cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The Role of MRI in Sports Medicine

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has a multifaceted role in sports medicine, providing an accurate diagnosis, prognostication for return to play, and assessment of healing following injury or surgical intervention. MRI pulse sequences can be optimized to provide superior soft tissue contrast and comprehensively address the concerns of the clinician, physical therapist, and athlete. It may be argued that the most important role of MRI is to distinguish acute injuries from the chronic soft tissue remodeling that occurs in the presence of repetitive microtrauma in the competitive athlete.
The price cap regulation paradox in the electricity sector

Abstract PCR has experienced widespread adoption in the U.S. telecommunications industry, but not in the electricity sector. Important institutional differences between the two sectors and the specific manner in which PCR has been implemented in the U.S. may help to explain this outcome. Changes to the standard implementation of PCR might promote its adoption in the electricity sector.
Synthesis, Structure, and Thermal Instability of the Cu2Ta4O11 Phase

The Cu(I)-tantalate, Cu2Ta4O11, has been synthesized by flux methods in high purity and characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction (space group R3c (167), a = 6.219(2) A, c = 37.107(1) A). The compound is a new n = 1 member of the Cu(I)-tantalate CuxTa3n+1O8n+3 series of structures and can be prepared in a molten CuCl flux within a relatively low temperature range of ∼625–700 °C, in comparison to the synthesis of Cu5Ta11O30 (n = 1.5) and Cu3Ta7O19 (n = 2) at ∼800 to 1000 °C. The structure consists of layers of TaO7 pentagonal bipyramids that alternate with layers of isolated TaO6 octahedra and linearly coordinated Cu(I) cations. An increasing Cu-site vacancy across this series from Cu3Ta7O19 (100%), to Cu5Ta11O30 (83.3%), to Cu2Ta4O11 (66.7%) leads to an increasing fraction of O atoms that are not locally charge balanced by the Ta(V)/Cu(I) cations and thus yields decreased stability of Cu2Ta4O11. Thermal analysis shows that Cu2Ta4O11 decomposes in air or under flowing nitrogen at temperatures abov...
Audience Interpretations of 'Crash'

Through analyses of audience reactions and interpretations of the film "Crash," the author provides insight into "sense-making" among media consumers. Relates film as cultural discourse, specifically in terms of individual culture and ethnicity, gender, and race and racism.
Towards Supporting Search over Trending Events with Social Media.

Many search engines identify bursts of activity around particular topics and reflect these back to users as Popular Now or Hot Searches. Activity around these topics typically evolves quickly in real-time during the course of a trending event. Users’ informational needs when searching for such topics will vary depending on the stage at which they engage with an event. Through a survey and log study, we observe that interaction with content about trending events varies significantly with prior awareness of the event. Building on this observation, we conduct a larger-scale analysis of query logs and social media data associated with hundreds of trending events. We find that search and social media activity tend to follow similar temporal patterns, but that social media activity leads by a few hours. While user interest in trending event content predictably diverges during peak activity periods, the overlap between content searched and shared increases. We discuss how these findings relate to the design of interfaces to better support sensemaking around trending events by integrating real-time social media content with traditional search results.
The Challenge of Humanistic Economics

(1980). The Challenge of Humanistic Economics. Journal of Economic Issues: Vol. 14, No. 1, pp. 227-230.
Electrical properties of cellulose plastics

In any discussion of the electrical properties of cellulose plastics, it is realized that the power factors of any of the cellulose nitrates, acetates, propionates and ethyl cellulose are not as low as some other type's, but this very fact may be an advantage in certain applications. The use of dielectric heating in molding or fabricating is one of these. Since the heat developed due to dielectric loss is proportional to the product of frequency and Joss factor, for a fixed voltage gradient, a knowledge of the variation of loss factor with frequency is necessary to the proper application of dielectric heating.
Health coaching interventions for persons with chronic conditions: a systematic review and meta-analysis protocol.

Chronic conditions are increasingly more common and negatively impact quality of life, disability, morbidity, and mortality. Health coaching has emerged as a possible intervention to help individuals with chronic conditions adopt health supportive behaviors that improve both quality of life and health outcomes. We planned a systematic review and meta-analysis of the contemporary health coaching literature published in the last decade to evaluate the effect of health coaching on clinically important, disease-specific, functional, and behavioral outcomes. We will include randomized controlled trials or quasi-experimental studies that compared health coaching to alternative interventions or usual care. To enable adoption of effective interventions, we aim to explore how the effect of intervention is modified by the intervention components, delivering personnel (i.e., health professionals vs trained lay or peer persons), dose, frequency, and setting. Analysis of intervention outcomes will be reported and classified using an existing theoretical framework, the Theory of Patient Capacity, to identify the areas of patients’ capacity to access and use healthcare and enact self-care where coaching may be an effective intervention. This systematic review and meta-analysis will identify and synthesize evidence to inform the practice of health coaching by providing evidence on components and characteristics of the intervention essential for success in individuals with chronic health conditions. PROSPERO CRD42016039730
Transforming Design Thinking into Collaborative Innovation: Meeting the Emerging Neds and Demands of a Complex World Through Design Thinking and Collaborative Innovation

AbstractThis paper/presentation will provide a description of the newly developed MFA/MA in Design with a concentration in Innovation Studies in the College of Visual Arts at the University of North Texas and the ways in which creates opportunities for faculty members from varying disciplines (Communication Design, Anthropology, Marketing and Logistics, Information Technology and Decision Sciences) to teach linked classes to cohorts of interdisciplinary graduate students—enabling the program to more effectively meet the demands of an increasingly complex world within which design is practised.Design’s increasing contribution to corporate competitiveness, its growing user inclusiveness and a marked reliance by those outside the discipline on its methodologies pose unique challenges to graduate design programs seeking to meet these emerging demands. Success in the market place and market of ideas now requires innovative thinking and collaborative interdisciplinarity. No longer is it possible for corporation...
Continuous-wave terahertz imaging for non-destructive testing applications

We present recent progress in the use of continuous wave THz imaging for nondestructive testing applications. We present results demonstrating the use of hyperbolic lenses to achieve diffraction-limited resolution in a CW system and show applications of the technology while discussing its strengths and limitations.
Attitude of hand surgeons toward Affordable Care Act: A survey of members of American Society for Surgery of the Hand

The purpose of this study was to examine current attitude of hand surgeons toward the Affordable Care Act (ACA). An electronic survey was sent to members of American Society for Surgery of the Hand (ASSH) to examine their attitude toward the Affordable Care Act. 974 ASSH members responded to the survey (33% response rate). The majority of respondents were male (89%), trained in orthopedic surgery (81%), and in private practice (75%). 41% of respondents rated their knowledge of the ACA as average. Respondents disagreed that the ACA would improve healthcare in the United States (median 2, mean 2.06, scale 1-5), while agreeing that the ACA would decrease reimbursements specific to hand surgery (median 4, mean 4.11).
Behavioral Ecology and Sensory Biology

Zoologists use many different levels of analysis to study animals. Going from molecular to molar, these levels would include the neurochemical, neurophysiological, sensory biological, anatomical, behavioral, and ecological. Each of these represents part of the overall process of developing a full understanding of the structure, function, and evolution of animals. Therefore, no level of analysis exists in a vacuum; each is related to the others. In spite of this clear relationship, communication among scientists working at different levels of analysis is notoriously difficult (see Lehrman 1974, for an interesting and thoughtful discussion of this issue). In general, molar levels of analysis can provide direction to molecular levels, while molecular levels can provide information about mechanisms and constraints. In this chapter, I shall suggest some problems of sensory biology that are indicated by a more molar level of analysis, that of behavioral ecology.
Catholic Women’s Movements in Liberal and Fascist Italy, by Helena Dawes

Women’s movements in liberal and fascist Italy faced daunting challenges. Intellectual and political efforts to improve the economic situation in Italy seldom considered the roles that women played...
Accurate prediction of personalized olfactory perception from large-scale chemoinformatic features.

Background The olfactory stimulus-percept problem has been studied for more than a century, yet it is still hard to precisely predict the odor given the large-scale chemoinformatic features of an odorant molecule. A major challenge is that the perceived qualities vary greatly among individuals due to different genetic and cultural backgrounds. Moreover, the combinatorial interactions between multiple odorant receptors and diverse molecules significantly complicate the olfaction prediction. Many attempts have been made to establish structure-odor relationships for intensity and pleasantness, but no models are available to predict the personalized multi-odor attributes of molecules. In this study, we describe our winning algorithm for predicting individual and population perceptual responses to various odorants in the DREAM Olfaction Prediction Challenge. Results We find that random forest model consisting of multiple decision trees is well suited to this prediction problem, given the large feature spaces and high variability of perceptual ratings among individuals. Integrating both population and individual perceptions into our model effectively reduces the influence of noise and outliers. By analyzing the importance of each chemical feature, we find that a small set of low- and nondegenerative features is sufficient for accurate prediction. Conclusions Our random forest model successfully predicts personalized odor attributes of structurally diverse molecules. This model together with the top discriminative features has the potential to extend our understanding of olfactory perception mechanisms and provide an alternative for rational odorant design.
Virtually Enhancing the Real World with Augmented Reality Holograms: Use and Gratification Perspective: An Abstract

While the variety of technologies that allow consumers to explore the physical world through the lens of augmented reality is ever expanding, limited research has explored consumers’ reactions to these innovative media technologies. Specifically, the influences that determine the consumers’ intention to use these technologies remain unclear. To provide further insights into this research question, the current study utilizes use and gratification theory as a theoretical foundation to examine expected gratifications related to using augmented reality smart glasses. Results of a structural equation model support several gratifications that users associate with augmented reality smart glasses. Interestingly, these gratifications are highly context specific depending on whether the user is intending to use the device at home or in public. As a result, future studies should incorporate multiple contexts to more accurately assess consumers’ reactions, attitudes, and adoption intentions associated with these new wearable technologies.
Why we need to study (US) militarism: A critical feminist lens:

Responding to the special issue call to examine security and militarism alongside one another, this article adopts a critical feminist lens to explore what is at stake when critical scholars study ...
Urinary tract infections following radical cystectomy and urinary diversion: a review of 1133 patients.

To investigate the incidence and microbiology of urinary tract infection (UTI) within 90 days following radical cystectomy (RC) and urinary diversion. We reviewed 1133 patients who underwent RC for bladder cancer at our institution between 2003 and 2013; 815 patients (72%) underwent orthotopic diversion, 274 (24%) ileal conduit, and 44 (4%) continent cutaneous diversion. 90-day postoperative UTI incidence, culture results, antibiotic sensitivity/resistance and treatment were recorded through retrospective review. Fisher’s exact test, Kruskal–Wallis test, and multivariable analysis were performed. A total of 151 urinary tract infections were recorded in 123 patients (11%) during the first 90 days postoperatively. 21/123 (17%) had multiple infections and 25 (20%) had urosepsis in this time span. Gram-negative rods were the most common etiology (54% of positive cultures). 52% of UTI episodes led to readmission. There was no significant difference in UTI rate, etiologic microbiology (Gram-negative rods, Gram-positive cocci, fungi), or antibiotic sensitivity and resistance patterns between diversion groups. Resistance to quinolones was evident in 87.5% of Gram-positive and 35% of Gram-negative bacteria. In multivariable analysis, Charlson Comorbidity Index > 2 was associated with higher 90-day UTI rate (OR = 1.8, 95% CI 1.1–2.9, p = 0.05) and Candida UTI (OR 5.6, 95% CI 1.6–26.5, p = 0.04). UTI is a common complication and cause of readmission following radical cystectomy and urinary diversion. These infections are commonly caused by Gram-negative rods. High comorbidity index is an independent risk factor for postoperative UTI, but diversion type is not.
The Effect of Multiple Auditors on Deception Detection in a Client Inquiry Setting

ABSTRACT: Auditors frequently gather information by conducting client inquiries. During these inquiries, auditors should be alert to verbal and nonverbal cues emanating from members of client personnel that might be indicative of deception. Extant literature on deception suggests that the general practice of using a single auditor to conduct client inquiries may limit the ability of auditors to detect deception. Using Master's-level accounting students as a proxy for entry-level auditors, I examine how the use of one or two auditors affects the behavioral cues (nervousness and discussion) of client personnel that may indicate deception during inquiries, and whether two auditors are more likely to act upon deceptive cues than a single auditor (as measured by subsequent audit judgments). Results of a path analysis suggest that deceptive behavioral cues are more apparent in the presence of two auditors, and that two auditors are more likely than a single auditor to successfully incorporate behavioral cues in...
Polarization insensitive performance of randomly structured antireflecting planar surfaces

The transmittance polarization extinction ratio of fused silica substrates with random antireflective surface structures (rARSS) was investigated. The antireflective structures were etched on both sides of the substrates to suppress Fresnel reflection from the two surfaces, and the substrates were processed with three different sets of etching parameters, resulting in samples with three distinct sets of surface characteristics. In addition, three of the samples were fabricated with identical processes on both sides, while one was fabricated with a different process on each side. Normal incidence transmission spectra, spanning wavelengths from 300 to 1900 nm, are presented for each double-sided substrate, and variable angle of incidence polarization measurements were taken at 633 nm. Although the spectral Fresnel reflection suppression of all of the samples was measured to similar levels at normal incidence, the polarized transmittance response was found to vary considerably, correlating with the surface morphology differences and the front-to-back surface roughness similarities between the samples. Polarization insensitivity was verified from normal incidence to Brewster’s angle. Comparisons with the ideal single-layer thin-film antireflection coating performance calculations show that rARSS samples are polarization insensitive over a larger range of angles and have a wide wavelength band of transmission enhancement.
Welfare economics, risk and uncertainty

Social decisions in risky contexts raise a number of difficult questions, such as: (1) Should social decisions be more or less risk averse than the average person? (2) Should we try to avoid large catastrophes more than frequent but limited harms with similar expected impact? (3) Should social decisions be ambiguity averse or stick to the expected utility canon? This paper reviews the welfare economics of risk and uncertainty and examines possible answers to these questions, based on the pros and cons of utilitarianism, ex ante egalitarianism and ex post egalitarianism.
Category «public service» as a scientific research object

The article is devoted to the study of the development of the concept of «public service» in an independent Ukraine. It was found out that since the beginning the concept of «management service» is one of the most widespread. From a legal point of view, a management service is the creation of organizational conditions for the realization of the right by a citizen or another subject of administrative-legal relations. Instead from the point of view of public administration, «management service» is a result of the functional activity of the state body in the development and implementation of state policy on the regulation of a particular sector of the economy or social life. It was established that in addition was used concepts of the similar content, which amplified the terminological uncertainty. As a result, an approach has been developed in which the services of public authorities are divided into four groups: state, municipal, administrative and public. In this approach, public services are divided into state and municipal, depending on the subject of the service, administrative services are provided both by executive authorities and local self-government. The only kind of public services found in the regulatory framework is administrative services. In the Law of Ukraine «On Administrative Services», the term administrative service is used as a result of exercising power by the subject of the providing of administrative services on the application of a natural or legal person, aimed at acquiring, changing or terminating the rights and / or duties of such person in accordance with the law. The process of formation, the concept of «public services» in independent Ukraine can be divided into four stages, the first of which is the stage of domination in the national scientific thought of the concept of «management services». The second stage is the division of services into separate groups - state, municipal, administrative, and all of these groups belong to one group of public services. The third stage (ongoing to date) is characterized by the consolidation and final formulation of the term «public services» as the basic concept of the system of providing services by public authorities. The fourth stage can only be predicted, nevertheless, it is essentially a logical continuation of these three stages, when the legal fixing of the concept takes place.
Fuel cell materials and components

Fuel cells offer the possibility of zero-emissions electricity generation and increased energy security. We review here the current status of solid oxide (SOFC) and polymer electrolyte membrane (PEMFC) fuel cells. Such solid electrolyte systems obviate the need to contain corrosive liquids and are thus preferred by many developers over alkali, phosphoric acid or molten carbonate fuel cells. Dramatic improvements in power densities have been achieved in both SOFC and PEMFC systems through reduction of the electrolyte thickness and architectural control of the composite electrodes. Current efforts are aimed at reducing SOFC costs by lowering operating temperatures to 500–800 °C, and reducing PEMFC system complexity be developing ‘water-free’ membranes which can also be operated at temperatures slightly above 100 °C.
Promoting Proactive Behavior through Motivation: Required Math Lab Hours Case

Requiring that students enrolled in college algebra to spend hours in a computer lab has been a practice in colleges and universities to improve success and retention. In part, because students come with different backgrounds, skills, and the computer lab environment allows for personalized supplemental instruction and tutoring. However, the way this practice may cause problems among students. Prior to this study, we realized that college algebra students are not pleased with having to wait outside the lab to get in and have to spend three hours per week to a receive a small credit. The wait time is due to the limited lab capacity that cannot house a large number of students when they visit at the last minute or right after a large class meeting. Hence, we attempted to stimulate a proactive behavior of visiting the lab early in the week through offering an incentive. It entails reducing the number of lab hours for the same credit after achieving a certain mastery. The results show that the students responded well to the modification. The final exam mean test shows that the modification was an improvement.
Analysis of In Vitro Cytotoxicity of Carbohydrate-Based Materials Used for Dissolvable Microneedle Arrays

Dissolvable microneedle arrays (MNAs) can be used to realize enhanced transdermal and intradermal drug delivery. Dissolvable MNAs are fabricated from biocompatible and water-soluble base polymers, and the biocargo to be delivered is integrated with the base polymer when forming the MNAs. The base polymer is selected to provide mechanical strength, desired dissolution characteristics, and compatibility with the biocargo. However, to satisfy regulatory requirements and be utilized in clinical applications, cytotoxicity of the base polymers should also be thoroughly characterized. This study systematically investigated the cytotoxicity of several important carbohydrate-based base polymers used for production of MNAs, including carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), maltodextrin (MD), trehalose (Treh), glucose (Gluc), and hyaluronic acid (HA). Each material was evaluated using in vitro cell-culture methods on relevant mouse and human cells, including MPEK-BL6 mouse keratinocytes, NIH-3T3 mouse fibroblasts, HaCaT human keratinocytes, and NHDF human fibroblasts. A common laboratory cell line, human embryonic kidney cells HEK-293, was also used to allow comparisons to various cytotoxicity studies in the literature. Dissolvable MNA materials were evaluated at concentrations ranging from 3 mg/mL to 80 mg/mL. Qualitative and quantitative analyses of cytotoxicity were performed using optical microscopy, confocal fluorescence microscopy, and flow cytometry-based assays for cell morphology, viability, necrosis and apoptosis. Results from different methods consistently demonstrated negligible in vitro cytotoxicity of carboxymethyl cellulose, maltodextrin, trehalose and hyaluronic acid. Glucose was observed to be toxic to cells at concentrations higher than 50 mg/mL. It is concluded that CMC, MD, Treh, HA, and glucose (at low concentrations) do not pose challenges in terms of cytotoxicity, and thus, are good candidates as MNA materials for creating clinically-relevant and well-tolerated biodissolvable MNAs.
Experimental Evaluation of Bounded-Depth LSM Merge Policies

Modern NoSQL databases use log-structured merge (LSM) storage architectures to support high write throughput. LSM architectures aggregate writes in a mutable MemTabte (stored in memory), which is regularly flushed to disk, creating a new immutable file called an SSTable. Periodically, some of the SSTables are chosen to be merged – replaced with a single SSTable containing their union. A merge policy (a.k.a. compaction policy) specifies when to do merges and which SSTables to combine. A bounded depth merge policy is one that guarantees that the number of SSTables never exceeds a given parameter k, typically in the range 3−10. Bounded-depth policies are useful in applications where low read latency is crucial, but they and their underlying combinatorics are not yet well understood. This paper compares several bounded-depth policies, including representative policies from industrial NoSQL databases and two new ones based on recent theoretical modeling. The results validate the proposed theoretical model and show that, compared to the existing policies, the newly proposed policies can have substantially lower write amplification.
Uncertainty quantification of solute transport coefficients

Abstract Solute transport controls a wide variety of both material properties and processing, and computational prediction of transport coefficients plays an increasingly important role in materials design. First-principles methods can routinely compute both defect energies and transition states to provide the atomic-scale information for transport, but scaling up to mesoscale solute mobility requires the solution of the master equation. Kinetic Monte Carlo provides one route to computing transport coefficients, but the stochastic solution to the master equation can make uncertainty quantification difficult. The use of Green functions to compute solute mobilities offers an alternate approach; in addition to being accurate and computationally efficient, the deterministic solution permits the use of a Bayesian framework for uncertainty quantification. In this case, uncertainties in first-principles energies and energy barriers can be propagated forward into uncertainties in mobilities.
Animate being: an inquiry into Being in Heidegger’s Being and Time

This paper questions the ontological integrity of Dasein as Heidegger specifies Being in Being and Time. It does so with reference to the real-life, real-time realities of Being-in-the-world and Being-toward-Death, thus with entering into the world in the first place and with ensuing developmental realities anchored essentially in bodily change and movement and with ensuing knowledge of the world and of death. Basic Husserlian insights validate answers to Dasein’s ontological deficiencies, raising questions as to Heidegger’s reading of Husserl texts, for example, of a hereness in relation to a thereness in Dasein’s use of “equipment,” hence of Dasein’s “zero point of orientation” with respect to the world. The question of whether Dasein can be a Being-toward-death without Being-a-Body discloses additional insights into Dasein’s ontological deficiencies by clarifying the nature of physical and lived bodies and by drawing on Husserl’s descriptive analyses of Leib, the lived body. The paper ends by detailing an epistemological irony with respect to Heidegger’s subjective account of Dasein’s knowledge of Being-toward-death.
Clinical impact of eliminating nonpulmonary vein triggers of atrial fibrillation and nonpulmonary vein premature atrial contractions at initial ablation for persistent atrial fibrillation.

Background The role of nonpulmonary vein (PV) triggers ablation in persistent atrial fibrillation (PEAF) was suggested but it is still under debate. Objectives We aimed to assess the effectiveness of non-PV trigger-targeted ablation for patients with PEAF. Methods Consecutive patients with PEAF undergoing catheter ablation (CA) between January 2015 and April 2017 were enrolled. Isoproterenol plus adenosine challenge was performed to provoke non-PV triggers. Non-PV triggers were defined as the trigger beats inducing AF (non-PV AF triggers) and/or frequent premature contractions (non-PV PACs) from other than PVs. Three groups were defined: Group 1 (n = 186) without non-PV triggers; Group 2 (n = 65) with non-PV triggers that could be completely eliminated with CA; Group 3 (n = 49) with non-PV triggers still inducible after CA. The primary endpoint was freedom from any atrial tachyarrhythmia (ATa) recurrence. Results A total of 300 patients (230 males, age 64 ± 10) were enrolled. The mean follow-up period was 27 ± 10 months. Freedom from ATa recurrence at 1 and 2 years were significantly lower in Group 3 compared to the other two groups (Group 1; 74.7%, 67.2% vs. Group 2; 75.8%, 68.3% vs. Group 3: 52.1%, 38.6%, p = .0005), irrespective of the type of non-PV triggers (non-PV AF triggers vs. non-PV PACs). On multivariate analysis, unsuccessful elimination of non-PV triggers was an independent predictor for ATa recurrence (hazard ratio = 1.80, 95% confidence interval = 1.07-2.95, p = .026). Conclusion Successful non-PV triggers elimination can improve the ATa recurrence rate in PEAF ablation. ATa recurrence rate is higher, if non-PV AF triggers or even non-PV PACs remain in patients with PEAF.
Conclusion: Implications and Addressing School Bullying and Inequality

In the concluding Chap. 9, we discuss why ameliorating violence and victimization should be a priority. Of course, addressing bullying victimization that occurs within schools for all youth is paramount toward sustaining a system that is supposed to facilitate educational progress and sustainability. There is a persistent history of disparities linked to socioeconomic and social status, family cohesion and interactions, sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression, race, ethnicity, immigration, and religion, and disabilities and special health needs in the U.S. school system. The social problem of bullying within U.S. schools is both complex and diverse. It is clear that the sources and factors associated with the vulnerability and marginalization of youth to being victimized at school presented in this book also intersect. Although homes, schools, and neighborhoods may never be completely bully-free environments, there are several ways to assist students in breaking the bullying and peer victimization cycles. The information presented in this book is also one calling for advocacy, which will suggest that if policymakers, school administrators, and community stakeholders are seeking to address and ameliorate bullying within schools, it is vital to consider the significance of various forms of social inequality.
Staphylococcus aureus β-toxin exerts anti-angiogenic effects by inhibiting re-endothelialization and neovessel formation

Staphylococcus aureus is the causative agent of numerous severe human infections associated with significant morbidity and mortality worldwide. S. aureus often targets the vascular endothelium to interfere with proper host responses during invasive infections. In this study, we provide evidence that S. aureus {beta}-toxin inhibits wound repair mechanisms in human endothelial cells by preventing cell proliferation and migration. These findings were confirmed in a rabbit aortic explant model where {beta}-toxin impedes sprout formation. Decreased cell proliferation was accompanied by decreased production of the angiogenic proteins endothelin-1, IGFBP-3, thrombospondin-1, TIMP-1, and TIMP-4. Meanwhile, inhibited wound repair was marked by increased HGF secretion from endothelial cells, likely a marker of endothelial cell damage. Together, these findings establish a mechanistic role for {beta}-toxin where it inhibits proper tissue repair processes that likely promote S. aureus infective niche.
Ancient Warfare and Toxicology

In antiquity, a wide range of natural toxins, from poisonous plants and venoms to poisonous aerosols, were exploited to wage the earliest forms of biological and chemical warfares. Evidence for the concept and practice of toxic warfare can be traced back thousands of years in written sources. Such practices arose from centuries of observation and experimentation with easily accessible toxic materials. Many modern biochemical weapons were anticipated in ancient Greece, Rome, the Middle East, and Asia. Strategies based on attacking an enemy's biological vulnerabilities with toxic agents were advantageous while the facing troops were superior in number, bravery, skill, or technology. Yet the practical dangers of self-injury and the ethical issues posed by biochemical warfare were recognized by most ancient cultures that employed toxic weapons.
The Effect of Climate on Crop Insurance Premium Rates and Producer Subsidies

Likely climate change impacts in the U.S. include damages to agricultural production resulting from increased exposure to extreme heat. However, considerable uncertainty remains regarding impacts on the performance of the Federal Crop Insurance Program. Here we utilized a large panel of corn yield data to predict the effect of a 1oC uniform increase in temperature on premium rates and subsidies for the Group Risk Plan. We found a statistically significant increase in rates, which is primarily driven by increased exposure to extreme heat. These increases induce large increases in subsidy payments, the incidence of which is spread disproportionately across regions.
Financing Distributed Generation

ABSTRACT This article introduces the engineer who is undertaking distributed generation projects to a wide range of financing options. Distributed generation systems (such as internal combustion engines, small gas turbines, fuel cells and photovoltaics) all require an initial investment, which is recovered over time through revenues or savings. An understanding of the cost of capital and financing structures helps the engineer develop realistic expectations and not be offended by the common requirements of financing organizations. This article discusses several mechanisms for financing distributed generation projects: appropriations; debt (commercial bank loan); mortgage; home equity loan; limited partnership; vendor financing; general obligation bond; revenue bond; lease; Energy Savings Performance Contract; utility programs; chauffage (end-use purchase); and grants. The article also discusses financial strategies for businesses focusing on distributed generation: venture capital; informal investors (“bu...
An Understanding of the Differences between Internal and External Auditors in Obtaining Information about Internal Control Weaknesses

ABSTRACT The Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) argues that internal auditors often have a strong “employee” identity within their organization. While external auditors are concerned that this employee identity might negatively impact internal auditors' objectivity, the IIA argues this identity can actually be beneficial as employees may be more willing to share sensitive and audit-relevant information with the internal auditor than they would with the external auditor. Through an experiment relying on the social identity and organizational silence literatures, I test the prediction that non-audit employees will identify more highly with the internal than the external auditor and they will thus, be willing to share more information about internal control weaknesses with the internal than the external auditor. The results from a moderated mediation analysis support this prediction and also show the effect is stronger as the severity of the internal control weakness increases. Overall, this research infor...
Updating the Energy Model for Future Exascale Systems

The 2008 DARPA Exascale report had as its goal determining if it were possible to achieve 1000X the computational power of the then-emerging peta-scale systems at a system power of no more than 20 MW. The main conclusion was that there was no such path with technology and architectures as projected at that time. Key to this conclusion were architecturally-tailored models as to how projected advances would translate into system performance. This paper introduces a major update to the “heavyweight” (modern server-class multi-core chips) model, with a detailed discussion on the underlying projections as to technology, chip layout and microarchitecture, and system characteristics. The model is run over the same time period as the 2008 model to verify its accuracy.
C-Alkynylation of Cyclopropanols

Alkynylation of cyclopropanols with 1-bromo-1-alkynes has been devised for easy access to synthetically useful alk-4-yn-1-ones. This method broadens the utility of attractively functionalized cyclopropanols as a new class of homoenolate equivalent in C–C bond formation.
Optimal crowdsourcing contests

Abstract We study the design and approximation of optimal crowdsourcing contests. Crowdsourcing contests can be modeled as all-pay auctions because entrants must exert effort up-front to enter. Unlike all-pay auctions where a usual design objective would be to maximize revenue, in crowdsourcing contests, the principal only benefits from the submission with the highest quality. We give a theory for optimal crowdsourcing contests that mirrors the theory of optimal auction design: the optimal crowdsourcing contest is a virtual valuation optimizer (the virtual valuation function depends on the distribution of contestant skills and the number of contestants). We also compare crowdsourcing contests with more conventional means of procurement. In this comparison, crowdsourcing contests are relatively disadvantaged because the effort of losing contestants is wasted. We show that the total wasted effort is at most the maximum effort which implies that crowdsourcing contests are a 2-approximation to an idealized model of conventional procurement.
Performance study of a compiler/hardware approach to embedded systems security

Trusted software execution, prevention of code and data tampering, authentication, and providing a secure environment for software are some of the most important security challenges in the design of embedded systems. This short paper evaluates the performance of a hardware/software co-design methodology for embedded software protection. Secure software is created using a secure compiler that inserts hidden codes into the executable code which are then validated dynamically during execution by a reconfigurable hardware component constructed from Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) technology. While the overall approach has been described in other papers, this paper focuses on security-performance tradeoffs and the effect of using compiler optimizations in such an approach. Our results show that the approach provides software protection with modest performance penalty and hardware overhead.
Fault Tolerance for Clusters of Workstations

This paper presents a short description of the Manetho system, which provides fault tolerance for parallel application programs that execute on a cluster of workstations. Manetho uses a combination of rollback-recovery and process replication. Both methods are application-transparent, making it possible to automatically provide fault tolerance for existing applications.
Reasoning about bayesian network classifiers

Bayesian network classifiers are used in many fields, and one common class of classifiers are naive Bayes classifiers. In this paper, we introduce an approach for reasoning about Bayesian network classifiers in which we explicitly convert them into Ordered Decision Diagrams (ODDS), which are then used to reason about the properties of these classifiers. Specifically, we present an algorithm for converting any naive Bayes classifier into an ODD, and we show theoretically and experimentally that this algorithm can give us an ODD that is tractable in size cvcn given an intractable number of instances. Since ODDS are tractable representations of classifiers, our algorithm allows us to efficiently test the equivalence of two naive Bayes classifiers and characterize discrepancies between them. We also show a number of additional results including a count of distinct classifiers that can be induced by changing some CPT in a naive Bayes classifier, and the range of allowable changes to a CPT which keeps the current classifier unchanged.
Within- and Cross-Firm Mobility and Earnings Growth

A widely accepted premise is that promotions within firms and mobility across firms lead to significant earnings progression. Existing research generally has examined cross-firm mobility separately from hierarchical advancement. Yet, as the authors’ descriptive evidence from Danish panel data shows, how the two types of mobility interact is important for understanding earnings growth. Cross-firm moves at the nonexecutive level provide sizable short-run earnings growth (similar to the effect of being promoted to an executive position). These gains, however, appear modest compared with the persistent impact on earnings growth of promotions (either within or across firms) and subsequent mobility at a higher hierarchy level.
Immigrants and Housing Markets in Mid-Size Metropolitan Areas

The recent trend of immigrants arriving in mid-size metropolitan areas has received growing attention in the literature. This study examines the success of immigrants in the housing markets of a sample of 60 metropolitan areas using Census microdata in both 2000 and 2005. The results suggest that immigrants are less successful in achieving homeownership and more likely to live in overcrowded conditions than native-born whites of non-Hispanic origin. The immigrant effect on homeownership differs by geography and by immigrant group. Finally, we find evidence that immigrant networks increase the likelihood of becoming a homeowner.
Dust and Extinction Curves in Galaxies with z > 0: The Interstellar Medium of Gravitational Lens Galaxies*

We determine 37 differential extinctions in 23 gravitational lens galaxies over the range 0 zl 1. Only seven of the 23 systems have spectral differences consistent with no differential extinction. The median differential extinction for the optically selected (radio-selected) subsample is ΔE(B-V) = 0.04 (0.06) mag. The extinction is patchy and shows no correlation with impact parameter. The median total extinction of the bluest images is E(B-V) = 0.08 mag, although the total extinction distribution is dominated by the uncertainties in the intrinsic colors of quasars. The directly measured extinction distributions are consistent with the mean extinction estimated by comparing the statistics of quasar and radio lens surveys, thereby confirming the need for extinction corrections when using the statistics of lensed quasars to estimate the cosmological model. A disjoint subsample of two face-on, radio-selected spiral lenses shows both high differential and total extinctions, but standard dust-to-gas ratios combined with the observed molecular gas column densities overpredict the amount of extinction by factors of 2-5. For several systems we can estimate the extinction law, ranging from RV = 1.5 ± 0.2 for a zl = 0.96 elliptical, to RV = 7.2 ± 0.1 for a zl = 0.68 spiral. For the four radio lenses where we can construct nonparametric extinction curves, we find no evidence for gray dust over the IR-UV wavelength range. The dust can be used to estimate lens redshifts with reasonable accuracy, although we sometimes find two degenerate redshift solutions.
Epidemiology of Trauma in a Population of Incarcerated Youth

This study assessed the types, circumstances, frequency, and health consequences of trauma suffered by juvenile delinquents at a secure residential training school. A review of 369 medical records of 387 teenagers, aged 10 to 17 years, admitted to one such facility between 1978 and 1982 was made. Of the 369 students, 191 students (52%) suffered 391 separate trauma incidents serious enough to require a health care provider's attention. Circumstances surrounding the injuries included sports (36%), fights (20%), self-inflicted injuries (13%), suicide attempts (9%), incidents related to vocational studies (8%), and horseplay (3%). The most common types of injuries were musculoskeletal trauma, scratches, bruises and lacerations, and fractures. The usual sites of injury were the extremities, head, or neck. More than 50% of trauma incidents required a physician's attention initially or in follow-up; 28% of the injured were referred to an off-campus facility; 21% necessitated radiologic or laboratory studies; 4% required hospitalization; and one student died. The average trauma rate for teenagers in this setting was 1.2 injuries per person per year; the average rate of hospitalizations for trauma was 0.04 hospitalizations per person per year. These data call for further studies of trauma morbidity among adolescents in this and other settings and for innovative trauma prevention strategies. Language: en
Fifty Years of IMF Variation: The Intermediate-Mass Stars

I track the history of star count estimates of the Milky Way field star and open cluster IMFs, concentrating on the neglected mass range from 1 to 15 M� .T he prevalent belief that the IMF is universal appears to be without basis for this mass range. Two recent estimates of the field star IMF using different methods and samples give values of the average logarithmic slope Γ between -1.7 and -2.1 in the mass range 1.1 to 4 M� . Two older estimates between 2 and 15 M� , using much smaller samples, disagree severely; the field IMF in this range is es- sentially unknown from star counts. Variations in Γ among open cluster IMFs in this same mass range have not decreased despite numerous detailed studies, with a rather uniformly distributed spread of about 1.0 to 1.4, even for studies using homogeneous data and reduction procedures and including only clusters with a significant mass range. These cluster variations might be accommodated by the combined effects of sampling, systematic errors, stellar evolution uncertainties, dynamical evolution, and unresolved binaries. If so, then the cluster data are consistent with a universal IMF, but are also consistent with sizeable variations. The data do not allow an estimate of an average IMF orΓ because the average depends on the choice of weighting procedure and other effects. There is little basis for claims that the field star IMF is steeper or flatter than the cluster IMF in this mass range. If the spread in cluster IMFs is in excess of the effects listed above, real IMF variations must occur that do not depend much on environmen- tal physical conditions explored so far. The complexity of the star formation process seen both in observations and in simulations of turbulent cluster forma- tion suggests that large realization-to-realization differences might be expected. In this case an individual cluster IMF would be in part the product of evolution- ary contingency in star formation, and the significant function of interest is the probability distribution of IMF parameters. In either case an average IMF can probably be better determined from the field star IMF using data from future space astrometric missions, or from combinations of indirect constraints using integrated light or chemical evolution applied to whole galaxies.