cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Aspects of bandwidth scheduling in WiMAX subscriber station

The 802.16e IEEE standard (WiMAX) enables efficient utilization of radio resources by leveraging the Demand Assigned Multiple Access (DAMA) technology. A number of uplink (UL) bandwidth request methods and traffic scheduling schemes are described in this standard; however, their particular implementation, including algorithms and methods of parallel execution are left for vendor's discretion. A subscriber station vendor has to investigate various design options and their impact to the key quality of service (QoS) elements: traffic rate, latency, and jitter. The article provides recommendations and observations based on analysis of algorithms verified with a simulation tool.
Survey of Non-facial/Non-verbal Affective Expressions for Appearance-Constrained Robots

Non-facial and non-verbal methods of affective expression are essential for naturalistic social interaction in robots that are designed to be functional and lack expressive faces (appearance-constrained) such as those used in search and rescue, law enforcement, and military applications. This correspondence identifies five main methods of non-facial and non-verbal affective expression (body movement, posture, orientation, color, and sound), and ranks their effectiveness for appearance-constrained robots operating within the intimate, personal, and social proximity zones of a human corresponding to interagent distances of approximately 3 m or less. This distance is significant because it encompasses the most common human social interaction distances, the exception being the public distance zone used for formal presentations. The correspondence complements prior, broad surveys of affective expression by reviewing the psychology, computer science, and robotics literature specifically relating the impact of social interaction in non-anthropomorphic and appearance-constrained robots, and summarizing robotic implementations that utilize non-facial and non-verbal methods of affective expression as their primary means of expression. The literature is distilled into a set of prescriptive recommendations of the appropriate affective expression methods for each of the three proximity zones of interest. These recommendations serve as design guidelines for retroactively adding affective expression through software to a robot without physical modifications or designing a new robot.
A Biological Interpretation of Transient Anomalous Subdiffusion. I. Qualitative Model

Anomalous subdiffusion has been reported for two-dimensional diffusion in the plasma membrane and three-dimensional diffusion in the nucleus and cytoplasm. If a particle diffuses in a suitable infinite hierarchy of binding sites, diffusion is well known to be anomalous at all times. But if the hierarchy is finite, diffusion is anomalous at short times and normal at long times. For a prescribed set of binding sites, Monte Carlo calculations yield the anomalous diffusion exponent and the average time over which diffusion is anomalous. If even a single binding site is present, there is a very short, almost artifactual, period of anomalous subdiffusion, but a hierarchy of binding sites extends the anomalous regime considerably. As is well known, an essential requirement for anomalous subdiffusion due to binding is that the diffusing particle cannot be in thermal equilibrium with the binding sites; an equilibrated particle diffuses normally at all times. Anomalous subdiffusion due to barriers, however, still occurs at thermal equilibrium, and anomalous subdiffusion due to a combination of binding sites and barriers is reduced but not eliminated on equilibration. This physical model is translated directly into a plausible biological model testable by single-particle tracking.
A tool box for approximate linearization of nonlinear systems

A toolbox for nonlinear control system design is presented. The package contains modules to approximate systems by polynomial systems of arbitrary-order and then render them input-output linear or input-state linear with arbitrary-order error terms. The package also includes interfaces to create LATEX for viewing results and automatic code generation for implementation of the results. The possibilities for real-time control are also discussed. >
A collusion-resistant routing scheme for noncooperative wireless ad hoc networks

In wireless ad hoc networks, routing needs cooperation of nodes. Since nodes often belong to different users, it is highly important to provide incentives for them to cooperate. However, most existing studies of the incentive-compatible routing problem focus on individual nodes' incentives, assuming that no subset of them would collude. Clearly, this assumption is not always valid. In this paper, we present a systematic study of collusion-resistant routing in noncooperative wireless ad hoc networks. In particular, we consider two standard solution concepts for collusion resistance in game theory, namely Group Strategyproofness and Strong Nash Equilibrium. We show that achieving Group Strategyproofness is impossible, while achieving Strong Nash Equilibrium is possible. More specifically, we design a scheme that is guaranteed to converge to a Strong Nash Equilibrium and prove that the total payment needed is bounded. In addition, we propose a cryptographic method that prevents profit transfer among colluding nodes, as long as they do not fully trust each other unconditionally. This method makes our scheme widely applicable in practice. Experiments show that our solution is collusion-resistant and has good performance.
Computer graphic models for the human face

A discussion of graphic models in gen eral and graphic models for the human face in particular is presented. Emphasis is given to three-dimensional polygonal models including parameterized models. These models have been used to produce computer generated expression sequences including sequences which match a spoken soundtrack.
Tourniquet Usage in Upper Extremity Surgery

showed that Doppler oc-clusion pressures needed to cease arterial ﬂow decreasewith higher ratios of cuff width/arm circumference.Temporary or irreversible tissue damage may occureven with appropriate usage of a tourniquet. Complica-tions most frequently cited are skin blistering and nerveinjury. A Norwegian study of tourniquet usage in18,465 upper-extremity procedures
Phylogeny of the Sphagnopsida Based on Chloroplast and Nuclear DNA Sequences

Abstract Most reconstructions of basal land plant relationships derived from morphological or molecular data suggest that the Sphagnopsida form a critical clade at or near the base of the mosses (Bryophyta s.s.). The Sphagnopsida include two orders: Sphagnales and Ambuchananiales, each with one family. The Ambuchananiaceae is monotypic, with A. leucobryoides of Tasmania. Nucleotide sequences from five genomic regions, two from the nuclear genome (ITS and 26S nuclear ribosomal DNA) and three from the chloroplast genome (psbT, rpl16, trnL) were subjected to cladistic analyses in order to assess 1) the relationship between Ambuchanania and Sphagnum, 2) the polarity of evolutionary change in Sphagnum (i.e., infer a root for the infrageneric phylogeny), 3) monophyly of the four large sections of Sphagnum (Acutifolia, Cuspidata, Sphagnum, and Subsecunda) and 4) phylogenetic relationships of the smaller or monotypic sections. Ambuchanania is resolved as the sister group to Sphagnum and is not nested within the l...
Normoglycemic ketoacidosis in a postoperative gastric bypass patient taking canagliflozin.

Normoglycemic ketoacidosis in a postoperative gastric bypass patient taking canagliflozin Fernando B. Bonanni, M.D., F.A.C.S., F.A.S.M.B.S., Patrick Fei, M.D.*, Laura L. Fitzpatrick, M.D., M.P.H. Department of Surgery, Institute for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery, Abington Memorial Hospital, Abington, Pennsylvania Department of Medicine, Endocrinology Division, Abington Memorial Hospital, Abington, Pennsylvania Received July 2, 2015; accepted August 14, 2015
Single-Entity and North American SoccerΓÇÖs Struggle for Survival

Major League Soccer [MLS] was formed using a single-entity ownership model as an antidote to professional soccerΓCOs history of failure in North America. While the league and its supporters credit single-entity as the key to sustainability, detractors cite this model as a key factor in the sportΓCOs still relatively marginalized status among professional team sports domestically, as well as the leagueΓCOs poor (if perhaps improving) reputation globally. This paper will explore the historical reasons for choosing this ownership model, examine the relative success or failure of this model, and question if┬a leagueΓCOs single-entity structure is the best recipe long-term success for professional soccer in North America.
Interplay between Ku and Replication Protein A in the Restriction of Exo1-mediated DNA Break End Resection.

DNA double-strand breaks can be eliminated via non-homologous end joining or homologous recombination. Non-homologous end joining is initiated by the association of Ku with DNA ends. In contrast, homologous recombination entails nucleolytic resection of the 5′-strands, forming 3′-ssDNA tails that become coated with replication protein A (RPA). Ku restricts end access by the resection nuclease Exo1. It is unclear how partial resection might affect Ku engagement and Exo1 restriction. Here, we addressed these questions in a reconstituted system with yeast proteins. With blunt-ended DNA, Ku protected against Exo1 in a manner that required its DNA end-binding activity. Despite binding poorly to ssDNA, Ku could nonetheless engage a 5′-recessed DNA end with a 40-nucleotide (nt) ssDNA overhang, where it localized to the ssDNA-dsDNA junction and efficiently blocked resection by Exo1. Interestingly, RPA could exclude Ku from a partially resected structure with a 22-nt ssDNA tail and thus restored processing by Exo1. However, at a 40-nt tail, Ku remained stably associated at the ssDNA-dsDNA junction, and RPA simultaneously engaged the ssDNA region. We discuss a model in which the dynamic equilibrium between Ku and RPA binding to a partially resected DNA end influences the timing and efficiency of the resection process.
Phase I analysis of systemic interferon alpha utilized with gliadel in adults with recurrent glioblastoma multiforme (GBM)

11508 Background: Local therapy with Gliadel was found to increases median survival at recurrence from 23 to 31 weeks when compared to placebo wafers. Brain tumor specimens have been observed to ha...
Low-lying levels of B 9

We present calculations for the energies and widths of the lowest $1∕{2}^{+}$, $1∕{2}^{\ensuremath{-}}$, and $5∕{2}^{+}$ levels of $^{9}\mathrm{B}$, taking into account the information known for the mirror levels in $^{9}\mathrm{Be}$. Comparison is made with the experimental data.
Development Of Implicit Leadership Theories Prior To Training Or Employment

This empirical study explored the development of implicit leadership theories among 16 to 18 year-old students in secondary schools prior to any formal leadership training or full-time employment. Students from governance, athletics, clubs, performance groups, and part-time work groups completed interviews and questionnaires. Adult leaders of activity groups also completed questionnaires. Results were analyzed by activity and role (e.g., student leader, student group member, and adult supervisor) for three separate dependent variables: Adult Leaders, Leaders in General, and Student Leaders. Results show that adolescents categorize leader behavior into similar constructs that have been previously established by research with adult samples experienced in organizational life. Experience in groups but not necessarily as a leader contributes to developing implicit leadership theories and type of activity guides such leadership attributions. Gender differences in the expectations for leaders were found and support the existence of early socialization into gender-specific leadership role stereotypes.
Exploring shoreface dynamics and a mechanistic explanation for a morphodynamic depth of closure

Using energetics-based formulations for wave-driven sediment transport, we develop a robust methodology for estimating the morphodynamic evolution of a cross-shore sandy coastal profile. In our approach, wave-driven cross-shore sediment flux depends on three components: two onshore-directed terms (wave asymmetry and wave streaming) and an offshore-directed slope term. In contrast with previous work, which applies shallow water wave assumptions across the transitional zone of the lower shoreface, we use linear Airy wave theory. The cross-shore sediment transport formulation defines a dynamic equilibrium profile and, by perturbing about this steady state profile, we present an advection-diffusion formula for profile evolution. Morphodynamic Peclet analysis suggests that the shoreface is diffusionally dominated. Using this depth-dependent characteristic diffusivity timescale, we distinguish a morphodynamic depth of closure for a given time envelope. Even though wave-driven sediment transport can (and will) occur at depths deeper than this morphodynamic closure depth, the rate of morphologic bed changes in response to shoreline change becomes asymptotically slow. Linear wave theory suggests a shallower shoreface depth of closure and much sharper break in processes than shallow water wave assumptions. Analyzing hindcasted wave data using a weighted frequency-magnitude approach, we determine representative wave conditions for selected sites along the U.S. coastline. Computed equilibrium profiles and depths of closure demonstrate reasonable similarities, except where inheritance is strong. The methodology espoused in this paper can be used to better understand the morphodynamics at the lower shoreface transition with relative ease across a variety of sites and with varied sediment transport equations.
Some Notes on the Mean Difference

(1961). Some Notes on the Mean Difference. Mathematics Magazine: Vol. 34, No. 4, pp. 223-225.
Modeling Environment for Simulation of Gypsy Moth (Lepidoptera: Lymantriidae) Larval Phenology

The ability to predict larval phenology for the gypsy moth, Lymantria dispar (L), is of interest for a variety of reasons, ranging from basic ecological research applications to the applied objective of improving timing of spray applications. Problems with the development of an appropriate model to predict larval phenology for this pest are exacerbated by the large, and often complex, landscapes that must be considered in control programs, and by the gypsy moth's extensive geographic distribution. The goal of research discussed in this paper is to provide a flexible modeling system that can be used to construct a phenology model that is well suited for a particular application. To accomplish this goal, parameters for a variety of developmental models from an existing data base were estimated. Basic modeling assumptions, such as the instar independence of developmental rates, were tested. Parameter estimation for the set of reasonable models resulted in a large number of potential phenology models. To assist in the development of an effective predictive tool, a modeling system was designed for assembling and implementing selected models. Finally, several applications were discussed that illustrate the rationale for choosing the most appropriate model for a particular application. Our primary objective is to provide a convenient modeling framework for field testing and applying gypsy moth larval phenology models.
The treatment effects on pregnancy outcome of different gestational week of premature rupture of membranes

Objective To different gestational week of premature rupture of membranes i on pregnancy outcome.Method 93 pregnant women with preterm premature rupture of membranes,according to the gestational time,were divided into 28-32 weeks group,32-34 week group and 34-37 weeks group.The patients were treated with expectant treatment.The pregnancy outcome was observed.Results The expectant treatment time of 32-34 weeks group was significantly longer than that of 28-32 weeks group and 34-37 weeks group(P0.05).The expectant treatment time of 28-32 weeks group and 34-37 weeks group was not significantly different(P0.05).The intrauterine infection rate of 28-32 weeks group(25%)was obviously higher than that of 32-34 weeks group(6.06%)and 34-37 weeks group(3.12%)(P0.05).there was no significant difference of intrauterine infection rate of 32-34 weeks group and 34-37 week group(P0.05).The neonatal weight of 28-32 weeks group was less than that of 32-34 weeks group and 34-37 weeks group(P0.05).The incidence of respiratory distress syndrome of neonatal of 28-32 week group(82.14%)was significantly higher than that of 32-34 weeks group(24.24%)and 34-37 weeks group(18.75%)(P0.05).The perinatal mortality rate of 28-32 weeks group(60.71%)was significantly higher than that of 32-34 weeks group(6.06%)and 34-37 week group(P0.05).Conclusion Pregnancy expectant treatment can obviously improve the perinatal outcome of pregnancy,intrauterine infection,fetal distress and other dangerous situations of 32-34 week of preterm premature rupture of membranes.e Pregnancy xpectant treatment has no obvious improvement on preterm premature rupture of membranes of For 28-32 weeks and 34-36 weeks pregnancy.
The Problems of Journals of Domestic Colleges and Universities and the Relative Strategies

This paper expounded the challenges of the journals of domestic colleges and universities,analysed the reasons that would inflence the quality,and put forward the relative measures for promoting the journals.
Surgical induction of endometriosis in the rabbit: Effects on fertility and concentrations of peritoneal fluid prostaglandins

The association of endometriosis and infertility is well known. However, the exact mechanisms involved remain unclear. To study the effect of endometriosis on fertility, an experimental model was developed using New Zealand White rabbits. Endometrium obtained from one uterine horn was surgically implanted into the peritoneum, and the viability of the implants was demonstrated histologically. Adipose tissue was implanted in another group of animals which served as a control. The induction of endometriosis significantly impaired fertility rates (25%) as compared with the control group (75%). The decrease in fertility was independent of adhesion formation and primarily due to a defect in ovulation; however, a postovulatory effect cannot be excluded. Peritoneal fluid prostaglandin (PG) F concentrations increased significantly after the induction of endometriosis, whereas PGE concentrations and the PGF:PGE ratio showed no change. There was no change in PGF or PGE levels in the control group. The increased PGF in peritoneal fluid may alter follicular rupture, ovum transport, corpus luteum function, or implantation, thus representing a mechanism by which endometriosis may cause infertility.
Review: bed rest does not prevent cervical or lumbar puncture headaches.

Source Citation Thoennissen J, Herkner H, Lang W, et al. Does bed rest after cervical or lumbar puncture prevent headache? A systematic review and meta-analysis. CMAJ. 2001 Nov 13;165:1311-6. 11760...
Analysis of Unbounded Operators

In the last chapter we discussed the concept of weighted sums of projections. We saw that every compact normal operator can be expressed as a weighted sum of projections. Compact operators are, of course, bounded operators.
Statist political science and American Marxism: A historical encounter

This article reexamines the disciplinary origins of American political science. In the second half of the nineteenth century, the field was engaged in a project of ideological state-building, relying on the concept of the state to put forward a particular normative vision of the American polity. This professional language of governance was developed partially in response to the democratic pressures of the period and to the growing prominence of socialist ideas, which were excluded from the framework of systematic political knowledge. Drawing upon the example of Daniel De Leon, a political scientist turned Marxist theorist, this article contrasts the disciplinary and radical socialist views of the state developed at the time. It suggests that these coexisting perspectives articulated competing notions of political agency, rights, and citizenship. Bridging the history of American political science with that of Marxism in the United States highlights the contested character of disciplinary knowledge, and the relationship between the concept of the state and its legacy in American political development.
A highly-integrated CMOS transceiver for active structural health monitoring

This paper introduces a highly-integrated CMOS transceiver for a variety of active structural health monitoring (SHM) applications. This proposed chip can generate the electrical actuation signals for piezoelectric transducers as well as provide broadband low-noise reception for reflected or transmitted waves on the same or another transducer. The transmitter can generate low-distortion waveforms up to 12.7 V pp with a center frequency in the ∼100 kHz to 1 MHz range. The waveform is synthesized using filtered pulse-width modulation (PWM). The integrated fully-differential receiver is capable of extracting both amplitude and phase information from the reflected or transmitted waveforms for further signal processing. In this paper, we mainly focus on the programmable transmitter design. The transceiver is currently being fabricated in a 0.5 μm CMOS process; an earlier version has been experimentally validated on an SHM test bed based on the proposed fractal analysis.
Uncertainty Quantification and Feedback Control Using a Model Selection Approach Applied to a Polymer Flooding Process

Polymer flooding is economically successful in reservoirs where the water flood mobility ratio is high, and/or the reservoir heterogeneity is adverse, because of the improved sweep resulting from mobility-controlled oil displacement. The performance of a polymer flood can be further improved if the process is dynamically controlled using updated reservoir models and by implementing a closed-loop production optimization scheme. This paper presents a feedback control framework that: assesses uncertainty in reservoir modeling and production forecasts, updates the prior uncertainty in reservoir models by integrating continuously monitored production data, and formulates optimal injection/production rates for the updated reservoir models. The value of the feedback control framework is demonstrated with a synthetic example of polymer flooding where the economic performance was maximized.
Episodic ethnicity: a case study of a Japanese Buddhist temple

A prominent thread of current scholarship suggests that ethnicity becomes detached from religion in immigrant religious organisations over time. According to scholars, the decoupling occurs in thre...
DEVELOPMENT OF THE STEM CONDUCTING TISSUES IN MONOCOTYLEDONS

Frame-by-frame cine analysis of serial sections allows complete objectivity in the unravelling of complex 3-dimensional structures. The principle approaches include either microscopic methods, e.g. the shuttle microscope, or direct surface photography. Commercially available films have been prepared. The method was developed to analyze the vascular system in the stem of larger monocotyledons, which are impossible to analyze quantitatively by any other method. Other applications, where the analytical method suits the complexity of the system, include: tree ferns with well-developed medullary systems; the resin canals of conifers; anomalous vascular systems in dicotyledons; rhizomatous axes in Nymphaeales, floral vasculature (e.g. Uhl, this volume). Shuttle microscopy has been used to supplement more orthodox techniques in recent work on the dicotyledonous stem vascular system (Larson, this volume). Integrating structure, development and hydraulic function, a detailed description of the mature axis and crown of the palm Rhapis excelsa is presented. Vascular differentiation within the procambial template is described leading to the distinction between the morphological and the vascular insertion of the leaf on the stem. Linkage between leaf trace protoxylem and stem metaxylem is timed to coincide with expansion of the leaf blade. The interconnection protects the hydraulic integrity of the main axis at times of physical stress, important in the palm which has no system of vascular renewal. The extended distances over which vascular developmental processes occur in the palm crown (several centimeters) clearly demonstrate requirements which must occur in all vascular plants. Discontinuous protoxylem differentiation in the leaf-stem union, which seems universally present in vascular plants, is explicable in these same functional terms.
Transient Synovitis, Septic Hip, and Legg-Calve´ - Perthes Disease An Approach to the Correct Diagnosis

Transient synovitis, septic hip, and Legg-Calve-Perthes disease are common conditions in children. Distinguishing between these disorders can be a diagnostic challenge. Similar presentations, in an age group difficult to examine, coupled with literature that is confusing creates difficulty. It is important to make the correct diagnosis of septic hip in a timely fashion to avoid serious and potentially crippling consequences. As there is no single test for discriminating between these conditions, knowledge of the nuances of clinical presentation, physical examination, laboratory investigations, and imaging is essential. Judicious use of clinical algorithms can complement clinical acumen.
The effectiveness of primary PTCA: does patient risk matter?

Ever since the introduction of primary angioplasty as a method for reperfusion in the setting of acute myocardial infarction in 1982, controversy has surrounded its appropriate use. Taken as a group, modest-sized randomized clinical trials comparing primary angioplasty with thrombolytic therapy in
Hearing in a “Moving” Visual World: Coordinate Transformations Along the Auditory Pathway

This chapter reviews the literature on how auditory signals are transformed into a coordinate system that facilitates interactions with the visual system. Sound location is deduced from cues that depend on the position of the sound with respect to the head, but visual location is deduced from the pattern of light illuminating the retina, yielding an eye-centered code. Connecting sights and sounds originating from the same position in the physical world requires the brain to incorporate information about the position of the eyes with respect to the head. Eye position has been found to interact with auditory signals at all levels of the auditory pathway that have been tested but usually yields a code that is in a hybrid reference frame: neither head nor eye centered. Computing a coordinate transformation, in principle, may be easy, which could suggest that the looseness of the computational constraints may permit hybrid coding. A review of the behavioral literature addressing the effects of eye gaze on auditory spatial perception and a discussion of its consistency with physiological observations concludes the chapter.
Distributed Bayesian quickest change detection in sensor networks via large deviation analysis

We propose a distributed Bayesian quickest change detection algorithm for sensor networks, based on a random gossip inter-sensor communication structure. Without a control or fusion center, each sensor executes its local change detection procedure in a parallel and distributed fashion, interacting with its neighbor sensors via random inter-sensor communications to propagate information. By modeling the information propagation dynamics in the network as a Markov process, two-layer large deviation analysis is presented to analyze the performance of the proposed algorithm. The first-layer analysis shows that the probability of false alarm according to a rare event decays to zero at an exponentially fast rate when the conditional averaged detection decay increases, where the Kullback-Leibler information number is established as a crucial factor. The second-layer analysis shows that the probability of the rare event that not all observations are available at a sensor decays to zero at an exponentially fast rate when the averaged number of communications increases, where the large deviation upper and lower bounds for this rate are also derived, based on which we show that the performance of the distributed algorithm converges exponentially fast to that of the centralized one.
Player interaction in narrative games: structure and narrative progression mechanics

When studying the impact of interactive narratives, especially in high impact, sensitive domains such as education and health, it is important that the narrative design as a whole is reported in sufficient detail to allow for analysis and replication. However, the design of interactive narrative applications is often insufficiently documented and reported, despite being a central component and, often, a focus of study. This is due, in part, to a lack of a common lexicon that allows designers and practitioners to describe and compare their designs. This paper examines interaction design in interactive narrative games, specifically structure and progression mechanics, from the perspective of establishing common ground between designer and player. Using the interaction model for interactive narratives to guide our analysis, we found patterns of structure and narrative progression mechanics that offer insight into commercial design practices, which can inform and guide interaction design choices for narrative games.
Decolonizing the Caribbean Diet: Two Perspectives on Possibilities and Challenges

We wonder if food and agriculture will be an emer­gent theme in reclaiming the Taino identity, the Indigenous people of the Caribbean. As we con­sider the emergent movement to decolonize our diets and utilize food as medicine alongside veganism and vegetarianism trends, we wonder how and if food, foodways, and agriculture are or will be tools to decolonize and reclaim the Taino identity. In this paper, we will explore two perspectives on the possible opportunities and challenges of such movements and how they will look in the Caribbean and its diaspora. Note: Updated version published December 3, 2019, to correctly cite sources on second page. See the press release for this article.
Low Carbohydrate and Low-Fat Diets: What We Don’t Know and Why We Should Know It

In the 1940s, the diet-heart hypothesis proposed that high dietary saturated fat and cholesterol intake promoted coronary heart disease in “at-risk” individuals. This hypothesis prompted federal recommendations for a low-fat diet for “high risk” patients and as a preventive health measure for everyone except infants. The low carbohydrate diet, first used to treat type 1 diabetes, became a popular obesity therapy with the Atkins diet in the 1970s. Its predicted effectiveness was based largely on the hypothesis that insulin is the causa prima of weight gain and regain via hyperphagia and hypometabolism during and after weight reduction, and therefore reduced carbohydrate intake would promote and sustain weight loss. Based on literature reviews, there are insufficient randomized controlled inpatient studies examining the physiological significance of the mechanisms proposed to support one over the other. Outpatient studies can be confounded by poor diet compliance such that the quality and quantity of the energy intake cannot be ascertained. Many studies also fail to separate macronutrient quantity from quality. Overall, there is no conclusive evidence that the degree of weight loss or the duration of reduced weight maintenance are significantly affected by dietary macronutrient quantity beyond effects attributable to caloric intake. Further work is needed.
Information Systems Security Management

Information Systems Security (ISS) is a broad term that covers all security aspects in enterprises, including system analysis and design method, manual information systems, managerial issues, and both societal and ethical problems. Information systems security management (ISSM) evolved recently to be a discipline by itself. Some universities offer graduate programs in ISSM. It integrates general information systems skills with security and management skills. One of ISSM major goals is to ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of information whenever and wherever it is transmitted, stored, and processed.
Simulation of plasma accelerators with the Particle-In-Cell method

We present the standard electromagnetic Particle-in-Cell method, starting from the discrete approximation of derivatives on a uniform grid. The application to second-order, centered, finite-difference discretization of the equations of motion and of Maxwells equations is then described in one dimension, followed by two and three dimensions. Various algorithms are presented, for which we discuss the stability and accuracy, introducing and elucidating concepts like numerical stochastic heating, CFL limit and numerical dispersion. The coupling of the particles and field quantities via interpolation at various orders is detailed, together with its implication on energy and momentum conserving. Special topics of relevance to the modeling of plasma accelerators are discussed, such as moving window, optimal Lorentz boosted frame, the numerical Cherenkov instability and its mitigation. Examples of simulations of laser-driven and particle beam-driven accelerators are given, including with mesh refinement. We conclude with a discussion on high-performance computing and a brief outlook.
Enhancing the morphological segmentation of microscopic fossils through Localized Topology-Aware Edge Detection

Fossil single-celled marine organisms known as foraminifera are widely used in oceanographic research. The identification of species is one of the most common tasks when analyzing ocean samples. One of the primary criteria for species identification is their morphology. Automatic segmentation of images of foraminifera would aid on the identification task as well as on other morphological studies. We pose this problem as an edge detection task for which capturing the correct topological structure is essential. Due to the presence of soft edges and even unclosed segments, state-of-the-art techniques have problems capturing the correct edge structure. Standard pixel-based loss functions are also sensitive to small deformations and shifts of the edges penalizing location more heavily than actual structure. Hence, we propose a homology-based detector of local structural difference between two edge maps with a tolerable deformation. This detector is employed as a new criterion for the training and design of data-driven approaches that focus on enhancing these structural differences. Our approaches demonstrate significant improvement on morphological segmentation of foraminifera when considering region-based and topology-based metrics. Human ranking of the quality of the results by marine researchers also supports these findings.
Environmentally relevant mixtures of phthalates and phthalate metabolites differentially alter the cell cycle and apoptosis in mouse neonatal ovaries

Phthalates are a group of chemicals used as additives in various consumer products, medical equipment, and personal care products. Phthalates and their metabolites are consistently detected in humans, indicating widespread and continuous exposure to multiple phthalates. Thus, environmentally relevant mixtures of phthalates and phthalate metabolites were investigated to determine the effects of phthalates on the function of the ovary during the neonatal period of development. Neonatal ovaries from CD-1 mice were cultured with dimethyl sulphoxide (DMSO; vehicle control), phthalate mixture (0.1-100 μg/mL), or phthalate metabolite mixture (0.1-100 μg/mL). The phthalate mixture was composed of 35% diethyl phthalate, 21% di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate, 15% dibutyl phthalate, 15% diisononyl phthalate, 8% diisobutyl phthalate, and 5% benzylbutyl phthalate. The phthalate metabolite mixture was composed of 37% monoethyl phthalate, 19% mono(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate, 15% monobutyl phthalate, 10% monoisononyl phthalate, 10% monoisobutyl phthalate, and 8% monobenzyl phthalate. After 96 h of culture, ovaries were harvested for histological analysis of folliculogenesis, gene expression analysis of cell cycle and apoptosis regulators, and immune staining for cell proliferation and apoptosis. The metabolite mixture significantly decreased the number and percentage of abnormal follicles (100 μg/mL) compared to controls. The metabolite mixture also significantly increased the expression of cell cycle inhibitors (100 μg/mL) and the antiapoptotic factor Bcl2l10 (10 μg/mL) compared to controls. The phthalate mixture did not significantly alter gene expression or follicle counts, but ovaries exposed to the phthalate mixture (0.1 μg/mL) exhibited marginally significantly increased apoptosis as revealed by DNA fragmentation staining. Overall, these data show that parent phthalates and phthalate metabolites differentially impact ovarian function.
Using strontium isotopes to determine philopatry and dispersal in primates: a case study from Kibale National Park.

Strontium isotope ratios (87Sr/86Sr) allow researchers to track changes in mobility throughout an animal's life and could theoretically be used to reconstruct sex-biases in philopatry and dispersal...
Cooperative Learning of Zero-Shot Machine Reading Comprehension.

Pretrained language models have significantly improved the performance of down-stream language understanding tasks, including extractive question answering, by providing high-quality contextualized word embeddings. However, learning question answering models still need large-scaled data annotation in specific domains. In this work, we propose a cooperative, self-play learning framework, REGEX, for question generation and answering. REGEX is built upon a masked answer extraction task with an interactive learning environment containing an answer entity REcognizer, a question Generator, and an answer EXtractor. Given a passage with a masked entity, the generator generates a question around the entity, and the extractor is trained to extract the masked entity with the generated question and raw texts. The framework allows the training of question generation and answering models on any text corpora without annotation. We further leverage a reinforcement learning technique to reward generating high-quality questions and to improve the answer extraction model's performance. Experiment results show that REGEX outperforms the state-of-the-art (SOTA) pretrained language models and zero-shot approaches on standard question-answering benchmarks, and yields the new SOTA performance under the zero-shot setting.
Nanopore chip with self-aligned transverse tunneling junction for DNA detection.

Abstract To achieve better signal quality and resolution in nanopore sequencing, there has been strong interest in quantum tunneling based detection which requires integration of tunneling junctions in nanopores. However, there has been very limited success due to precision and reproducibility issues. Here we report a new strategy based on feedback-controlled electrochemical processes in a confined nanoscale space to construct nanopore devices with self-aligned transverse tunneling junctions, all embedded on a nanofluidic chip. We demonstrate high-yield (>93%) correlated detection of translocating DNAs from both the ionic channel and the tunneling junction with enriched event rate. We also observed events attributed to non-translocating DNA making contact with the transverse electrodes. Existing challenges for precise sequencing are discussed, including fast translocation speed, and interference from transient electrostatic signals from fast-moving DNAs. Our work can serve as a first step to provide an accessible, and reproducible platform enabling further optimizations for tunneling-based DNA detection, and potentially sequencing.
Prodromus, Florae Novae Hollandiae

When Brown arrived in England in October 1805, he had nearly 4000 species of flora in the ship’s hold (3200 from Australia and 200 from Timor), a good sample of Australian fauna and Bauer’s excellent illustrations as well. The material Brown brought back with him framed the work he accomplished for the rest of his career, eventually spurring breakthroughs in cytology, palynology (study of pollen grains), taxonomy, and biogeography. As a result of his labors and his success in bringing so many specimens back with him, Brown was elected clerk, librarian, and housekeeper to the Linnean Society of London. In addition to his collections from Australia and the nearby regions, he had specimens from South Africa, including many species from the Proteaceae. This family of plants, largely indigenous to the Southern Hemisphere, was a group of tropical and subtropical evergreen shrubs and trees including Macadamia and Banksia. There were a total of roughly 75 genera and 1000 species of plants belonging to the Proteaceae. Brown noted similarities between the specimens of Proteaceae from the South African region and those from Australia and its surrounding area. Brown already was drawn to the more natural system of Antoine Laurent de Jussieu and Augustin Pyrame de Candolle (embraced by French naturalists), which considered a larger range of characteristics. The vast amount of material Brown assembled gave him sufficient justification in reassessing the Linnean system of classification, and enabled him to better grasp its inadequacies. Although Brown’s landmark paper, “On the Proteaceae,” did not initially receive priority and the recognition it deserved, it was a significant contribution to the field of botanical taxonomy. The genius of Brown’s work is that he generally applied Jussieu’s classification scheme throughout the plant kingdom, a scheme that had organized the plant kingdom into 15 natural groups consisting of 100 natural orders. The result of his work enhanced his reputation as an important naturalist. His daring work, breaking with Linnaeus’s artificial system, set the stage for his book, Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae, published in 1810, including some of the information found in his earlier paper. Prodromus bears much of the influence of de Jussieu and de Candolle but Brown broke new ground by utilizing a different sequence of the plant orders. When Banks’s trusted librarian, Jonas Dryander, died, Brown’s role further changed. Brown became indispensable to Banks. He appointed Brown to be his librarian. Brown was happy in gaining an additional source of income as Banks’s librarian, and was particularly pleased that he no longer had to go back to the military to earn his living. He was a full-fledged professional scientist, one of the few men who enjoyed that status in the scientific world at the time, and his salary earned from his scientific work enabled him to adequately support himself.
Ag Biotech: Our Past and Our Future

Publisher Summary The exponential growth in computing capacity, which speeds the evaluation of complex genetic data, is supporting exponential growth in mankind's knowledge of genes. This better understanding of the genetic heritage of plants has prompted the development of techniques to improve crops. These techniques are superior to traditional methods of plant breeding, whereby many traits are moved unintentionally along with the desired one. With biotechnology and recombinant DNA techniques, a selected gene can be inserted into the cells of a plant, thus providing a more directed and rapid way to improve crop plants. Agricultural biotechnology offers exciting possibilities and is already accomplishing much as a safe and productive alternative to traditional farming methods. Agricultural system presents the possibility of a new life for hundreds of millions of people who, with the benefits offered by agricultural biotechnology, will have an opportunity to change their lives. They could be relieved of the burdens of hunger, malnutrition, and disease and enjoy the prospects of improved yields of high nutrition food products that would bring new economic opportunities as well.
Outcomes of Using Computer Simulations

AbstractThis study analyzed changes in learners’ responses as they sought to improve their performance using a context-specific set of computer simulations. The simulations were written to train learners in the principles of behavior analysis for solving classroom management problems. Changes in learners’ responses showed that items corresponding to concepts that showed superior performance in a previous experiment were changed at very high rates. The primary gains from learning via computer simulations of the kind employed in this case are best understood as being associated with increased practice rather than with the development of integrated schematic knowledge.
Effect of changes in regional forest abundance on the decline and recovery of a forest bird community

Bird populations were monitored for 32 years in a 23-ha tract of hemlockhardwood forest. Between 1953 and 1976 the total abundance of long-distance migrants declined significantly and four species disappeared, but after 1976 both the total abundance and the number of species increased. Multiple regression analysis shows that the abundance of long-distance migrants was negatively related to abundance of bird species characteristic of suburban habitats and positively related to the amount of forest within 2 km of the study area. The decline in long-distance migrants before 1976 occurred when suburban species were increasing and nearby forest was destroyed. The increase after 1976 is best explained by reforestation in the surrounding area because suburban birds were still increasing. A diversity of forest species, including many long-distance migrants, became established in the reforested areas. This pattern suggests that immigration from nearby forests is important in maintaining the abundance of long-distance migrants. Received 22 Jan. 1986, accepted 10 July 1986. Long-term censuses of bird populations in six forest preserves in eastern North America reveal a substantial decline in both the species richness and density of migratory, forest-dwelling passerines during the past 2030 years (Robbins 1979, Butcher et al. 1981, Leck et al. 1981, Serrao 1985). Many of the same species have declined in all of these preserves. Red-eyed Vireo, Black-throated Green Warbler, American Redstart, Ovenbird, and Hooded Warbler (scientific names are in Table 1) have decreased by 45-100% at sites where they were originally present. All sites are small urban and suburban preserves (generally <100 ha) that are isolated from other forests. Although little habitat change or direct human disturbance has occurred within the preserves, in almost all cases surrounding forest was destroyed during the period, thereby increasing the isolation of the preserves. A greater proportion of edge habitat in small forests leads to higher rates of nest predation and brood parasitism (Gates and Gysel 1978, Brittingham and Temple 1983, Wilcove 1985), and may result in competition with "suburban" species (i.e., species that are common in edge habitat and wooded residential areas; Butcher et al. 1981). Also, bird species may disappear because particular microhabitats are absent in a small forest (Karr 1982) or because the small populations characteristic ' Dept. Zoology, Connecticut College, New London, Connecticut 06320. (Present address MJP: RFD 1, Box 140, Stonington, Connecticut 06378.)