cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Pennsylvanian cyclothems in Midcontinent North America as far-field effects of waxing and waning of Gondwana ice sheets

Pennsylvanian cyclothems of Midcontinent North America represent a repetitive succession of widespread marine beds, upon which widespread paleosols in the overlying terrestrial beds show that they resulted from extensive marine regressions as well as transgressions over a large land surface. Classic widespread late middle to late Pennsylvanian major cyclothems in this region consist of a thin transgressive limestone and thin offshore dark phosphatic shale (which contains the maximum fl ooding surface), followed upward by a thicker regressive shallowing-upward limestone and a variety of nearshore marine and terrestrial detrital facies as well as paleosols. Cyclothems of intermediate scale lack the black facies in the offshore shale and are less widespread, and those of minor scale lack much differentiation of facies. The greatest number of cyclothems of all scales is along the shelf-basin margin in the Kansas-Oklahoma border region, and the total number decreases as most minor cycles pinch out northward into Iowa, several intermediate cycles disappear eastward into Illinois, and only some of the major cycles extend farther into the shelfward Appalachian Basin. Cycles of all scales can be grouped around each major cyclothem to produce a succession of ~400-k.y.long groupings, which can be used to calibrate the Pennsylvanian time scale with the few radiometric dates that are available. Conodont-based biostratigraphic correlation of the Midcontinent cyclothems with those of the Illinois and Appalachian Basins and the north Texas shelf and Paradox Basin in Utah has been extended to the cyclothems now recognized on the Russian Platform and in the Donets Basin of Eastern Europe. This biostratigraphic zonation of the Pennsylvanian pantropical zone provides the framework for incorporating the radiometric dates now becoming available from fossiliferous marine successions that contain volcanics into the named units of the Pennsylvanian time scale. This framework ultimately should allow the Gondwana succession with entirely endemic biotas to be correlated more accurately with the pantropical zone. The current lack of apparent correlation of times of major cyclothem formation in the pantropical zone with widespread glacial deposits on Gondwana relates to the fact that only large-scale withdrawals of the sea off of the tropical shelves would correlate with widespread glacial deposits, whereas a succession of major cyclothems that are separated by regressions that only approached the edge of the shelf would appear to be simply a long-term interglacial episode in most of Gondwana.
Effects of relative humidity during the last five days of incubation and brooding temperature on performance of broiler chicks from young broiler breeders

Abstract Broiler hatching eggs were subjected to one RH condition (53% RH) from 0 to 16 d and switched to one of three different RH conditions (43, 53, or 63%) from transfer at 16 d to pull time at 21.67 d of incubation. The broiler breeder ages were 27, 29, and 31 wk for Trial 1, and 26, 28, and 30 wk for Trial 2 in Experiment 1. For both trials, BW at hatch, BW at pull, hatch time, and chick weight loss between hatching and pull were measured. All unhatched eggs were opened and examined macroscopically. Experiment 2 was conducted using the chicks produced in Experiment 1. The chicks were immediately placed after pull and randomly distributed by sex into brooding pens by RH treatment in Trial 1, and by sex, RH, and brooding temperature in Trial 2. Two brooding conditions, warm and cool, were used in Trial 2. Body weight at placement, BW gain to 12 d, feed conversion, and mortality were recorded. There was no effect of RH treatment on fertile hatchability. Body weight at hatch, pull, and placement increased with hen age. Mortality was higher for the late-hatching chicks in the warm brooding conditions in Trials 1 and 2 of Experiment 2, whereas mortality was significantly greater for the early-hatching chicks and those chicks hatched at 43% RH under the cool-brooding temperature conditions. Relative humidity treatment had no effect on chick performance in the presence of warm brooding conditions. Warm brooding conditions improved BW gain to 12 d compared with cold brooding conditions. Overall, optimal chick performance was achieved at 53% RH. Chick quality problems that may be due to high or low RH during incubation can be ameliorated by proper brooding conditions.
Linear Mixed Effects Models

This chapter expands on linear models through the introduction of random effects, where the independent variables in the model include those variables that are fixed and those that vary across subjects. The general linear mixed effects model (LMEM) is introduced as methods for parameter estimation – maximum likelihood and restricted maximum likelihood. Model selection and goodness of fit in the context of LMEMs are discussed. The concept of empirical Bayes estimates and how shrinkage affects these estimates are also discussed. Building upon LMEMs, partial LMEMs are introduced, which use penalized spline regression to obtain a nonparametric-type smooth to the data, and how these might be used for covariate selection when knowing the exact nature of the effect of time is not needed. Three examples of LMEMs are provided: results from a food effect study, modeling tumor growth in a mouse xenograft model, and a detailed analysis of QT prolongation in clinical studies.
Accident vulnerability and blood alcohol concentrations of drivers by demographic characteristics.

Accident-vulnerability (a-v) ratios of 9353 drivers involved in accidents and of 8008 time- and space-matched control drivers in Grand Rapids, Mich., were calculated by dividing the percentage of a...
Supreme Court Holds Medical Residents are Not Students for Purposes of FICA

“How do you draw the line between a student who is working and a worker who is studying?” This question, asked by Justice Sotomayor during oral arguments for Mayo Foundation v. U.S., highlighted the issue as to whether medical residents should be considered students for FICA purposes. Specifically at issue was whether residents that worked and received training at the Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research were exempt from FICA under the “student exemption” in section 3121(b)(10) of the Internal Revenue Code. Following several adverse decisions, the Treasury Department recently amended a long-standing regulation by adding a “full-time employee” limitation, which effectively removes residents from the exemption. The district court invalidated the amended regulation, however the Eighth Circuit reversed. In January 2011, the U.S. Supreme Court resolved the issue in favor of the government based on its finding that the regulation is a permissible construction of the statute.
Piloting a Fiber Optics and Electronic Theory Curriculum with High School Students

Previous participants from a multi-year blended learning intervention focusing on science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) content knowledge, technical, college, and career preparatory skills were recruited to pilot a new module designed by the project staff. Participants met for a total of 22 contact hours receiving lectures from staff and two guest speakers from industries relevant to photonics, fiber optics hands-on experimentation, and practice with documenting progress. Activities included constructing a fiber optics communication system, troubleshooting breadboard circuits and diagrammed circuits as well as hypothesis testing to discover various aspects of fiber optic cables. Participants documented their activities, wrote reflections on the content and learning endeavor and gave talks about their research experiences to staff, peers, and relatives during the last session. Overall, it was found that a significant gain in content knowledge occurred between the time of pre-testing (Mean=0.54) and post-testing time points for the fiber optics portion of the curriculum via the use of a paired samples t-test (Mean=0.71), t=-2.72, p<.05. Additionally, the electronic theory test results were not a normal distribution and for this reason non-parametric testing was used, specifically a Wilcoxon signed-ranks test. Results indicated a significant increase in content knowledge occurred over time between the pre- (Mdn=0.35) and post-testing time points (Mdn=0.80) z=-2.49, p<,05, r=-0.59 for the electronic theory portion of the curriculum. An equivalent control group was recruited from the remaining participant pool, allowing for comparison between groups. The program design, findings, and lessons learned will be reported in this paper.
Powder metallurgy

Modern powder metallurgy has two principal uses: the cheap and efficient mass production of machine parts that do not require high strength, and the creation of alloys with special properties. Both uses are described and the development of the process is reviewed.
An Analogue of Ptolemy's Theorem in Spherical Geometry

(pl, P2, . . . X Pn+2) = COS(pip1/P) where i, j=1, 2, * , n+2, and Pi, P2, P * p+2 are n+2 points of the ndimensional spherical surface Sntp (the "surface" of a sphere of radius p in euclidean (n+1)-dimensional space, with shorter arc metric, where PPj-=Pipi denotes the distance of the points pi, pj). Haantjes [4] gave a proof of the spherical analogue of the ptolemaic inequality, and [5 ] developed techniques which give a new proof of Ptolemy's Theorem and its converse in the euclidean plane. It is further stated [5] that these techniques give proofs of the analogue of Ptolemy's Theorem and its converse in the spherical and hyperbolic planes. However, his analogue of the converse of Ptolemy's Theorem in the hyperbolic plane is false; e.g., the determinant Isinh2 ppj1/21 =0, where i, j= 1, 2, 3, 4 for four points on a horocycle in the hyperbolic plane (see [6]), and consequently the result for the spherical plane is not immediate. The purpose of this note is to give the geometrical significance of the determinant
Medicinal Leeches: Ancient Therapy is a Source of Biotech Drugs

Hirudin analogs have been shown to be inhibitors of thrombin with many potential uses. These agents appear to have advantages over conventional anticoagulant agents such as heparin. The hirudin compounds do not require a cofactor to work, have consistent dose-dependent effects, act directly on thrombin, are highly specific, and have little to no toxicity.
Destuntzia, a new genus in the Hymenogastraceae (Basidiomycotina)

A new genus in the Hymenogastraceae, Destuntzia, is created to accommodate two species formerly placed in Hymenogaster, H. ruber and H. subborealis, and three previously undescribed species, D. fusca, D. saylorii, and D. solstitialis. Destuntzia is characterized by the locules lacking an organized hymenium and being filled with a gel containing pigmented, verrucose to rugulose spores. From its conception, Hymenogaster has included all hypogeous Basidiomy? cetes that have non-gelatinous trama, brown spores possessing smooth to ver? rucose or warty-rugulose ornamentation, and a columella that is absent to narrow and decurrent (Dodge and Zeller, 1934; Smith, 1973). Dring (1973) has further characterized Hymenogaster as having aulaeate sporocarp development and ba? sidia arranged in an organized hymenium. A rather unusual fungus collected by Trappe during the 1971 Stuntz Foray in Mendocino County, California, has led us to re-evaluate the inclusion of some species in Hymenogaster. The fungus collected by Trappe and a second specimen of the same fungus collected by Fogel in Marin County, California, has small, spherical, gel-filled locules, loosely arranged basidia, a thick peridium that stains blue when bruised, and spores that are light olive in KOH and ornamented with warts. Attempts to identify this fungus as a member ofthe Melanogastraceae sensu lato, characterized by gel-filled locules and loosely arranged basidia, were unsuccessful. Subsequent study showed that this distinctive fungus has been described as Hymenogaster ruber by Harkness (1899). The lack of detailed notes on fresh sporocarps of the type and its preservation in liquid probably account for the lack of mention of gel in the locules and the structure of the hymenium in earlier descriptions. The anomalous position ofthe species in Hymenogaster was recognized by Dodge and Zeller (1934). They noted some similarity in the gelatinous gleba and olivaceous spores of H. ruber with some species of Hysterangium (a genus of the Phallaceae producing hypogeous sporocarps, several species of which have light green spores enclosed in a wrinkled utricle), but retained it in Hymenogaster ". . . because of the verrucose spores and the lack of a columella." Smith (1966) later noted that the spores of H. ruber are much too deeply pigmented for placement in Hyster? angium. Other fungi possessing some of the features exhibited by H. ruber, including H. subborealis Smith, have since come to our attention. The combination of gel in the locules, lack of an organized hymenium, and pigmented, verrucose to
The Systematics of the Genus Prototheca with a Description of a New Species P. Filamenta

The physiology and morphology of 23 isolates of the genus Prototheca were compared. Cell morphology varied dependent on the growth medium. All isolates grew well at room temperature (25–30 C) and a...
Forensic Identification of Anonymous Sources in OneSwarm

OneSwarm is a p2p system for anonymous file sharing. We quantify the system’s vulnerability to three attacks that identify the sources of files. First, we detail and prove that a timing attack allows a single attacker to investigate all its neighbors for possession of specific files. We prove the attack is possible due to OneSwarm’s design and is unthwarted by changes made to OneSwarm since we released our attack. Second, we show that OneSwarm is much more vulnerable to a collusion attack than previously reported, and we quantify the attack’s success given a file’s popularity, a factor not evaluated earlier. Third, we present a novel application of a known TCP-based attack. It allows a single attacker to identify whether a neighbor is the source of data or a proxy for it. Each of these attacks can be repeated as attackers quit and rejoin the network. We present these attacks in the context of forensics and the investigation of child pornography. We show that our attacks meet the higher standards required of law enforcement for criminal investigations.
Optics-Based Techniques for the Characterization of Composites and Ceramics

The needs for on-line and unsupervised industrial inspection for quality control and process monitoring are rapidly increasing with the accelerated trend toward factory automation. Optical techniques are particularly well suited for industrial inspection needs because of their noncontact nature and imaging capabilities.
The superiority of aortic cross-clamping with profound local hypothermia for myocardial protection during aorta-coronary bypass grafting.

Two different operative techniques for aorta-coronary bypass grafting were utilized in two comparable groups of patients. In one group (155 patients) distal anastomoses were carried out with the aorta cross-clamped and myocardial protection provided by profound local hypothermia (clamped group). In a second group (149 patients) distal anastomoses were carried out with the aorta unclamped and the left ventricle fibrillating and vented (unclamped group). Mortality rates were similar in the two groups (0.6 per cent in clamped group versus 1.3 per cent in unclamped group). The incidence of perioperative infarction was 15 per cent in the unclamped group and 8 per cent in the clamped group (p
[Influence of 60% oxygen inhalation on type II alveolar epithelial cells and protective role of calcitonin gene-related peptide from their damage induced in premature rat].

Objective To study in vitro the influence of 60% oxygen and the protective effect of calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) on type Ⅱ alveolar epithelial cells (AECⅡ) isolated from the lung of premature rat. Methods AECⅡ were isolated from the lung of 19-day rat fetus, and they were then cultured in six-well plates. The cells were randomly divided into four groups: air group, hyperoxia group, hyperoxia plus CGRP group, hyperoxia plus CGRP and CGRP8-37 (CGRP receptor antagonist) group. Cells of air group and hyperoxia group were exposed to 21% air or 60% oxygen, respectively, while in hyperoxia plus CGRP group CGRP was added, and in hyperoxia plus CGRP and CGRP8-37 group CGRP and CGRP8-37 were added before exposure to 60% oxygen. Cells in four groups were cultured for 24 hours, and then ground into homogenates for detection of malondialdehyde (MDA), total antioxidant capacity (TAOC) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) with ultraviolet spectrophotometer. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) and apoptosis rate of AECⅡ were analyzed by flow cytometry and the mRNA level of surfactant associated protein C (SPC) was measured by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Results The levels of ROS, MDA and apoptosis rate were increased whereas TAOC, SOD and SPC mRNA expression declined in hyperoxia group compared with those in air group (all P<0.01). In contrast, MDA, ROS and apoptosis rate were significantly lower and levels of TAOC, SOD and SPC mRNA expression were significantly higher in hyperoxia plus CGRP group than those in hyperoxia group (all P<0.01). The differences in 6 parameters above between hyperoxia group and hyperoxia plus CGRP and CGRP8-37 group were not statistically significant. Conclusion Exposure of AECⅡ from immature rat to 60% oxygen for 24 hours may produce oxidative injury, inducing apoptosis and decrease in SPC mRNA level of AECⅡ of premature rat in vitro, while CGRP may play a protective role against hyperoxic lung injury by its antioxidant property, and also inhibition of AECⅡ apoptosis and promotion of the SPC mRNA expression. Key words: hyperoxia; lung injury; type Ⅱ alveolar epithelial cell; calcitonin gene-related
Cell-Free Total and Fetal DNA in First Trimester Maternal Serum and Subsequent Development of Preeclampsia

Objective The objective of this study was to assess the relationship between first trimester cell-free total and fetal DNA in maternal plasma and the subsequent development of preeclampsia. Study Design Nested case–control study of patients enrolled in the Combined Antioxidant and Preeclampsia Prediction Studies prediction study of 175 women who did and 175 women who did not develop preeclampsia. The predictive values of cell-free total and fetal DNA and the subsequent development of preeclampsia were measured using receiver operating characteristic curves. Results Cell-free total DNA was higher in African American (median; 25–75%; 6.15; 0.14–28.73; p = 0.02) and Hispanic (4.95; 0.20–26.82; p = 0.037) compared with white women (2.33; 0.03–13.10). Levels of cell-free total DNA were also associated with maternal body mass index (BMI) ( p = 0.02). Cell-free total DNA levels were similar between women who later developed preeclampsia (3.52; 0.11–25.3) and controls (3.74; 0.12–21.14, p = 0.96). Conclusion There is no significant difference in levels of cell-free total DNA in the first trimester in women who subsequently develop preeclampsia. Levels of cell-free total DNA in the first trimester are increased in African American and Hispanic compared with white women, and levels increase with increasing BMI.
Women & Legislative Leadership in the U.S. Congress: Representing Women's Interests in Partisan Times

Women are drastically underrepresented in American political institutions. This has prompted speculation about the impact of electing more women on policy and the functioning of government. Examining the growing presence of women in Congress, I demonstrate that women do exhibit unique policy priorities, focusing more on the needs of various groups of women. However, the incentive structure of the American electoral system, which rewards ideological purity, means that women are not likely to bring more consensus to Washington. Indeed, women's issues are now entrenched in the partisan divide. Since the 1990s, the majority of women elected to Congress have been Democrats, who have pursued their vision of women's interests while portraying Republican policies as harmful to women. In response, Republican women have been deployed to defend their party, further reducing the potential for bipartisan cooperation.
Koestler’s Theory as a Foundation for Problem-Solving

Steffe suggests that researchers in teaching experiments should act as instructors: “A distinguishing characteristic of the technique is that the researcher acts as a teacher” (Steffe, 1991, p. 177). The implementation of constructivist pedagogy requires that students must be encouraged and guided to construct knowledge, to discover and create meaning of mathematics themselves.
Generalizations on active-passive dynamic consensus filters

Active-passive dynamic consensus filters consist of agents subject to local observations of a process of interest (active agents) and agents without any observations (passive agents). In this paper, we introduce a new class of active-passive dynamic consensus filters using results from graph theory and systems science. Specifically, the proposed filters only require agents to exchange their current state information with neighbors in a simple and isotropic manner to reduce the overall information exchange cost of the network. In addition, we allow the roles of active and passive agents to be time-varying for making these filters suitable for a wide range of multiagent systems applications. We show that the proposed active-passive dynamic consensus filters enable the states of all agents to converge to an adjustable neighborhood of the average of the observations sensed by a time-varying set of active agents.
New Technologies and Automation

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses some technologies with potential impact on future forensic DNA analysis and the value of automation to increase sample throughout. The forensic DNA field has advanced quickly over the past several decades but has now stabilized on short tandem repeat (STR) typing with capillary electrophoresis (CE) detection. The desire to take DNA testing capabilities out of the laboratory to a crime scene or close to a battlefield is propelling efforts into development of portable DNA testing devices. The primary advantage of analyzing DNA in a miniature CE device is that shorter channels, or capillaries lead to faster DNA separations. Separation speeds that are 10 to 100 times faster than conventional electrophoresis are obtained with this approach. The adoption of the new technology by the forensic DNA community takes time for multiple reasons. First, methods need to be carefully validated to ensure that results with a new technology are accurate and reproducible. Second, methods should yield comparable results to current technologies so that genotype information can be compared over time.
Absolute Lymphocyte Count at the Time of Relapse Predicts Survival in Patients with Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma.

The International Prognostic Index at the time of relapse (IPI-R) has been reported to predict clinical outcome in patients with relapsed diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) undergoing autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) [Jabbour et al, Leukemia & Lymphoma2005;46(6):861–867; Lerner et al, Biology of Blood and Marrow Transplant2006;13:486–492; and Costa et al, Bone Marrow Transplant2008;41:715–720]. The absolute lymphocyte count (ALC) has been reported as a prognostic factor for survival at diagnosis, during standard chemotherapy and at day 15 post-ASCT for multiple hematological malignancies; however, no reports have addressed whether ALC at the time of relapse (ALC-R) predicts survival. Thus, we assessed the prognostic significance of ALC-R in patients with relapsed DLBCL. To be included in the study, patients were required to have been diagnosed with relapsed DLBCL, have ALC values available from the time of relapse, and to be followed at Mayo Clinic, Rochester. From Feb 2,1987 until March 6, 2006, 121 DLBCL patients qualified for the study. The overall survival (OS) was measured from the time of relapse to the date of death or last follow-up and progression-free survival (PFS) was defined as the time from relapse to the time of progression, relapse, death, or last follow-up. The median age at relapse was 68 years (range:25–88 years) and the median ALC-R was 1.21 x 10 9 /L (range: 0.33–5.99 x 10 9 /L). The value of ALC-R ≥ 1.0 x 10 9 /L was used for the analysis based on previous publications. The groups (ALC-R ≥ 1 or 9 /L) were balanced for the IPI-R (p=0.1), as well as for undergoing ASCT (p=0.4). Superior OS was observed in patients with an ALC-R ≥ 1.0 x 10 9 /L (N = 76) [median OS: 27.5 months, 3 years OS rates of 42%] compared with patient with an ALC-R 9 /L (N =45) [median OS: 9.4 months, 3 years OS rates of 13%] (p 9 /L (N = 76) [median PFS: 14.8 months, 3 years PFS rates of 30%] compared with patient with an ALC-R 9 /L (N =45) [median PFS: 6.2 months, 3 years PFS rates of 11%] (p
A study comparing virtual manipulatives with other instructional treatments in third- and fourth-grade classrooms

The study reported here examined virtual manipulatives as an instructional treatment in 17 third- and fourth-grade classrooms. Students were randomly assigned to two treatment groups: texts and phy...
Applications of gallium nitride in MEMS and acoustic microsystems

This paper covers various sensors and microsystems based on gallium nitride (GaN) micro mechanical (acoustic) resonators. III-nitrides have been a subject of extensive research for power electronics as well as photonics applications but their use in micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) has been limited. In this paper, basic material properties of this group of materials (GaN, AlGaN, and other III-nitrides) are discussed and their current and future applications in MEMS and Microwave circuits are detailed.
Charge Transport and Observation of Persistent Photoconductivity in Tl6SeI4 Single Crystals.

The chalcohalide compound Tl6SeI4 is a promising wide-bandgap semiconductor for efficient hard radiation detection at room temperature due to its high density, average atomic number and mobility-lifetime product. However, the nature of its charge transport kinetics, especially the role of defects in recombination, has not been examined in detail. To determine the charge transport kinetics in Tl6SeI4 single crystals, electrical conductivity and photoinduced current transient spectroscopy were measured over the temperature range 105–330 K. These measurements reveal the existence of multiple defect states with energy levels in the range 0.10–0.90 eV, within the bandgap of Tl6SeI4. Large persistent photoconductivity (PPC) is observed at low temperature that shows strong thermal quenching at 160 K. The quenching of PPC is described using a configuration coordinate model involving a deep level donor state, which is tentatively attributed to the presence of iodine vacancies or Si interstitial impurities.
Defining the role of PCI in NSCLC: A review and meta-analysis of the literature.

e18516 Background: Non-small-cell lung cancer accounts for 85% of lung cancer diagnoses worldwide. The brain is a devastating and frequent site of metastasis. Although nearly all studies on prophyl...
Immune surveillance in melanoma: From immune attack to melanoma escape and even counterattack

Pharmacologic inhibition of the cytotoxic T lymphocyte antigen 4 (CTLA4) and the programmed death receptor-1 (PD1) has resulted in unprecedented durable responses in metastatic melanoma. However, resistance to immunotherapy remains a major challenge. Effective immune surveillance against melanoma requires 4 essential steps: activation of the T lymphocytes, homing of the activated T lymphocytes to the melanoma microenvironment, identification and episode of melanoma cells by activated T lymphocytes, and the sensitivity of melanoma cells to apoptosis. At each of these steps, there are multiple factors that may interfere with the immune surveillance machinery, thus allowing melanoma cells to escape immune attack and develop resistance to immunotherapy. We provide a comprehensive review of the complex immune surveillance mechanisms at play in melanoma, and a detailed discussion of how these mechanisms may allow for the development of intrinsic or acquired resistance to immunotherapeutic modalities, and potential avenues for overcoming this resistance.
An adaptable agent-based model for guiding multi-species Pacific salmon fisheries management within a SES framework

Abstract Informing fishery management decisions using coupled socio-ecological systems (CSES) models requires model construction that captures the systems interactions with high precision. Ecological uncertainty in fishery models is easily reduced using existing scientific literature, but social drivers are often poorly defined or understood. The lack of knowledge about fishermen behavior results in inaccurate models of questionable utility for fishery managers. We designed and constructed a high fidelity agent based model (ABM) using the socio-ecological framework that reduces social system uncertainty by capturing complex behaviors using data-driven bounded rationality and feedback. The resulting generalized ABM of CSES dynamics was instantiated to Pacific salmon fisheries at Kenai river in Upper Cook Inlet, Alaska. The data-driven model construction fuses multiple data-sets for classification of social and ecological fishery regimes into stochastic distributions; the agent behaviors were generalized by evolving parametrized equations using data-driven machine learning; multiple non-trivial metrics on multiple scales verified model's accuracy and predictive capacity. The verified model of CSES dynamics at the Kenai river revealed recent instability in the dipnet fishery coupled dynamics, historic instability in the drift gillnet fishery coupled dynamics due to a compensatory and aggressive fishing strategy, and in the future the model will be used for scenario-based studies to understand the outcomes of alternative management strategies.
Genetically encoding thioacetyl-lysine as a non-deacetylatable analog of lysine acetylation in Escherichia coli.

Reversible lysine acetylation is one of the most widely distributed post‐translational modifications; it is involved in a variety of biological processes and can be found in all three domains of life. Acetyltransferases and deacetylases work coordinately to control levels of protein acetylation. In this work, we applied the genetic code expansion strategy to site‐specifically incorporate N e‐thioacetyl‐l‐lysine (TAcK) as an analog of N e‐acetyl‐l‐lysine (AcK) into green fluorescent protein and malate dehydrogenase in Escherichia coli. We showed that TAcK could serve as an ideal functional mimic for AcK. It could also resist the bacterial sirtuin‐type deacetylase CobB. Thus, genetic incorporation of TAcK as a non‐deacetylatable analog of AcK into proteins will facilitate in vivo studies of protein acetylation.
Probabilistic seismic assessment of seismically isolated electrical transformers considering vertical isolation and vertical ground motion

Abstract This study presents a probabilistic response analysis of seismically isolated electrical transformers with emphasis on comparing the performance of equipment that are non-isolated to equipment that are isolated only in the horizontal direction or are isolated by a three-dimensional isolation system. The performance is assessed by calculating the probability of failure as function of the seismic intensity with due consideration of: (a) horizontal and vertical ground seismic motions, (b) displacement capacity of the seismic isolation system, (c) limit states of electrical bushings, (d) details of construction of the isolation system, (e) weight of the isolated transformer, and (f) bushing geometry and configuration. Calculations of the probability of failure within the lifetime of isolated and non-isolated transformers at selected locations are also performed. The results of this study demonstrate that seismic isolation systems can improve the seismic performance for a wide range of parameters and that systems which isolate in both the horizontal and vertical directions can be further effective. The seismic assessment methodology presented can be used for: (a) deciding on the need to use seismic isolation and selecting the properties of the isolation system for transformers depending on the design limits, location, and configuration of transformer and (b) calculating the mean annual frequency of functional failure and the corresponding probability of failure over the lifetime of the equipment. The results may also be used to assess the seismic performance of electric transmission networks under scenarios of component failures.
Nicotine Abstinence Influences the Calculation of Salience in Discrete Insular Circuits.

Abstract Background Insular subdivisions show distinct patterns of resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) with specific brain regions, each with different functional significance. Seeds in these subdivisions are employed to characterize the effects of acute nicotine abstinence on rsFC between insula subdivisions and brain networks implicated in addiction and attentional control. Methods In a within-subjects design, resting-state blood oxygen level–dependent data were collected from treatment-seeking smokers (N = 20) following smoking satiety and again following 48 hours of nicotine abstinence. Three right hemisphere insular regions of interest (dorsal, ventral, and posterior) served as seeds for analyses. Indices of both static and dynamic rsFC were obtained and correlated with indices of subjective withdrawal and behavioral performance. Results Abstinence-induced physiological, subjective, and cognitive differences were observed. Overall dynamic rsFC was reduced during abstinence, and circuits containing each insular seed showed changes in rsFC as a function of nicotine abstinence. Specifically, dorsal and posterior insular connections to the default mode and salience networks were enhanced, while a previously undescribed ventral insular connection to the executive control network was reduced. Further, static rsFC was significantly correlated with subjective ratings of aversive affect and withdrawal in the modified ventral and posterior insular-seeded circuits. Conclusions As predicted, divergent connections between insula subdivisions and anticorrelated resting brain networks were observed during abstinence. These changes reflect an attentional bias toward aversive affective processing and not directly away from exogenous cognitive processing, suggesting a coordinated modulation of circuits associated with interoceptive and affective processing that instantiates an aversive state during nicotine abstinence.
Society for Personality Assessment/Journal of Personality Assessment: A History.

In 2018 the Society of Personality Assessment is celebrating the 100th anniversary volume of its journal, the Journal of Personality Assessment. During this long history, the journal has played a k...
Have your momos and eat them, too

Sitting at breakfast with a group of Tibetan Buddhist monks at a monastery in southern India, I am surprised to see a plate of chicken on the table. “Is vegetarianism not required at the monastery?” I ask. Their reply is unexpected: Although no meat is served in the monastery dining hall,
PROMIS®-29 v2.0 profile physical and mental health summary scores.

The PROMIS-29 v2.0 profile assesses pain intensity using a single 0–10 numeric rating item and seven health domains (physical function, fatigue, pain interference, depressive symptoms, anxiety, ability to participate in social roles and activities, and sleep disturbance) using four items per domain. This paper describes the development of physical and mental health summary scores for the PROMIS-29 v2.0. We conducted factor analyses of PROMIS-29 scales on data collected from two internet panels (n = 3000 and 2000). Confirmatory factor analyses provided support for a physical health factor defined by physical function, pain (interference and intensity), and ability to participate in social roles and activities, and a mental health factor defined primarily by emotional distress (anxiety and depressive symptoms). Reliabilities for these two summary scores were 0.98 (physical health) and 0.97 (mental health). Correlations of the PROMIS-29 v2.0 physical and mental health summary scores with chronic conditions and other health-related quality of life measures were consistent with a priori hypotheses. This study develops and provides preliminary evidence supporting the reliability and validity of PROMIS-29 v2.0 physical and mental health summary scores that can be used in future studies to assess impacts of health care interventions and track changes in health over time. Further evaluation of these and alternative summary measures is recommended.
Energy-efficient Convolutional Neural Networks via Statistical Error Compensated Near Threshold Computing

There has been a growing need for deploying machine learning algorithms such as convolutional neural networks (CNNs) on resource-constrained edge platforms to enable on-device local inference. Despite CNNs' excellent performance that approaches and sometimes exceeds humans in a large variety of tasks, their often prohibitive complexity remains a major inhibitor. To address the energy challenge, near threshold computing (NTC) has been proposed to aggressively reduce energy consumption, at the cost of increased performance variation due to circuit level statistical behavior. In this paper, we propose a variation-tolerant architecture for CNNs capable of robust operations in the NTC regime for energy efficiency. Specifically, we construct robust CNNs from two low-cost unreliable designs that have different error statistics: a NTC design with full precision, and a K-means approximated design where weight vectors in the CNN are clustered to reduce complexity. When evaluated in CNNs using the MNIST dataset, simulation results in 45 nm CMOS show that the proposed architecture enables robust CNNs operating in the NTC regime. Specifically, the proposed CNN can enhance variation tolerance by 10× and achieve up to 134× reduction in the standard deviation of inference accuracy Pdet while incurring marginal degradation in the median inference accuracy.
Urine Biomarkers for Oxidative DNA Damage

The maintenance of macromolecular integrity and function, particularly in DNA, appears to be a major determinant of the longevity and functional capacity of biological systems.1 DNA damage induced by active oxygen species therefore may be of primary importance in cancer and aging2–4. This suggests the need for specific biomarkers (a) to elucidate the biochemical nature of DNA lesions and their repair and (b) to monitor noninvasively the generation and removal of DNA damage in biological systems. Several types of damage are known to result from the interactions of free radicals with chromatin, including single- and double-strand breaks, base and sugar alterations, and DNA-protein crosslinks.5 Each of these types of damage seems to be amenable to chemical analysis by the techniques of high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS), alkaline and neutral elution, and other chromatographic and filter techniques. Of particular interest have been the measurements of specific products of oxidative damage to DNA and proteins, such as thymine glycol, thymidine glycol, base-amino acid crosslinks, and altered amino acids. Recently, the measurement of thymine glycol (TG), thymidine glycol (dR-TG), and 5-hydroxymethyluracil (HMU) in urine has been suggested to be a suitable approach for the in situ assessment of oxidative DNA damage caused by every day metabolic processes.References
Urban Policy in Disguise: A History of the Federal Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credit

In 1976, the federal government adopted tax incentives to engage the private sector in the preservation and rehabilitation of historic buildings. This article examines the development and evolution...
Repertoire Remix in the Context of Festival City

Repertoire Remix enables remote audience members to dynamically suggest their musical preferences for live web-streaming musical improvisation sessions. The semantic web interface encourages remote participants to collaboratively use “stirring” mouse gestures to influence the size of graphical bubbles that contain composers’ names. The accumulated weight is then interpreted by musicians to improvise. This chapter documents the first pilot run of the Repertoire Remix system, explores challenges in designing a real-time shared music style arranging system for networked live improvisation and interprets the resulting performance by assessing the participants’ mouse gestures collected during the pilot run.
Utilization of the Veterans Affairs’ Transgender E-consultation Program by Health Care Providers: Mixed-Methods Study

Background: In 2015, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) nationally implemented a transgender e-consultation (e-consult) program with expert clinical guidance for providers. Objective: This mixed-methods project aimed to describe providers’ program experiences, reasons for nonuse of the program, and ways to improve the program use. Methods: From January to May 2017, 15 urban and rural VA providers who submitted at least one e-consult in the last year participated in semistructured interviews about their program experiences, which were analyzed using content analysis. From November to December 2017, 53 providers who encountered transgender patients but did not utilize the program participated in a brief online survey on the reasons for nonuse of the program and the facilitators encouraging use. Results: Qualitative analysis showed that providers learned of the program through email; colleagues; the electronic health record (EHR) system; and participation in the VA Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender committees or educational trainings. Providers used the program to establish care plans, hormone therapy recommendations, sexual and reproductive health education, surgical treatment education, patient-provider communication guidance, and second opinions. The facilitators of program use included understandable recommendations, ease of use through the EHR system, and status as the only transgender resource for rural providers. Barriers to use included time constraints, communication-related problems with the e-consult, impractical recommendations for underresourced sites, and misunderstanding of the e-consult purpose. Suggestions for improvement included addition of concise or sectioned responses, expansion of program awareness among providers or patients, designation of a follow-up contact person, and increase in provider education about transgender veterans and related care. Quantitative analysis showed that the common reasons for nonuse of the program were no knowledge of the program (54%), no need of the program (32%), and receipt of help from a colleague outside of e-consult (24%). Common suggestions to improve the program use in quantitative analyses included provision of more information about where to find e-consult in the chart, guidance on talking with patients about the program, and e-mail announcements to improve provider awareness of the program. Post hoc exploratory analyses showed no differences between urban and rural providers. Conclusions: The VA transgender e-consult program is useful for providers, but there are several barriers to implementing recommendations, some of which are especially challenging for rural providers. Addressing the identified barriers and enhancing the facilitators may improve program use and quality care for transgender veterans.
Online Appendix for 'Economic Consequences of the AOCI Filter Removal for Advanced Approaches Banks'

This is an Online Appendix to "Economic Consequences of the AOCI Filter Removal for Advanced Approaches Banks", available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3071942.
Solutions to a two-dimensional, Neumann free boundary problem

We explore regularity properties of solutions to a two-phase elliptic free boundary problem near a Neumann fixed boundary in two dimensions. Consider a function u, which is harmonic where it is not...
Adverse experiences in early childhood and their longitudinal impact on later behavioral problems of children living in poverty.

Abstract Background Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are an identified risk factor for the social and emotional development of children. What is less known is the long-term effects of ACEs when poverty and ACEs coincide. Objective Using longitudinal cohort-panel data, we examined whether exposure to ACEs by the age of three among poor children would longitudinally result in behavioral problems at ages three, five, nine, and 15, after controlling for mothers’ socioeconomic status and their children’s characteristics. Participants and setting We used a subsample of 2750 children and their parents living in urban poverty from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing study. Methods Logistic regression modeling was used to obtain adjusted odds ratios of ACE categories predicting behavioral problems after accounting for family socioeconomic position. Results Our findings indicate that experiencing ACEs in early childhood was significantly associated with later behavioral outcomes from childhood to adolescence. Exposure to multiple ACEs before the age of three was significantly associated with the top-risk behavior group at age five; the odd ratios were 2.0 (CI = 1.3–3.1) and 2.9 (CI = 1.8–4.6) for two ACEs and three or more ACEs, respectively. At both ages nine and 15, children experiencing two or more ACEs had 1.9 to 3.2 times higher odds to demonstrate more the top 10th percentile of behavioral problems. Among covariates, mothers’ race and education, and children’s gender and temperament were identified as significant factors to determine behavior problems. Conclusions The findings support policies and programs for families with children who have experienced economic disadvantages and early childhood adversity.
A Reliable Distributed Modeling Approach Applied to High-Frequency Transistors

A new distributed small-signal modeling approach is proposed for high-frequency analysis of transistors, where the extraction methods for each parameter are defined based on solely the structure of the device. An unconditionally stable implicit scheme is presented to analyze the time domain behavior of the device and the obtained results are compared with the measured results of a 0.1-µm N-polar GaN MISHEMT over a broad frequency range. Another simulation is conducted for a device with a larger width to show the distributed effects of the proposed technique and the reliability of the method in higher operating frequencies.