cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Effect of Axial Prestress on Thermoelastic Damping in Micromechanical Beam Resonators

Axial prestress is built into those micromechanical beam resonators made of deposited thin films. This prestressaffects elastic strain distribution in a beam resonator and thus has the potential of changing its thermoelastic damping (TED). In this paper, a theoretical model of TED in a micromechanical beam resonator with axial prestressis developed to study the effect of axial prestress on TED in such resonators. This theoretical model is built upon a thermal-energy method and therefore TED is calculated as the generated thermal energy during one cycle of vibration. An explicit expression for the QTED , the Quality factor due to TED, is obtained from this developed model. As a result, this work suggests that, for a beam resonator with axial prestress, its QTED increases with tensile prestressand decreases with compressive prestress.Copyright © 2011 by ASME
Churches and States: The Politics of Accommodation

Th e uniquely American debate over the "separation of church and state" is ongoing. This phrase, although never specified in the original Constitution nor in its amendments, has, nonetheless, been a widely accepted bedrock principle to guide the development of the relation ship between government and various religiously affiliated institutions and practices on the federal and state levels. The actual definition of church-state separation has received a variety of interpretations by the United States Supreme Court, the final "interpreter" of the language of the constitution. Because of the principle of stare decisis, this has led to some ambiguity in the lower federal courts as well as in a number of state courts. In some cases, the courts have leaned toward a rigid re striction of any relationship between churches and states, a strict "sepa ration." In other cases, the courts have allowed a measure of interaction, a spirit of "accommodationism" in order to allow the innate tensions between the two religion clauses of the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment to operate in a more comfortable tandem. The United States has moved from a relatively homogeneous Prot estantism at the end of the eighteenth century, through an increasingly diverse Christian landscape, to a contemporary kaleidoscope of Chris tian, Jewish, Islamic, and various other faiths. Balancing First Amend ment strictures that "Congress shall make no law regarding the establishment of religion nor restricting its free exercise" has, in the second half of the twentieth century, led to extended and frequently acrimonious debate over the intent of the framers. Religiously affili ated groups, other groups that fear the intrusion of religion into public life, and individuals demanding governmental protection of their free religious exercise compete and clash in the domains of public poli cymaking, particularly in the judicial process.1
Borne Forward Ceaselessly Into Love: A Theory of the Hermeneutics of Love Exemplified by Martin Luther King, Jr.

In this article, I develop a theory of a hermeneutics of love, defined as the act of interpreting with love, through love, and for love, including the intention to take action on behalf of love. Declaring love as my gospel, I begin with the “genesis” of this theory, with how I came to develop it, and I end with the “revelations” that came as I applied this theory in my life and teaching. In between, I utilize a case study of Martin Luther King, Jr. during the Civil Rights Movement, showing how King was a practitioner par excellence of a hermeneutics of love. King elevated agape, defined as unconditional love for all of humanity, even one’s enemies, into the sociocultural and political realm with the intention of effecting integration and engendering the beloved community. The article concludes with some reflections on agape, wondering if it is an impossible dream for those who are not Kings, and where that leaves those of us who are committed to the principle and practice of love.
Multi-objective optimization of mechanism design using a bi-level game theoretic formulation

This article considers the design of a high-speed mechanism as a multi-objective optimization problem wherein the kinematic and dynamic criteria are optimized simultaneously. The kinematic criteria...
Assessing Temporal and Spatial Patterns of Observed and Predicted Ozone in Multiple Urban Areas.

Background:Ambient monitoring data show spatial gradients in ozone (O3) across urban areas. Nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions reductions will likely alter these gradients. Epidemiological studies ofte...
A Note on the December 1986 - January 1987 Richmond, Virginia, Felt Earthquake Sequence

A series of small, felt earthquakes occurred in Richmond, Virginia, during December 1986 and January 1987. Historie records show that such a sequence is unique for Richmond. There were at least 11 felt events, of which six were instrumentally recorded and four were located. Duration magnitudes of these four ranged from 1.5 to 2.2. A focal mechanism solution was calculated and indicates reverse faulting on a plane striking north-northwest and dipping either 45° northeast or 44° southwest. Epicentral intensity reports, up to MMI V, and felt areas do not conform to usual intensity - magnitude relationships. Independent estimates of depth suggest that extremely shallow foei (
The Annual Gynecologic Examination Updated for the 21st Century

The concept of an annual gynecologic screening visit to identify disease at an early stage has long been an established component of women's health care. Women and their health care providers have historically accepted the schedule of an annual gynecologic examination with cervical cancer screening and a pelvic examination. Recently, researchers questioned the value of the annual breast and pelvic examinations in asymptomatic women and re-established the intervals for Pap test screening with the addition of human papillomavirus co-testing to establish cervical cancer risk. The updated well woman examination is now an opportunity to engage women in health education, screening for chronic disease risks, and health care concerns such as depression and violence.
Persistent value of older scientific journal articles

This paper discusses how to translate the well-confirmed phenomenon of increasing citation of older scientific literature into an argument for the persistent citation impact of older scientific journal articles. Since libraries purchase or subscribe to scientific journal articles in packages consisting of journal-years, the citation impact of past journal-years needs to be assessed separately from that of recent years. The simple and flexible (Bouabid in Scientometrics 88:199---211, 2011. doi:10.1007/s11192-011-0370-5) model, as applied to particular journal-years, is applied and assessed.
Is the crisis in clinical research being effectively addressed

From 1979 to 1999, we were warned repeatedly by many of American medicine's best known and most respected leaders of an impending “crisis” in clinical research. Data were provided to indicate that both the number of physician-scientists actively involved in the conduct of clinical research and the number of young people choosing to pursue careers as clinical investigators were clearly dwindling. Although that may have been true in the 1980s and 1990s, many of us have become increasingly optimistic about what appears to be occurring in the first decade of the twenty-first century. Data now suggest that many of the efforts designed to develop young physician-scientists are starting to reverse this decline. As indicated in their recent report, Drs. Ley and Rosenberg observed an uptrend in the number of first-time MD applicants for National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants.1From approximately 750 to 800 in the period from 1995 to 1999, they noted a steady increase in first-time MD applicants over the ensuing 4 years, reaching a peak of 995 applicants in 2003. Similar increases were also found for first-time MD-PhD applicants during this same period. They also observed an impressive increase in the number of R01 applications submitted by MDs (an increase from approximately 3,000 in 1998 to 4,409 in 2004), as well as for MD-PhDs (an increase from approximately 2,200 in 1998 to 3,859 in 2004). All of these numbers had not changed or actually declined during the preceding 5-year period (1995-1999). Although Drs. Ley and Rosenberg did not discriminate between clinical and nonclinical applications, the article in this issue of the Journal by Kotchen and colleagues does just that.2Furthermore, their data in Table 2 show that when compared with 1994, the number of clinical research applications in 2004 rose from 4,126 to 5,813, a …
Research Implications Of the “Beyond Advertising” Paradigm: A Model and Roadmap for Creating Value Through All Media and Non-Media Touchpoints

> By 2020, advertising will shift from being an additive element to being an invisible, inspirational, and indispensable part of product and service experiences. > > —Karl Isaac, head of brand strategy and innovation, Adobe (2014) The fundamental relationships among brands, media, and people
Toughening Self-control and Mental Energy

Recall those great fables about indigent grasshoppers and hardworking ants. Perhaps it was the hardworking-but-sorely-tempted ants who were the inspiration for Freud’s conflict model of personality. A central feature of that model was the struggle between the primitive impulses emanating from Freud’s wanton “id,” on the one hand, and on the other hand those more-sophisticated functions involving rationality and conscience—functions emanating from Freud’s ego and superego. The conflict is portrayed clearly in the cartoon image of the devil leering as he whispers temptations from our left shoulder, while from her precarious perch on the right the concerned and somewhat-uptight angel reminds us of aspirations, plans, and promises made to ourselves and to others. She wants us to do harder things in the face of temptations to do easy and enjoyable ones, and she seems not to care that the devil is offering more fun.
Reflecting on Expertise, a Key Factor When Designing for Professional Development in Informal Science Institutions

Informal Science Institutions (ISIs) like museums and zoos are increasingly employing mobile technology to support their interpretive staff (explainers). One approach to designing technology to support existing tasks is participatory design (PD), where end-users are involved as experts in the task domain who can help envision the application of technology. Our participatory design sessions engaged explainers from two different ISIs, with different levels of expertise and age (youth and adults). We implemented a socio-technical PD approach in engaging participants in examining and proposing features for a Facilitation, Reflection, and Augmented Interpretation Mobile System (FRAIMS). Involving novices and emerging professionals in participatory design is as important as involving experienced and expert participants, especially when designing in supports for professional development. Our analysis highlights the benefit of considering the level of expertise of participants as a key factor that shapes a design, having as a result, different supports for the design of the mobile interpretation application.
Chronic lithium treatment rectifies maladaptive dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens

Chronic lithium treatment effectively reduces behavioral phenotypes of mania in humans and rodents. The mechanisms by which lithium exerts these actions are poorly understood. Pre-clinical and clinical evidence have implicated increased mesolimbic dopamine (DA) neurotransmission with mania. We used fast-scan cyclic voltammetry to characterize changes in extracellular DA concentrations in the nucleus accumbens (NAc) core evoked by 20 and 60 Hz electrical stimulation of the ventral tegmental area (VTA) in C57BL6/J mice treated either acutely or chronically with lithium. The effects of chronic lithium treatment on the availability of DA for release were assessed by depleting readily releasable DA using short inter-train intervals, or administering d-amphetamine acutely to mobilize readily releasable DA. Chronic, but not acute, lithium treatment decreased the amplitude of DA responses in the NAc following 60 Hz pulse train stimulation. Neither lithium treatment altered the kinetics of DA release or reuptake. Chronic treatment did not impact the progressive reduction in the amplitude of DA responses when, using 20 or 60 Hz pulse trains, the VTA was stimulated every 6 s to deplete DA. Specifically, the amplitude of DA responses to 60 Hz pulse trains was initially reduced compared to control mice, but by the fifth pulse train, there was no longer a treatment effect. However, chronic lithium treatment attenuated d-amphetamine-induced increases in DA responses to 20 Hz pulse trains stimulation. Our data suggest that long-term administration of lithium may ameliorate mania phenotypes by normalizing the readily releasable DA pool in VTA axon terminals in the NAc. Read the Editorial Highlight for this article on Page 520.
19-nJ Five-Cycle Pulses from a 2-μm Degenerate Optical Parametric Oscillator

We report generation of 19-nJ, 35-fs pulses at 2 μm from a degenerate optical parametric oscillator pumped by a 2.6-W 1-μm laser. Near transform-limit operation was achieved with a conversion efficiency of 65%.
False Positive Pregnancy Test Resulting from Passive Transfusion of beta-Human Chorionic Gonadotropin (bHCG) from Donor Red Blood Cells.

Blood products may contain donor-derived soluble factors such as allergens or antibodies, which when transfused, may cause pathology in the recipient or unexpected test results. Case: We describe a 16 year old female with hemoglobin SC disease who was referred for erythrocytapheresis to reduce the level of sickle hemoglobin prior to a surgical procedure that required general anesthesia. The patient was exchanged with five units of packed red blood cells (PRBC). The following day, routine pre-operative laboratory testing revealed an unexpected positive result in assays for beta subunit of human chorionic gonadotropin (bHCG), an early indicator of pregnancy. The patient denied sexually activity. The result caused postponement of the elective surgical procedure and prompted an abdominal ultrasound study to identify the source of bHCG, which was normal. Methods: Immunoassay was used to determine the bHCG level in the patient (Table 1) and in the residual plasma in each of the transfused units (Table 2). Conclusion: One blood donor, who was unaware of her pregnancy status at the time of donation, harbored a high bHCG level which caused the positive test results in the recipient patient’s serum and urine. If an unexpected result is detected in a recipient of a blood transfusion, it is important to consider the possibility of passive transfusion of the analyte.
How to integrate economic analysis into classroom discussions of diversity

Abstract The companion issues of racial preferences in college admissions and minority representation in the faculty ranks figure prominently and provocatively in social discourse today. As a result, questions related to these potentially divisive issues arise naturally in the course of classroom discussions of current events. This paper advances a set of teaching principles that serves to frame the debate and integrate economic analysis into the objective assessment of these issues. This framework is then applied to the examination of three seminal, real-world questions related to diversity in higher education.
Accrual Reversals and Cash Conversion

We estimate the firm-level rate at which working capital accruals convert into future cash flows. These conversion rates determine the expected cash value of a dollar of working capital accruals. For firms whose accrual innovations reverse within one year, we find that, on average, a one dollar innovation to accruals translates into 95 cents of cash flow in the subsequent fiscal year. We find that the relation between working capital accruals and annual returns increases with the rate at which accrual innovations convert to cash flows, as does the relation between accruals and annual bonus pay to the CEO. Moreover, when accrual innovations convert more quickly and completely to cash flows, firms are less likely to receive an Accounting and Auditing Enforcement Release (AAER) from the SEC.
Vibrio Ecology in the Neuse River Estuary, North Carolina, Characterized by Next-Generation Amplicon Sequencing of the Gene Encoding Heat Shock Protein 60 (hsp60).

ABSTRACT Of marine eubacteria, the genus Vibrio is intriguing because member species are relevant to both marine ecology and human health. Many studies have touted the relationships of Vibrio to environmental factors, especially temperature and salinity, to predict total Vibrio abundance but lacked the taxonomic resolution to identify the relationships among species and the key drivers of Vibrio dynamics. To improve next-generation sequencing (NGS) surveys of Vibrio, we have conducted both 16S small subunit rRNA and heat shock protein 60 (hsp60) amplicon sequencing of water samples collected at two well-studied locations in the Neuse River Estuary, NC. Samples were collected between May and December 2016 with enhanced sampling efforts in response to two named storms. Using hsp60 sequences, 21 Vibrio species were identified, including the potential human pathogens V. cholerae, V. parahaemolyticus, and V. vulnificus. Changes in the Vibrio community mirrored seasonal and storm-related changes in the water column, especially in response to an influx of nutrient-rich freshwater to the estuary after Hurricane Matthew, which initiated dramatic changes in the overall Vibrio community. Individual species dynamics were wide ranging, indicating that individual Vibrio taxa have unique ecologies and that total Vibrio abundance predictors are insufficient for risk assessments of potentially pathogenic species. Positive relationships between Vibrio, dinoflagellates, and Cyanobacteria were identified, as were intraspecies associations, which further illuminated the interactions of cooccurring Vibrio taxa along environmental gradients. IMPORTANCE The objectives of this research were to utilize a novel approach to improve sequence-based surveys of Vibrio communities and to demonstrate the usefulness of this approach by presenting an analysis of Vibrio dynamics in the context of environmental conditions, with a particular focus on species that cause disease in humans and on storm effects. The methods presented here enabled the analysis of Vibrio dynamics with excellent taxonomic resolution and could be incorporated into future ecological studies and risk prediction strategies for potentially pathogenic species. Next-generation sequencing of hsp60 and other innovative sequence-based approaches are valuable tools and show great promise for studying Vibrio ecology and associated public health risks.
Can genetics resolve what Notch does in HSCs

The effects of Notch signaling in hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells remain controversial. In work presented in this issue of Blood, Duarte et al interfere genetically with the Notch transcriptional complex (NTC) in hematopoiesis and demonstrate that canonical Notch signals are dispensable in primitive hematopoietic progenitors, as well as across the myeloid, erythroid (E), and megakaryocyte (Mk) lineages.
The Effect of Conformation on Membrane Permeability of an Acyloxyalkoxy-linked Cyclic Prodrug of a Model Hexapeptide

Purpose. To determine the different conformations of the acyloxyalkoxy-linked cyclic prodrug 1 of the model hexapeptide 2 in solution and to investigate the relationship between these solution conformations and the cellular permeability characteristics of this prodrug.
Atomic Dynamic Bayesian Networks for a Responsive Student Model

Atomic Dynamic Bayesian Networks (ADBNs) combine several valuable features in student models: students' performance history, prerequisite relationships, concept to solution step relationships, and student real time responsiveness. Recent work addresses some of these features but has not combined them. Such a combination is needed in an ITS that helps students learn, step by step, in a complex domain, such as object-oriented design. We evaluated ADBN-based student models 49 human students, investigating their behavior for different types of students and different slip and guess values. Holding slip and guess to equal, small values, ADBNs are able to produce accurate diagnostic rates for knowledge states over each student's learning history.
Developing a multi-objective decision model for maximizing IS security within an organization

DEVELOPING A MULTI-OBJECTIVE DECISION MODEL FOR MAXIMIZING IS SECURITY WITHIN AN ORGANIZATION By Jeffrey Lee May, Ph.D. A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Business with Major in Information Systems at Virginia Commonwealth University Virginia Commonwealth University, 2008 Dissertation Chair: Dr. Gurpreet Dhillon Professor, Department of Information Systems Numerous IS researchers have argued that IS Security can be more effectively managed if the emphasis goes beyond the technical means of protecting information resources. In an effort to adopt a broader perspective that accounts for issues that transcend technical means alone, Dhillon and Torkzadeh (2006) present an array of 9 fundamental and 16 means objectives that are essential for maximizing IS security in an organization. These objectives were derived using a value-focused thinking approach and are organized into a conceptual framework. This conceptual framework provides a rigorous theoretical base for considering IS security in a manner that accounts for both technical and organizational issues; however, no direction is provided for using these objectives so that informed decisions can be made. As a result, the goal of this dissertation is to develop a decision model using Multiple Objective Decision Analysis
Non-singular three-dimensional arbitrarily shaped acoustic cloaks composed of homogeneous parts

Acoustic metamaterials are artificial materials with unique acoustic properties, permitting interesting behaviors, such as acoustic cloaking. Acoustic cloaks can make an object appear acoustically “invisible.” Prior cloaks that were designed based on transformation methods have been limited by inhomogeneous, anisotropic, and extreme material parameters. In this paper, a multistep transformation is proposed for a general tetrahedron. Each tetrahedron contains three homogeneous parts. Since most cloaks can be approximated as polyhedra, they can be divided into a series of tetrahedra. As a result, most of the 3D cloaks can be constructed of homogeneous parts by first approximating them as polyhedra. Two examples of the polyhedral cloaks are given, which are simulated using COMSOL Multiphysics finite element software. The results show that the cloaks work well at acoustically concealing 3D objects. Although the properties of each part are non-singular, a balance is still required between cloaking performance and moderation of the material property values.
Working in Imbalance: How Employees Revise Their Psychological Contracts in a Post-Breach Environment

In the post-violation model of the psychological contract, employees who have experienced violation engage in a variety of coping strategies and, more often than not, form a new psychological contract and continue to work for their employer. Our study applies this theoretical model to actual employees’ descriptions of how they deal with psychological contract violation and develop new psychological contracts. We collected interview data from 27 employees at a large manufacturing organization in which dramatic, irreversible company-wide change not only violated employees’ psychological contracts but also provided few obvious opportunities to repair them. Through template analysis of interview transcripts, we chronicle employees’ coping processes, inventory their new psychological contracts, and assess the quality of their employment relationships. We found that some employees effected extensive changes to their psychological contracts, some engaged in an unexpectedly long process of adjustment, and some compromised their self-interest to uphold their pre-violation psychological contracts. Our findings generally map to the post-violation model, but with important refinements that accentuate employees’ role in recreating their psychological contracts, the durability of their psychological contracts, and the role of the psychological contract as a coping mechanism.
Sub-threshold bipolar disorder in medication-free young subjects with major depression: Clinical characteristics and antidepressant treatment response.

Abstract Background This study, for the first time, compared illness and antidepressant response characteristics of young subjects with major depression (MDD) at low (LRMDD) or high-risk (HRMDD) for developing bipolar disorder with characteristics of young bipolar (BPD) subjects and healthy controls (HC). Methods One hundred and six young (15–30 yr), medication-free subjects MDD subjects (HRMDD, N = 51; LRMDD, N = 55) were compared with 32 BPD (Type I: 14; Type II: 18) as well as 49 HC subjects. Baseline illness characteristics and frequency of comorbid conditions were examined using Analysis of Variance and Cochran-Armitage trend test. Additionally, in MDD subjects, the effect of open-label antidepressant treatment for up to 24 months with periodic assessments was compared between HRMDD and LRMDD groups for treatment response, remission and (hypo)mania switch while controlling for attrition. Results Significant gradation from LRMDD to HRMDD to BPD groups was found for increasing occurrence of alcohol dependence (p = 0.006), comorbid PTSD (p = 0.006), borderline personality traits (p = 0.001), and occurrence of melancholic features (p 25% increase in YMRS scores)(p = 0.04). Conclusion Findings of the study indicate that a substantial proportion of young MDD subjects share BPD illness characteristics. These HRMDD subjects, if treated with antidepressants, need to be monitored for development of BPD. Trial registration NCT01811147.
Abstract P264: Metal Exposures and Preeclampsia in the Boston Birth Cohort

Introduction: Preeclampsia is a leading cause of maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality, accounting for 50,000-60,000 deaths per year worldwide. Animal studies have linked metal exposures t...
Synthesis, characterization and novel reactions of azasilatranes and azagermatranes

8 INTRODUCTION 9 EXPERIMENTAL SECTION 10 RESULTS'AND DISCUSSIONS 21 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 28 REFERENCES 29 SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL 31 PAPER 2. SYNTHESIS AND INTERCONVERSIONS OF AZAGERMATRANES 35 ABSTRACT 36 INTRODUCTION 37 EXPERIMENTAL SECTION 39 DISCUSSION 46 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 51 REFERENCES 52 SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL 5436 INTRODUCTION 37 EXPERIMENTAL SECTION 39 DISCUSSION 46 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 51 REFERENCES 52 SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL 54
Consumer Finance and AI: The Death of Second Opinions?

In today’s world, people routinely rely on the advice of algorithms for all aspects of their lives, from mundane tasks like choosing the most efficient navigation route home, to significant financial decisions regarding how to invest their retirement savings. Because of the ubiquity of algorithms, people have become increasingly comfortable relying on those algorithms—a tendency known as automation bias. This Article presents an original empirical study that explores automation bias in the area of consumer finance. The study confirms that when making consumer finance decisions, including making significant investment decisions, Americans significantly prefer following the recommendations of algorithms to those of human experts. Moreover, the study finds that even after poor performance of their investment as a result of following an algorithm’s advice, consumers continue to favor algorithms to human experts, and feel more confident that algorithms give them the better recommendation. This result, demonstrates that we view algorithms—especially those rooted in big data—as a superior authority. Our increasing deference to algorithmic results is concerning because we are avoiding obtaining “a second opinion”—a term often used in the medical context—even when the first opinion comes from an algorithm that has made mistakes in the past. Although second opinions are costly and may not always be economically efficient, they are important—and even critical—in certain situations. For example, second opinions can be critical for high-stakes decisions, for decisions about which experts disagree and/or include many options, or in situations where the decision-maker does not like the outcome but is unqualified to evaluate the soundness of the first opinion. By reducing the acceptability of seeking second opinions, our algorithm-dependent society is nudging us to tone down human traits such as creativity, innovation, and critical thinking, and instead to blindly rely on the new experts—the algorithms, which are black boxes whose biases are difficult to assess. Second opinions do not necessarily need to be human-formulated opinions. In the era of big data and AI, different algorithms that are based on dissimilar data and assumptions can offer second opinions and introduce more options to users. In fact, algorithmic second opinions may be more objective than human-formulated second opinions because a human reviewing the first algorithmic opinion is herself affected by automation bias. Given our significant automation bias, great care must be taken to ensure objective human second opinions. As a conclusion, the Article suggests implementing cultural changes by hyper-nudging users to seek second opinions, including AI-based opinions, and requiring algorithmic auditing.
Indications, contraindications and limitations of endoscopic therapy for Barrett’s esophagus and early esophageal adenocarcinoma:

Endoscopic eradication therapy (EET) has revolutionized management of Barrett’s esophagus (BE)-associated neoplasia, traditionally treated by esophagectomy, which carries very high mortality and mo...
Linking Network Characteristics of Online Social Networks to Individual Health: A Systematic Review of Literature.

Social networks have long been viewed as a structural determinant of health. With the proliferation of digital technologies, numerous studies have examined the health implications of online social ...
Lessons and learnings from a decade of EU crises

What are some of the lessons learnt from a decade of crises in European integration? EU studies scholars have set themselves the task not only to gain a deeper understanding of the many aspects of ...
Determining the Potential Food Safety Risks Associated with Dropped Produce on Floor Surfaces in Grocery Stores.

ABSTRACT Grocery stores handle fresh produce in large quantities daily. According to the Food and Drug Administration Food Code, food is to be stored at least 15 cm above the floor, and all foods shall be protected from any source of contamination or otherwise discarded. It is reported in the literature that dropped produce could be a potential source of microbial contamination. Both consumers and employees often drop produce on the floor and then place it back into a display case or bin, which could potentially serve as a source of contamination. This study aims to determine the bacterial transfer rate on different produce types when dropped for various contact times onto floor surfaces contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes. Apples, peaches, and romaine lettuce were dropped separately onto carpet and tile surfaces from a distance of 1 m and held for 5 s, 1 min, 10 min, 1 h, and 4 h. Results showed that transfer from all produce types occurred from both the carpet (10.56%) and tile (3.65%) surfaces. Still, percent transfer was not statistically significant among different times used in this study (P > 0.05). Dropped romaine lettuce had the most transfer (28.97%) from both the surfaces combined, followed by apples (8.80%) and peaches (7.32%) with minimal transfer. Even with a low transfer level, grocery stores should include signage to alert consumers not to pick up dropped produce and should train their employees accordingly. HIGHLIGHTS
ARES: A Reading Comprehension Ensembling Service

We introduce ARES (A Reading Comprehension Ensembling Service): a novel Machine Reading Comprehension (MRC) demonstration system which utilizes an ensemble of models to increase F1 by 2.3 points. While many of the top leaderboard submissions in popular MRC benchmarks such as the Stanford Question Answering Dataset (SQuAD) and Natural Questions (NQ) use model ensembles, the accompanying papers do not publish their ensembling strategies. In this work, we detail and evaluate various ensembling strategies using the NQ dataset. ARES leverages the CFO (Chakravarti et al., 2019) and ReactJS distributed frameworks to provide a scalable interactive Question Answering experience that capitalizes on the agreement (or lack thereof) between models to improve the answer visualization experience.
Detection of Errors in Three-Phase Line Models Using Synchronized Phasor Measurements

Recent proliferation of distributed energy sources in distribution or sub-transmission systems necessitates close monitoring of these three-phase power grids which typically operate under unbalanced loading conditions. Unlike the transmission systems where the network equations are commonly based on the positive sequence component models, a detailed three phase model will have to be used in implementing network applications for these systems. In the specific case of the state estimator, where measurement and parameter errors may bias the solution, bad data and parameter error detection algorithms should also be incorporated. Implementing the state estimator and error detection algorithms for three-phase systems impose additional computational burden and modifications to the state estimation code. This paper proposes a practical solution to avoid these issues by using synchronized phasor measurements and modal decoupling. The previously developed parameter error detection algorithm based on the normalized Lagrange multipliers (NLM) test is applied to the measurements independently in each mode in parallel, not only saving CPU time but also avoiding new code development for a three-phase estimator. Different parameter error scenarios are created and tested to verify the effectiveness of the proposed error detection approach.
Who Cares What Congress Thinks? Not James Mann: The Mann Act’s Marbury Moment

In Caminetti v. United States, the U.S. Supreme Court employed a severely puritanical approach — on the facts and on the law — to statutory interpretation. Conversely, the opinion for the Court in Caminetti triggered an intriguingly indulgent legislative-judicial exchange about the role of the courts in statutory interpretation. This little essay begins with a quick look at Caminetti and the statute it interpreted, proceeds through a similarly speedy examination of that indulgent post-decision exchange, and concludes with a few questions.
Robotic Pancreaticoduodenectomy (Whipple)

Pancreaticoduodenectomies are among the most challenging procedures performed in the abdominal cavity. Robotic pancreatoduodenectomies, since their first application described by Dr. Giulianotti in 2001, have gained acceptance and have spread in multiple specialized centers. They have the advantage to maintain the same oncological quality of open surgery through a less traumatic access. This creates the basis for a faster recovery and, possibly, faster initiation of multimodality adjuvant therapies, which is key for the treatment of this malignancy.
Bipolar Cyclic Linear Coding for Brillouin Optical Time Domain Analysis

We demonstrate, for the first time, that cyclic linear pulse coding can be bipolar for BOTDA sensors, breaking the unipolar limitation of linear coding techniques and elevating the coding gain for a given code length.
A Mission to Observe Ice in Clouds from Space

To date there have been multiple satellite missions to observe and retrieve cloud top properties and the liquid in, and precipitation from, clouds. There are currently a few missions that attempt to measure cloud ice properties as a byproduct of other observations. However, we do not yet quantitatively understand the processes that control the water budget of the upper troposphere where ice is the predominant phase, and how these processes are linked to precipitation processes and the radiative energy budget. The ice in clouds either melts into rain or is detrained, and persists, as cirrus clouds affecting the hydrological and energy cycle, respectively. Fully modeling the Earth's climate and improving weather and climate forecasts requires accurate satellite measurements of various cloud properties at the temporal and spatial scales of cloud processes. The uncertainty in knowledge of these ice characteristics is reflected in the large discrepancies in model simulations of the upper tropospheric water budget. Model simulations are sensitive to the partition of ice between precipitation and outflow processes, i.e., to the parameterization of ice clouds and ice processes. This presentation will describe the Submillimeter-wave InfraRed Ice Cloud Experiment (SIRICE) concept, a satellite mission designed to acquire global Earth radiance measurements in the infrared and submillimeter-wave region (183-874 GHz). If successful, this mission will bridge the measurement gap between microwave sounders and shorter-wavelength infrared and visible sensors. The brightness temperatures at submillimeter-wave frequencies are especially sensitive to cirrus ice particle sizes (because they are comparable to the wavelength). This allows for more accurate ice water path estimates when multiple channels are used to probe into the cloud layers. Further, submillimeter wavelengths offer simplicity in the retrieval algorithms because they do not probe into the liquid and near surface portions of clouds, thus requiring only one term of the radiative transfer equation (ice scattering) to relate brightness temperatures to ice. Scientific justification and the SIRICE approach to measuring ice water path and particle size that span a range encompassing both the hydrologically active and radiatively active components of cloud systems will be presented.
Planar Defects: Crystal Interfaces

Aspects already discussed of stacking faults on {111} planes in fcc crystals and the emission of dislocations from grain boundaries in fcc polycrystals discussed in chapter “Line Defects: Dislocations in Crystalline Materials” have shown the dissociation of dislocations forming varying extensions of stacking faults. In fcc materials, stacking faults are characterized by partial dislocations, and similar dislocation configurations are characteristic of twin boundaries on {111} planes. Grain boundaries can also be shown to be composed of dislocation arrays, and interfaces separating different crystal regimes (interphase boundaries) as well as the accommodation of misfit and misfit strains between different phases can also be viewed as misfit dislocation arrays. In this chapter, these planar arrays are discussed in terms of their fundamental structures or microstructures and the corresponding or associated interfacial free energies. In some cases, where applicable, disclination concepts are also applied.
In VitroCharacterization of Transcription Termination Factor Rho fromEscherichia coli rho(nusD)Mutants

Abstract Escherichia coli nusDstrains are bacteria that carry mutations inrho, the gene for transcription termination factor Rho, that block the growth of phages T4 andλr32. We have identified therhomutation in six independentnusDstrains, and although five of the strains have different mutations, with one exception the mutations are in the proposed RNA-binding domain of Rho. We overexpressed, purified, and characterized the five different mutant Rho proteins. All show substantial RNA-dependent ATPase activity with several homoribopolymers or theλcromessage as cofactor. At the λ tR1 Rho-dependent terminatorin vitro, all mutant Rho proteins show decreased termination compared with wild-type, and all also terminate withincroat a new terminator, tRE, with endpoints 5′ to tR1 at 170, 200, 245 and 260 nucleotides 3′ from the transcription start. The mutant Rho proteins are proposed to interfere with bacteriophage T4 growth through indirect effects on host gene expression.
Anchoring of Rice BAC clones to the Rice Genetic Map in silico.

A wealth of molecular resources have been developed for rice genomics, including dense genetic maps, expressed sequence tags (ESTs), yeast artificial chromosome maps, bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) libraries and BAC end sequence databases. Integration of genetic and physical maps involves labor-intensive empirical experiments. To accelerate the integration of the bacterial clone resources with the genetic map for the International Rice Genome Sequencing Project, we cleaned and filtered the available EST and BAC end sequences for repetitive sequences and then searched all available rice genetic markers with our filtered databases. We identified 418 genetic markers that aligned with at least one BAC end sequence with >95% sequence identity, providing a set of large insert clones with an average separation of 1 Mb that can serve as nucleation points for the sequencing phase of the International Rice Genome Sequencing Project.
THE ROLE OF WOMEN IN HORTICULTURE; THE CASE STUDY OF YAYLACIK VILLAGE IN KONYA, TURKEY

The Republic of Turkey occupies a unique geographical and cultural position at the crossroads of Europe and Asia. Turkey has a total land area of 78 million hectares and a population is about 70 m illion. Approximately one third of the land is arable, and 26 percent of the population lives in rural areas. Since the formation of the modern state of Turkey in 1923, th e economy has been grown rapidly. However, economic growth slowed in the mid-1990s in the wake of a fis cal and monetary crisis. There are wide disparities in income between the more prosperous, industrialized parts o f the country in the west and south-west, and the l ess developed provinces in the rest of Turkey. In 2007, gross national income was USD 5500 per capita. Turkey's economy mostly depends on agricultural sector rather than industry and services. Even Turkish industry is commonly agricultural manufacturing, so economic development of Turkey will pick up speed whenever agricultural development exists in Turkey. Agricultural production has to be raised at least double times in Turkey because of the fast growing populat ion In order to feed fast growing population of Tur key, in recent years, modern agricultural technologies, irr igation systems, environment friendly fertilizers, quality seeds, and agricultural credits has being applied in Turke y's agriculture. All those inputs need to be used b y knowledgeable farmers in order to get sufficient re sults. Turkey's farms have been obtained a family business and small scale. Day to day, youths are not intere sting in agriculture in Turkey as well as like developing co untries. Almost 8 millions employee work in agricul ture and about 60% of them are female in Turkey. In agricult ure, women have been striving the agricultural acti vities and besides their house-works. Women are drawers in agricultural development for Turkey. Whenever the women get good education, they could be affecting her hus band and children. They can also be very sensitive about their agricultural environmental production. The overall objective of this study was to examine factors influencing accessibility of women to Agric ultural Extension Services in Konya. The second purpose of the study was to investigate specific needs and int erests of women.
A Lagrangian state-space representation of a macroscopic traffic flow model

We obtain a state space representation of a first order macroscopic model from a Godunov discretization of its Lagrangian reformulation. The resulting model comprises four linear regimes, each of which comes into effect for the appropriate traffic conditions using a simple switching mechanism. Unlike previous state space models of traffic flow, ours is trajectory-based as opposed to density/velocity-based, although the latter quantities are nevertheless computed during the running of the model. The Lagrangian (moving) coordinates in this scheme should provide an ideal framework for the assimilation of GPS location data from probe vehicles.
EEG spectra in severely dyslexic men: rest and word and design recognition.

Abstract To identify and localize differences in brain functioning, electrical activity was recorded with a full complement of scalp electrodes in 14 healthy, severely dyslexic men (mean age = 22 years, S.D. = 3) and 15 matched controls during rest and during word and design recognition. The electroencephalograms were spectrum analyzed, and the mean amplitude in each of 5 bands — delta, theta, alpha, slow beta and fast beta — compared topographically between conditions and groups. The two tasks did not elicit differentially lateralized patterns of electrical activity, but produced anteroposterior differences in alpha and theta. The Designs tasks, more difficult for both groups, was associated with less posterior alpha than was the Words task. The strongest group difference was likewise seen along an anteroposterior axis on the Designs task. With performance equal to that of controls, the dyslexics showed relatively greater fronto-central theta and less posterior theta (a more activated state), suggesting that dyslexics were compensating for less efficient information processing. There were no group differences in overall amplitude in any band for any condition. The differences in the topographical distribution of theta may reflect subtle differences in brain organization or compensatory recruitment of widely distributed neuronal networks.
Spindle assembly in the oocytes of mouse and Drosophila – similar solutions to a problem

In the oocytes of many organisms a bipolar spindle is assembled in the absence of centrosomes. In this article we review how this occurs in two model organisms, Drosophila melanogaster and Mus musculus. Common themes include an important role for the chromosomes but paradoxically, organization of a bipolar spindle may not involve kinetochore microtubules. Some comparisons are not yet possible, however, since the same genes have usually not been studied in both systems.
Induction of thaumatin-like proteins (TLPs) in Rhizoctonia solani-infected rice and characterization of two new cDNA clones

Thaumatin-like proteins (TLPs) were shown to be induced in lice plants (cv. IR58) that were infected with the sheath blight fungus, Rhizoctonia solani. Western blot analysis revealed the presence of two TLPs with sizes of 25 and 24 kDa which are different from a previously reported TLP with a size of 15.6 kDa from rice plants infiltrated with the non-pathogenic bacterium, Pseudomonas syringae pv. syringae. By probing a cDNA expression library prepared from RNA isolated from R. solani-infected rice plants with a TLP antibody, several putative TLP CDNA clones were isolated and sequenced. The cDNA clones appeared to be derived from two different genes which shared only 77Yi sequence identity with each other and a lower percentage of sequence identity with the previously reported TLP cDNA clone. Southern blot analysis with the two TLP cDNAs revealed different rice genomic DNA fragments. Northern blot analysis also confirmed that a l.l-kb RNA detectable by the TLP cDNA inserts was induced by fungal infection. Thus rice TLPs are encoded by a family of at least three genes which are differentially expressed in responses to bacterial or fungal pathogens.