermoplastic materials. It is critical in such applications that the adhesive bond between the epoxy and thermoplastic remains intact throughout the life of the part, primarily to preclude catastrophic electrical failures but also to maintain mechanical integrity and to provide a seal from possible sources of contamination. This paper explores basic factors necessary for proper adhesion in such applications. A pull-out adhesion test is described that provides an excellent model for evaluating epoxy-based adhesive bonding that takes into account specific design and process conditions salient to most electronic and electrical encapsulating applications.
An Experimental Assessment of Feeding Rates of the Muricid Gastropod Nucella lamellosa and Its Effect on a Cost—Benefit Analysis

Predation by drilling gastropods is preservable in the fossil record and thus provides valuable examples for the study of evolutionary concepts that emphasize the importance of biotic interactions. For cost-benefit analyses, accurate measurement of drilling rate and consumption rate is essential. We experimentally determined the drilling, excavation, and consumption rates of the muricid gastropod Nucella lamellosa preying upon the mussel Mytilus trossulus. Our results indicate that although drilling rate is independent of predator size, excavation rate is proportional to the size of the driller, as one might expect on biomechanical grounds. In addition, consumption rate is also a function of predator size, which might have important implications in cost-benefit analyses applied to varied-sized predators, as we illustrate with an example.
The knowledge instinct of autonomous adaptation

The knowledge instinct (KI) drives autonomous adaptation including the higher cognitive abilities. Neural modeling fields mathematically models KI using dynamic logic (DL), a process “from vague-fuzzy to crisp.” The paper discusses why this paradigm is necessary mathematically, and relates it to a psychological description of the mind. Recent fMRI measurements confirmed this process in neural mechanisms of perception.
Creating Measures of Theoretically Relevant Neighborhood Attributes at Multiple Spatial Scales

Accurately measuring attributes in neighborhood environments allows researchers to study the influence of neighborhoods on individual-level outcomes. Researchers working to improve the measurement of neighborhood attributes generally advocate doing so in one of two ways: improving the theoretical relevance of measures and correctly defining the appropriate spatial scale. The data required by the first, "ecometric" neighborhood assessments on a sample of neighborhoods, are generally incompatible with the methods of the second, which tend to rely on population data. In this article, the authors describe how ecometric measures of theoretically relevant attributes observed on a sample of city blocks can be combined with a geostatistical method known as kriging to develop city block-level estimates across a city that can be configured to multiple neighborhood definitions. Using a cross-validation study with data from a 2002 systematic social observation of physical disorder on 1,663 city blocks in Chicago, the authors show that this method creates valid results. They then demonstrate, using neighborhood measures aggregated to three different spatial scales, that residents' perceptions of both fear and neighborhood disorder vary substantially across different spatial scales.
A synthesis and optimization procedure for fully and easily testable sequential machines

The authors outline a synthesis procedure which beginning from a state transition graph (STG) description of a sequential machine produces an optimized fully and easily testable logic implementation. This logic-level implementation is guaranteed to be testable for all single stuck-at faults in the combinational logic and the test sequences for these faults can be obtained using combinational test generation techniques alone. The sequential machine is assumed to have a reset state and be R-reachable. All single stuck-at faults in the combinational logic and the input and output stuck-at faults of the memory elements in the synthesized logic-level automaton can be tested without access to the memory elements using these test sequences. Thus this procedure represents an alternative to a scan design methodology. The area penalty incurred due to the constraints on the optimization are small. The performance of the synthesized design is usually better than that of an unconstrained design optimized for area alone. The authors show that an intimate relationship exists between state assignment and the testability of a sequential machine. They propose a procedure of constrained state assignment and logic optimization which guarantees testability for both Moore and Mealy machines. >
Temporal trends in the incidence of multiple sclerosis: A systematic review

Background: Multiple sclerosis (MS) has been traditionally considered to be more frequent in women and in regions more distant from the equator. However, recent reports suggest that the latitude gradient could be disappearing and that the female-to-male ratio among patients with MS has increased in the last decades. We have conducted a systematic review of incidence studies of MS to assess the overall incidence of MS and explore possible changes in the latitude gradient and the female-to-male ratio over time. Methods: Systematic review of incidence studies of MS published in Medline between 1966 and February 2007. Age- and sex-specific incidence rates were collected from eligible publications. We computed age-adjusted rates using the world population as standard, and assessed differences in rates according to latitude and period of case ascertainment. Additionally, we evaluated the association between period of case ascertainment and the female-to-male ratio. Results: The overall incidence rate of MS was 3.6 cases per 100,000 person-years (95% CI 3.0, 4.2) in women and 2.0 (95% CI 1.5, 2.4) in men. Higher latitude was associated with higher MS incidence, though this latitude gradient was attenuated after 1980, apparently due to increased incidence of MS in lower latitudes. The female-to-male ratio in MS incidence increased over time, from an estimated 1.4 in 1955 to 2.3 in 2000. Conclusion: The latitude gradient present in older incidence studies of multiple sclerosis (MS) is decreasing. The female-to-male MS ratio has increased in the last five decades.
Primary Myelodysplastic Syndromes: The Mayo Clinic Experience With 1000 Patients

Abstract Objectives To share our 25 years of experience with patients with primary myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) and to describe the natural history of the disease including presenting clinical and laboratory characteristics and long-term disease outcomes. Patients and Methods One thousand consecutive patients with primary MDS evaluated at Mayo Clinic between January 1, 1989, and May 1, 2014, were considered. The Revised International Prognostic Scoring System and other risk models were applied for risk stratification. Separate analyses were conducted for patients diagnosed before 2005 (n=531) and after 2005 (n=469). Results Eighty-five percent of patients were older than 60 years (median age, 72 years), with 69% being men. The median follow-up period was 27 months (range, 0-300 months), during which time 808 (81%) deaths and 129 (13%) leukemic transformations were documented. Median survival and leukemic transformation rates were similar in patients diagnosed before or after 2005, despite the significantly higher use of hypomethylating agents in the latter group: 33 months vs 28 months ( P =.46) and 13% vs 10% ( P =.92), respectively. Revised International Prognostic Scoring System risk distribution was similar in patients diagnosed before or after 2005 ( P =.23): 17% were categorized as very low, 36% low, 21% intermediate, 15% high, and 11% very high risk, with a median survival of 72, 43, 24, 18, and 7 months, respectively ( P Conclusion The poor outcome in patients with MDS does not appear to have improved over time. Current risk stratification systems for MDS are not substantially different from each other. There is a dire need for drugs that are truly disease modifying and risk models that incorporate prognostically relevant mutations.
Continuations, Reversals, and Adverse Selection on the NASDAQ and NYSE/AMEX

We show that estimates of adverse selection in the bid-ask spread obtained using methodologies based on Glosten (1987) can be expressed as a weighted average of adverse selection calculated using continuations (successive trades in the same direction) and reversals (successive trades in opposite directions). For example, the methodology of George, Kaul, and Nimalendran (1991) uses only reversals to assess the degree of adverse selection. Most importantly, though NASDAQ firms exhibit the same degree of adverse selection in both reversals and continuations, adverse selection based on reversals far exceeds that based on continuations for NYSE/AMEX firms. These results suggest that reversals and continuations are fundamentally different and the difference is related to market structure. Finally, we argue that continuation based measures of price responsiveness are a natural measure of an important cost of accumulating a position over time. Using such a measure, we find that the NASDAQ market is deeper for a sample of firms which switched between the NASDAQ and the NYSE/AMEX.
ATR-FTIR Spectral Investigation of SO2-Treated Soda-Lime-Silicate Float Glass

The near- surface infrared spectral changes that occurred on a commercial soda-lime-silicate glass , which was heat treated in SO 2 /H 2 O/air atmospheres, were measured, in the region 1200 to 600 cm −1 , using attenuated total reflectance Fourier-transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy . Sets of spectra were taken at different angles of incidence of the infrared beam corresponding to successive penetration depths on the surface, hence, giving a surface spectral profile. It was found that the Si-O-Si vibrational band, observed in the region ∼1100 cm −1 , is the most affected; with increasing depth the band becomes weaker, depending on the treatment temperature and water content in the treatment atmosphere. The two different sides (the side in contact with the tin bath (tin side) and the opposite side (air side)) were determined to have a different character as a result of the dealkalization treatments.
Identification and localization of lamina cribrosa cells in the human optic nerve head

One of the central features of glaucoma is progressive cupping and excavation of the optic nerve head (ONH). Unmyelinated retinal ganglion cell (RGC) axons exit the eye through the ONH, which is supported by the lamina cribrosa (LC) consisting of plates of connective tissue with channels for bundles of RGC axons. The LC progressively remodels during glaucoma, but the cellular and molecular mechanisms responsible for this remodeling are poorly understood. Two major cell types have been isolated and cultured from the human ONH, which differ in their characteristics. Glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) positive ONH astrocytes are the major cell type and are reactive in glaucoma. GFAP negative LC cells are the second major cell type isolated from the human ONH, and in contrast to ONH astrocytes, are α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) positive. Although a number of in vitro studies have been conducted with LC cells, to date there has been no direct evidence for these cells in situ in the human ONH. We used GFAP and α-SMA immunofluorescent staining of human eyes to clearly demonstrate the presence of not only ONH astrocytes within the human ONH, but also LC cells within the cribriform (e.g. laminar) plates/beams of the LC region. Both of these cell types likely play important roles in the homeostatic maintenance of the ONH and pathogenic changes that occur in primary open angle glaucoma (POAG).
Contrast Research on Decreasing Rate of Serum β_2-Microglobulin before and after Children′s Hemodialysis and Hemodiafiltation

Objective To explore the influence of hemodialysis(HD) and henodiafiltation on serum β_2-microglobulin(β_2-MG) of children with acute renal failure and contrast research on declining rate of serum β_2-MG before and after(children′s) HD and HDF.(Met-)hods By Branc Dialog HD machine of double-pump,HDF for 18 times and HD for 20 times were given to children with acute renal(fai-)lure.The serum β_2-MG were observed before and after HD and HDF.Results A great difference was observed in level of serum β_2-MG between before and after HD and HDF.In HDF group,there was significant difference in level of serum β_2-MG before and after HDF(P0.01);In HD group,there was no significant difference in level of serum β_2-MG before and after HD(P0.05).Compared with decreasing rate of serum β_2-MG before and after HDF and HD,HDF was higher than HD(P0.01).Compared with decreasing rate of serum β_2-MG between before and after HD and HDF,HDF was higher than HD(P0.01).Conclusion HDF is better clearance effect on low-molecular-weight protein and serum(β_2-MG) than that of HD.
Control of bronchomotor tone during perinatal development in sheep

To characterize the perinatal maturation of the cholinergic control of the airways, we compared the effects of bilateral cervical vagotomy and supramaximal vagal stimulation on the airway resistances of 7 premature (130-133 days of gestation), 11 term newborn, and 9 9-wk-old lambs anesthetized with pentobarbital. Resistances were partitioned between central and peripheral airways with catheters placed retrogradely into peripheral bronchi and capsules attached to the pleural surface in communication with subpleural air spaces. The central and peripheral airway resistances of premature and term newborn lambs and the peripheral resistance of 9-wk-old lambs decreased after vagotomy but only when the lungs were ventilated with small tidal volumes at mean transpulmonary pressures < or = 7.5 cmH2O. Vagotomy caused smaller absolute changes in central airway resistance than vagal stimulation. In contrast, both vagotomy and vagal stimulation produced similar absolute changes in peripheral airway resistance, indicating that resting cholinergic outflow is preferentially distributed to the peripheral airways even at the earlier ages. The effects of vagal stimulation on airway resistance were prevented by atropine. Our results prove that a resting bronchomotor tone can be present in both central and peripheral airways before the term of gestation in sheep. This tone depends on the activity of cholinergic fibers in the vagus and can be regionally controlled.
Development of vertical external cavity surface emitting lasers (VECSELs) for use as monochromatic and polychromatic sodium guidestars

The work of Pique showed that multiple guidestars emitting at 1140 nm and 589 nm simultaneously could be utilized to correct for Tip and Tilt aberrations [1]. Such a guidestar is hence known as a PLGS (Polychromatic Laser Guidestar). However, no current high power (> 5W) narrow bandwidth ( 12W and narrow bandwidth emission which has been successfully used to pump the sodium 3P 3/2 to 4S 1/2 sodium transition as a testbed for the development of a CW PLGS system.
Shah Jahan and the crystallization of Mughal style

Shah Jahan, Jahangir's third son, emerged victorious in the power struggle that developed after Jahangir's death and assumed the Mughal throne in 1628. His thirty-year reign is dominated by an outward sense of prosperity and stability unmatched even during Akbar's rule. At the same time, almost every aspect of courtly culture became increasingly formalized. Shah Jahan was portrayed as an aloof ideal king. Official histories thus present him as a just leader and staunch upholder of orthodox Islam, but they give little insight into the emperor's personal thoughts. Yet Shah Jahan's unreserved preference for Dara Shukoh, his eldest son, an eclectic mystic thinker, suggests other aspects of this ruler's character never alluded to in court histories. The painted image of Shah Jahan parallels the literary one. The emperor is portrayed in an idealized manner – while he ages over time, his features remain flawless. His inner character is never revealed. Rather, his role as semi-divine king of the world, a play on his name, is the focus of each portrait. His face is always surrounded by a halo, as in late representations of Jahangir. In some of these illustrations the metaphoric nature of the king's semi-divine and just quality is taken so far as to show small angels above his head, often crowning him, while at his feet are the lion and the lamb of peace. Even more than light imagery, paradisical imagery now evolves from verbal to visual forms, particularly in Shah Jahan's architecture.
UV light induces Ag nanoparticle formation: roles of natural organic matter, iron, and oxygen

Nanoparticles occurring in the environment originate either from engineered, synthetically produced nanoparticles, or from naturally produced nanoparticles. The latter can be formed in natural media by light-induced reduction of metal ions in presence of natural organic matter, such as humic substances occurring widely in waters, soils and sediments. There is actually few knowledge on the effect of sunlight and of the nature of organic matter on nanoparticle formation. Therefore, we studied here the photoreduction of silver(I) ion to silver nanoparticles with and without ferrous ion under oxic and anoxic conditions, using humic and fulvic acids as proxies of natural organic matter. UV light-induced formation of silver nanoparticles was monitored up to 60 min by measuring surface plasmon resonance in air-saturated mixture and nitrogen-saturated mixture of silver(I) ion–organic matter. Results show that the surface plasmon resonance intensity was about 2.5 times higher in the nitrogen-purged solution mixture than the air-saturated solution. This finding suggests the oxygen-containing species had no major role in forming silver nanoparticles. Therefore, photo-driven formation of silver nanoparticles most likely involved photoactivation of silver(I) ion and natural organic matter complexes. We observed also that both iron(II) and iron(III) ions highly modified the surface plasmon resonance spectra of the particles with broader features. Results also reveal that in the presence of humic acid, the intensity of the surface plasmon resonance peak decreased by at least 50 %, while almost no change in the intensity was seen when fulvic acid was used. Overall, our findings demonstrate that the ligand–metal charge transfer process, affected by the nature of organic matter, i.e., humic acid versus fulvic acid, was influenced by redox iron species.
The Benefits of Dragon Boat Participation for Breast Cancer Survivors

Breast cancer is one of the most common types of cancer among women in North America (McDonough, Sabiston, & Crocker, 2008; Ray & Verhoef, 2013). While advancements in treatment have resulted in higher survival rates, women often experience considerable stress associated with their diagnosis and treatment (McDonough, Sabiston, & Ullrich- French, 2011). Furthermore, the impact of the breast cancer experience often results in survivors feeling a loss of power or control over their bodies (Mitchell, Yakiwchuk, Griffin, Gray, & Fitch, 2007) and challenges often continue for years after treatment is complete (McDonough et al., 2011). It is well documented that physical activity can positively influence cancer survivors’ physical, psychological and social well-being (McDonough et al., 2008), as well as overall quality of life (Carter et al., 2012). Recently, there has been an increase in cancer survivors participating in the team based sport, dragon boating, where 22 paddlers row a canoelike boat in synchronization for 500–650 meters (Mitchell et al., 2007).
Barriers and facilitators to epilepsy self-management for patients with physical and psychological co-morbidity

ObjectivesThis exploratory study identifies barriers and facilitators to self-management to inform future epilepsy self-management interventions for persons who have epilepsy complicated by co-morb...
Optimization Of The Issuance Of Evacuation Orders Under Evolving Hurricane Conditions

Abstract This paper develops a bi-level programming model to optimize the issuance of evacuation orders with explicit consideration of (i) the highly uncertain evolution of the storm, and (ii) the complexity of the behavioral reaction to evolving storm conditions. A solution procedure based on progressive hedging is developed. A realistic case study for the eastern portion of the state of North Carolina is presented. Through the case study we demonstrate (1) the value of developing an evacuation order policy based on the evolution of the storm in contrast to a static policy; (2) the richness in the insights that can be provided by linking the behavioral models for evacuation decision-making with dynamic traffic assignment-based network flow models in a hurricane context; and (3) the computational promise of a progressive hedging-based solution procedure to solve large instances of the model.
Shape matching using a self similar affine invariant descriptor

In this paper we introduce a shape descriptor known as Self Similar Affine Invariant (SSAI) descriptor for shape retrieval. The SSAI descriptor is based on the property that two sets of points are transformed by an affine transform, then subsets of each set of points are also related by the same affine transformation. Also, the SSAI descriptor is insensitive to local shape distortions. We use multiple SSAI descriptors based on different sets of neighbor points to improve shape recognition accuracy. We also describe an efficient image matching method for the multiple SSAI descriptors. Experimental results show that our approach achieves very good performance on two publicly available shape datasets.
Osteoarthritis year in review 2016: clinical

Both epidemiologic and clinical research continues to be performed in osteoarthritis (OA). While epidemiologic studies identify risk factors for incident and progressive disease, clinical studies explore the role of both non-pharmacologic and pharmacologic treatments, including oral and intra-articular therapies. We performed a systematic review of the literature using PubMed for the time period between April 1, 2015 to February 22, 2016. Selected publications in the areas of both epidemiology and treatment are reviewed in this article.
Simultaneous chemical process synthesis and heat integration with unclassified hot/cold process streams

Abstract We propose a mixed-integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) model for the simultaneous chemical process synthesis and heat integration with unclassified process streams. The model accounts for (1) streams that cannot be classified as hot or cold, and (2) variable stream temperatures and flow rates, thereby facilitating integration with a process synthesis model. The hot/cold stream “identities” are represented by classification binary variables which are (de)activated based on the relative stream inlet and outlet temperatures. Variables including stream temperatures and heat loads are disaggregated into hot and cold variables, and each variable is (de)activated by the corresponding classification binary variable. Stream inlet/outlet temperatures are positioned onto “dynamic” temperature intervals so that heat loads at each interval can be properly calculated. The proposed model is applied to two illustrative examples with variable stream flow rates and temperatures, and is integrated with a superstructure-based process synthesis model to illustrate its applicability.
Coherent vertical cavity phased microlaser arrays

The characteristics and performance of implanted photonic crystal coherent vertical cavity laser arrays are reported. We discuss control of the coherence, phase, brightness, and beam steering, as well as achieving record small signal bandwidth for digital modulation.
Evaluation Potential and Task Performance: Evidence From Two Randomized Field Experiments in Election Administration

Individuals behave differently in the presence of others. Some scholars argue the mere presence of others has the capacity to improve task performance, while other researchers demonstrate individuals become “social loafers,” exerting less effort in group tasks unless they perceive potential for evaluation. I investigate these claims in the context of evaluating poll-worker performance using two randomized field experiments conducted in New York City during a special election that took place in February 2009 and during the presidential primary conducted in April 2016. The results suggest that manipulating the presence of observers, or even poll workers’ perceptions of the potential for evaluation, likely enhances their performance overall, resulting, especially, in greater efficiency and potentially strengthening voters’ confidence that their ballots were accurately counted and diminishing perceptions of electoral fraud.
Fueling White Injury Ideology: Public Officials’ Racial Discourse in Support of Arizona Senate Bill 1070:

In a seemingly post-racial moment in 2010, Arizona’s Senate Bill (SB) 1070 was under fire and challenged as racially discriminatory. While the 2010 immigration bill was popular among white Arizonia...
Post-recurrence survival in patients with previously resected esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC).

4075 Background: EAC recurrence after surgery with curative intent is believed to carry a uniformly dismal prognosis that may discourage further therapy. To date, the post-recurrence survival of pa...
Robot-Assisted Surgery: Technology and Current Clinical Status

Since their commercial introduction in the early 1990s, robotic telemanipulator surgical systems have been increasingly used to facilitate complex minimal access surgical procedures. In the field of general surgery, such systems have been used to perform a wide variety of operations including foregut procedures, colon resections, and bariatric operations. In addition, these systems have seen significant use in several surgical subspecialties including urology, cardiothoracic surgery, and pediatric surgery. With improvements in robotic instrumentation and technology, interest and experience with robotic surgery has grown. This chapter reviews the current experience with robotic surgical systems in general surgery, highlighting the origins, current state, and future directions of robotic surgery.
Photoacoustic Effect Generated from an Expanding Spherical Source

Although the photoacoustic effect is typically generated by amplitude-modulated continuous or pulsed radiation, the form of the wave equation for pressure that governs the generation of sound indicates that optical sources moving in an absorbing fluid can produce sound as well. Here, the characteristics of the acoustic wave produced by a radially symmetric Gaussian source expanding outwardly from the origin are found. The unique feature of the photoacoustic effect from the spherical source is a trailing compressive wave that arises from reflection of an inwardly propagating component of the wave. Similar to the one-dimensional geometry, an unbounded amplification effect is found for the Gaussian source expanding at the sound speed.
Why titanium in dental applications

Abstract In dentistry, there are basically two types of clinical situations in which a strong biocompatible material would be indicated. The first, in which a variety of materials have been used, is restorative dentistry. This involves the fabrication of restorations to repair or replace missing teeth. Materials used for this purpose include precious metal alloys, stainless steel, CoCr, titanium and its alloys, and zirconia. Other treatments that do not include implantation of a biocompatible material but are rather used in the oral cavity are surgical instruments, endodontic instruments, and orthodontic appliances. Treatment solutions that require implantation of a biocompatible material include dental implants, bone plates, and screws. Titanium has been proven over time to be one of the most biocompatible implanted materials available. This high biocompatibility and its resistance to corrosion is related, in large part, to the properties of its surface oxide.
Regularizing irregularity: bitmap-based and portable sparse matrix multiplication for graph data on GPUs

Graphs can be naturally represented as sparse matrices. The relationship between graph algorithms and linear algebra algorithms is well understood and many graph problems can be abstracted as Sparse General Matrix-Matrix Multiplication (SpGEMM) operations. While quite some matrix storage formats, including bitmap-based ones, have been proposed for sparse matrices, they are mostly evaluated on the simpler Sparse Matrix-Vector Multiplication (SpMV) problems. In this study, we have developed data parallel algorithms to pair up bitmap-indexed sparse matrix blocks for SpGEMM using data parallel primitives for portability. Experiments on the WebBase-1M dataset with more than one million rows and columns and three million non-zero values have shown that our technique on squaring the large-scale sparse matrix using a 2013 GTX Titan GPU can complete in about 300 milliseconds. The runtime is 2.4X faster than CUSP and 3.5X faster than bhSPARSE, the two leading open source SpGEMM packages. Furthermore, our bitmap-indexed sparse matrix blocks can be efficiently converted to regular small dense matrices and subsequently utilize new hardware accelerations, such as tensor cores inside Nvidia Volta GPUs and Google Tensor Processing Units (TPUs), for more efficient implementations.
Amino Acid Residues Involved in Ouabain Sensitivity and Cation Binding

The Na, K-ATPase, which is found in the cells of all higher eukaryotes, utilizes ATP to transport Na+ and K+ across the cell membrane. For every three sodium ions transported out of the cell two potassium ions are transported in. The enzyme is composed of two subunits, a larger a subunit, which is thought to contain most of the catalytic sites, and a smaller a subunit which is required for the proper processing and maturation of the enzyme. Three isoforms exist for the a subunit (α1, α2 and α3) and two isoforms exist for the β subunit (β1 and β2) in mammalian cells (Lingrel et al., 1990; Sweadner, 1989; Takeyasu et al, 1989). An additional isoform, β3, exists in Xenopous (Good et al., 1990). The a1 isoform is found in all cells while α2 is the primary isoform found in skeletal muscle, but is also present in the heart and nervous system. Expression of the α3 isoform is limited to the heart and nervous system (Orlowski and Lingrel, 1988). The cDNAs and genes corresponding to these isoforms have been isolated and the mechanisms responsible for their differential expression are being investigated (Lingrel et al., 1990). The Na,K-ATPase is a member of the P-type family of ATPases, which also include the Ca-ATPases and the H,K-ATPases. These transport proteins are similar in structure and have in common an aspart/l phosphate intermediate during their catalytic cycle. Site-directed mutagenesis and expression (MacLennan, 1990; Clarke et al., 1990; Vilsen and Andersen, 1992; Andersen and Vilsen, 1992) studies have been carried out to define cation binding sites in the Ca-ATPase but, less information is available using this approach with the Na.K-ATPase. The Na,K- ATPase differs from the other P-type ATPases in that it is sensitive to cardiac glycosides, a class of drugs which are used in the treatment of congestive heart failure and certain arrhythmias. The sensitivity of the enzyme to these drugs provides a useful tool for investigating structure-function relationships. In this report we describe progress made toward identifying potential cation binding sites as well as amino acid residues that are involved in determining cardiac glycoside sensitivity.
Ideology and Opportunity in Social Work During the New Deal Years

As the country moved from a dominant ideology of voluntarism towards the welfare state during the New Deal years, conflicts and compromises occurred within the social work profession that required a definition of the role the profession would assume with relation to the public sector of social welfare. The nature of the relationship that evolved between social work and government, and the accommodations made by each during the New Deal years, and particularly around the passage of the Social Security Act of 1935, are examined.
"Vitalité": Race Science and Jews in France 1850-1914

Race science is built on ideas of division and categorization. In the historian’s quest to tell the story of race science, certain frameworks have been used that can greatly inhibit our understanding of this fraught topic. The impulse to study race science in the framework of the nation-state has led to certain misconceptions and lends itself to a historical narrative wherein racist concepts stop at artificially imposed borders. In addition, the national framework detracts from the individual’s contributions and instead lumps these contributions together on the level of the nation-state, thus opening the door for judgments about whole nations being more or less responsible for race science. In this work, I explore contributions to race science pertaining to the “Jewish race” (which I have simplified to the phrase “Jewish race science”) made by individual French writers and scholars. These contributions have been overlooked at times by historians who look to more notorious examples, such as those made by German race science theorists; in failing comprehensively to examine all significant contributions to race science, historians have often inhibited their own ability to understand Jewish race science fully. If such a historical field is to be understood, one must be aware of the full range of development of Jewish race science, both in terms of geographical scope and scholarly focus. By bringing attention to Jewish race science contributions made in nineteenth-century France, it is my intention to broaden the understanding of this field and to help bring about a new approach to the field that is less reliant on the nationalist framework in its evaluation of the nature and impact of race science.
Characterization of the Osteoclast Vacuolar H+ ATPase: Biochemistry, Subunit Composition and Cloning of Catalytic Subunits

Bone resorption, a process necessary for bone growth and remodeling as well as bone repair, is performed by the multinucleated osteoclast. Abnormal regulation of bone resorption is the cause of several clinical entities. Osteoclastic bone resorption can be increased and lead to local or systemic bone loss (bone tumors, osteoporosis, osteoarthritis) or genetically deficient as in various types of osteopetrosis.
Towards Optimizing Data Analysis for Multi-dimensional Data Sets

The K-Nearest Neighbors (KNN) algorithm is a simple but powerful technique used for data analysis. It identifies existing samples in a dataset which are similar to a new sample by using a distance metric. The new sample can then be classified via a class majority voting of its most similar samples, i.e. nearest neighbors. The KNN algorithm can be applied in many fields, such as recommender systems where it can be used to group related products or predict user preferences. In many cases, the performance of the KNN algorithm diminishes as the size of the dataset increases because the number of comparisons performed increases exponentially. In this paper, we propose a KNN optimization algorithm which leverages vector space models to enhance the nearest neighbors search for a new sample. It accomplishes this enhancement by restricting the search area, and therefore reducing the number of comparisons necessary. The experimental results demonstrate significant performance improvements without compromising the algorithm’s accuracy.
Scalable Parallel Numerical Methods and Software Tools for Material Design

A new method of solution to the local spin density approximation to the electronic Schr\"{o}dinger equation is presented. The method is based on an efficient, parallel, adaptive multigrid eigenvalue solver. It is shown that adaptivity is both necessary and sufficient to accurately solve the eigenvalue problem near the singularities at the atomic centers. While preliminary, these results suggest that direct real space methods may provide a much needed method for efficiently computing the forces in complex materials.
Herpes simplex virus type-1 strain influence on chorioretinal disease patterns following intracameral inoculation in Igh-1 disparate mice.

We have previously shown that the Igh-1 locus on chromosome 12 of the mouse influences contralateral disease patterns in the modified von-Szily model. Following intracameral injection with 1.5 X 10(4) PFU of HSV strain KOS (HSV-KOS), 75% of BALB/cByJ (Igh-1a), 30% of C.AL-20 (Igh-1d) and 5% of C.B-17 (Igh-1b) mice develop contralateral chorioretinal necrosis. In contrast, Igh-1 congenic mice do not develop contralateral chorioretinal necrosis following anterior chamber inoculation of the same dose of an HSV-KOS mutant lacking surface glycoprotein-C (HSV-GC-KOS). Similarly, injection of wild type HSV strain mP (HSV-mP) into the anterior chamber of susceptible BALB/cByJ mice induces destructive contralateral chorioretinitis whereas injection of the same dose of the mutant HSV strain MP (HSV-MP) lacking surface glycoprotein-C does not induce a destructive contralateral chorioretinitis. In addition, higher doses of HSV-mP inoculum abrogate the Igh-1-associated contralateral chorioretinal protection seen in C.B-17 mice; protection is restored in C.B-17 mice at lower HSV-mP doses that still cause contralateral chorioretinitis in BALB/cByJ mice. These data demonstrate the influence of the viral isolate on the modified von-Szily model and specifically the requirement for the presence of glycoprotein-C on the surface of HSV for the development of contralateral destructive chorioretinitis.
Repurposing millimeter-wave communication devices for high-precision wireless sensing

This chapter presents two example system designs that enable passive sensing at super-resolution using commodity 60-GHz mmWave radios. The first system, mTrack, is a high-precision passive-object tracking system that uses 60-GHz signals as sensing medium. mTrack takes advantage of the short wavelength and steerable directional beams of 802.11ad-like 60-GHz radio devices, and uses subtle RSS/phase variation to track passive writing objects on a trackpad-like area. It can track a pen at sub-centimeter level accuracy, which even outperforms existing systems that use radio-instrumented objects. Considering the growing popularity of 60-GHz devices, we believe mTrack can potentially open up a wide range of mobile sensing applications. The second system, E-Mi, is a sensing-assisted paradigm to facilitate 60-GHz networks, whose performance is highly sensitive to reflectors. E-Mi senses the environment from 60-GHz radios' eyes. It “reverse-engineers” the geometry/ reflectivity of dominant reflectors, by tracing back the LoS/NLoS paths between a pair of 60-GHz nodes. Such environment information can be to augment a broad range of network planning and protocol reconfigurations.