cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Voiced-speech representation by an analog silicon model of the auditory periphery

An analog CMOS integration of a model for the auditory periphery is presented. The model consists of middle ear, basilar membrane, and hair cell/synapse modules which are derived from neurophysiological studies. The circuit realization of each module is discussed, and experimental data of each module's response to sinusoidal excitation are given. The nonlinear speech processing capabilities of the system are demonstrated using the voiced syllable mod ba mod . The multichannel output of the silicon model corresponds to the time-varying instantaneous firing rates of auditory nerve fibers that have different characteristic frequencies. These outputs are similar to the physiologically obtained responses. The actual implementation uses subthreshold CMOS technology and analog continuous-time circuits, resulting in a real-time, micropower device with potential applications as a preprocessor of auditory stimuli. >
9. Food allergy

Food allergy, defined as an adverse immune response to food proteins, affects as many as 6% of young children and 3% to 4% of adults. Food-induced allergic reactions are responsible for a variety of symptoms involving the skin, gastrointestinal tract, and respiratory tract and might be caused by IgE-mediated and non–IgE-mediated (cellular) mechanisms. Our understanding of how food allergy represents an abrogation of normal oral tolerance is evolving. Although any food can provoke a reaction, relatively few foods are responsible for the vast majority of significant food-induced allergic reactions: milk, egg, peanuts, tree nuts, fish, and shellfish. A systematic approach to diagnosis includes a careful history, followed by laboratory studies, elimination diets, and often food challenges to confirm a diagnosis. Many food allergens have been characterized at a molecular level, which has increased our understanding of the immunopathogenesis of food allergy and might soon lead to novel diagnostic and therapeutic approaches. Currently, management of food allergies consists of educating the patient to avoid ingesting the responsible allergen and to initiate therapy in case of an unintended ingestion.
Comparing MODIS and AERONET aerosol optical depth at varying separation distances to assess ground‐based validation strategies for spaceborne lidar

[1] The difficulties in validating aerosol optical depth from spaceborne lidars such as the Geoscience Laser Altimeter System (GLAS) on board IceSat and the lidar on board the Cloud Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations (CALIPSO) satellite with ground-based instruments are discussed. Because observations are often not collocated, matching errors, which increase with separation distance, confound the validation of instrumental errors. These matching errors can be assessed by comparing the aerosol total-column optical depth measured in a swath by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument on board the Terra satellite with point Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) Sun photometer measurements at different separation distances. In particular, the relationship of the correlation of the two sensors' aerosol total-column optical depth observations with increasing spatial separation is determined. The use of back trajectories to reduce the loss in correlation with increasing spatial separation is then evaluated. Matching errors are found to increase faster over land than over water sites, with the correlation dropping by 20% in 200 km over the land sites and 500 km over the ocean sites. Constraining the area over which the MODIS aerosol optical depth is calculated to within 30° azimuth of the average back trajectory only improved the correlation for a site where long-range transport of aerosols often occurs.
Once More into the Breach with Modernity: Rejoinder to Inglehart and Norris, and Young

With respect to modernity and women's place in it, Ronald Inglehart and Pippa Norris and Iris Marion Young are sharply at odds. Young sees a rending and tearing of the social fabric, and no determinate relationship between gender equality and modernity, while Inglehart and Norris think modernization and women's rights are seamlessly joined at the hip. We think that neither of these analytical stances will do. Our assessment extends from a concept of modernity that embraces a relational complex of features and tendencies—one that is analytical, not normative, and that must always be historically situated. Modernity is a vulnerable achievement rather than the secure culmination of automatic social processes. When called to its defense, we have argued, feminists and small-d democrats may sometimes have to endorse means and modes of coercion controlled by imperfectly democratic states.For their criticisms and suggestions, we thank Rachel Epstein, Bonnie Honig, David Weakliem, and Linda Zerilli. They bear no responsibility for the substance of our rejoinder, even if their arguments with us did help us think it through.
Performance Emulation of Cell-Based AMR Cosmology Simulations

Cosmological simulations are highly complicated, and it is time-consuming to redesign and reimplement the code for improvement. Moreover, it is a risk to implement any idea directly in the code without knowing its effects on performance. In this paper, we design an emulator for cell-based AMR (adaptive mesh refinement) cosmology simulations, in particular, the Adaptive Refinement Tree (ART) application. ART is an advanced "hydro+N-body" simulation tool integrating extensive physics processes for cosmological research. The emulator is designed based on the behaviors of cell-based AMR cosmology simulations, and quantitative performance models are built toward the design of the emulator. Our experiments with realistic cosmology simulations on production supercomputers indicate that the emulator is accurate. Moreover, we evaluate and compare three different load balancing schemes for cell-based cosmology simulations via the emulator. The comparison results provide us useful insight into the performance and scalability of different load balance schemes.
Producing the Rigorous Design Case

Producing a rigorous design case, and producing a case that holds utility for designers, are not always one and the same act. The differences between rigor and utility in design cases are discussed in this article, as well as the position of the design case in the broader realm of naturalistic research. Drawing from naturalistic and action research, possible standards of rigor for cases emerge. These are presented and related to the representation of design knowledge. The article then presents issues observed among authors of traditional research in producing design cases of rigor.
Upper-Layer Circulation in the South China Sea

Abstract Upper-layer circulation is investigated by using all available historical temperature profiles combined with climatological temperature–salinity relationships in the South China Sea. Two cyclonic eddies are revealed: one is located east of Vietnam (called the East Vietnam eddy) and the other is off northwest Luzon (called the West Luzon eddy). Both local Ekman pumping and remotely forced basin-scale circulation are important mechanisms controlling these two eddies. The Luzon Strait transport (relative to 400 db) is estimated to be of the order 3.0 Sv (1 Sv = 1 × 106 m3 s−1) in the mean, and has a seasonal cycle dominated by the annual signal, with a maximum (5.3 Sv) in January–February and a minimum (0.2 Sv) in June–July. Pressure gradients are also examined to explore the dynamics of the intrusion of waters from the Pacific into the South China Sea through the Luzon Strait.
REEF TYPE BREAKWATERS

Reef type breakwaters refers to a low-crested rubble mound breakwater without the traditional multilayer cross section. This type of breakwater is little more than a homogenous pile of stones with individual stone weights sufficient to resist wave attack. In recent years a number of low-crested breakwaters has been built or considered for use at a variety of locations. Most of these structures are intended to protect a beach or reduce the cost of beach maintenance. Other applications include protecting the water intakes for power plants, the entrance channel for small boat harbors, and providing an alternative to revetment for stabilizing an eroding shore line. In situations where only partial attenuation of the waves on the leeside of the structure is required, or possibly even advantageous, a low-crested rubble mound breakwater is a logical selection. Since the cost of a rubble mound increases rapidly with the height of the crest, the economic advantage of a low-crested structure over a traditional breakwater that is infrequently overtopped is obvious. Because the reef type breakwater represents the ultimate in design simplicity it could be the optimum structure for many situations. Unfortunately, the performance of lowcrested rubble mound structures, and particularly a reef type breakwater, is not well documented or understood.
Causes of Infectious Diseases Which Tend to Get Into Febrile Convulsion

Background: Febrile convulsions are seizures associated with fever during childhood. They generally have excellent prognosis. However, as they may signify a serious underlying acute infectious disease, each case must be carefully examined and appropriately investigated. Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the causes of infectious diseases, which tend to get into febrile convulsion in patients hospitalized in 17 th Shahrivar Hospital in Rasht city, Iran. Patients and Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted on all children hospitalized with infectious diseases in 17 th Shahrivar Children’s Hospital in Rasht city, Iran, between August 2008 and August 2009. They were recruited using the convenient method. Data were collected using a form including age, sex, season of admission and possible diagnosis and analyzed by descriptive statistics (mean, standard deviation and frequency) using SPSS software version 16. Results: In this study, 191 patients (14%) had febrile convulsion. According to the results, respiratory tract infection was mentioned in 97 cases (47.3%) and considered as the leading cause of fever. Conclusions: According to results, it seems that clinicians should assess patients with infectious disease thoroughly to prevent further health problems.
Exercise and insulin stimulate skeletal muscle glucose transport through different mechanisms

This study was designed to examine the effects of acute exercise, insulin stimulation, and their combination on the kinetics of glucose transport in rat skeletal muscle. Sarcolemmal (SL) membranes were isolated from control (C), acute exercise (E), insulin-stimulated (I), and combined (E + I) rats. Michaelis-Menten kinetics indicated that the Vmax for glucose transport was increased after each perturbation compared with C but were not different from each other (E, 4,334 +/- 377; I, 4,424 +/- 668; E + I, 4,338 +/- 602; and C, 1,366 +/- 124 pmol.mg protein-1.s-1). The apparent Km was unchanged. Scatchard plots of cytochalasin B binding sites indicated that both I and E + I increased the number of binding sites compared both E and C (9.4 +/- 0.5 and 7.8 +/- 0.5 vs. 5.1 +/- 0.2 and 5.5 +/- 0.3 pmol/mg protein) without altering the dissociation constant. The increase in Vmax was greater than the increase in cytochalasin B binding sites indicating that both I and E + I caused an increase in the turnover rate of transport molecules as well as an increase in the total number of transport molecules. Because there was no change in the Km for glucose transport and no increase in cytochalasin B binding sites after exercise, the increase in Vmax was due solely to an increased turnover rate of existing transport molecules.
Deuterium Isotope Effects in α - β Pyranose and in Pyranose-Furanose Interconversions.

Rates of mutarotation, catalytic coefficients, and isotope effects are reported for the mutarotations of α-d-xylose, α-d-glucose, and β-d-fructose in H2O and in D2O at 20 °C. The isotope effects (k H /k D ) for the mutarotation of β-d-fructose (a pyranose-furanose interconversion) parallel in striking manner the isotope effects for the mutarotation of α-d-glucose (an α-β pyranose anomerization). For each sugar, the isotope effect is lowest for the acid-catalyzed reaction, and highest for the water-catalyzed reaction. The parallelism of the values obtained for the isotope effects under various conditions shows that the rate-determining steps in the two reactions are similar. Presumably, in both instances, the overall mutarotation arises from concurrent reactions operating on different species of the sugar and showing substantially different isotope effects. The gradual change in the isotope effect indicates that, under the conditions studied, three reactions take place concurrently. The following isotope effects were found for the mutarotations at 20 °C: For α-d-glueose, k H 3 O + / k D 3 O + = 1.39 : k H 2 O + / k D 2 O = 3.87 ; and k B / k B * = 1.83 . For β-d-fructose, k H 3 O + / k D 2 O + = 1.39 ; k H 2 O / k D 2 O = 3.87 ; and k B / k B * = 1.92 . Mechanisms are presented for the several concurrent acid- and base-catalyzed mutarotation reactions.
Does Ungulate Foraging Behavior in Forest Canopy Gaps Produce a Spatial Subsidy with Cascading Effects on Vegetation

Concentrated foraging in forest canopy gaps by large ungulates may produce a pulsed spatial resource subsidy with cascading effects on the composition and developmental trajectory of gap vegetation. To test this hypothesis, we investigated the influence of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) use of 12 artificial canopy gaps in a hemlock-northern hardwood forest. Ground-layer vegetation was monitored and available reactive nitrogen was assayed using resin beads deployed under the snowpack (March‐April) and soon after snowmelt (May). Deer use of openings was consistent with the forage maturation hypothesis, with the greatest levels of use occurring in small gaps. Allometric relationships suggest that mean localized winter pulses of deer-excreted N may be on par and/or in excess of annual atmospheric N deposition in the region. Correspondingly, deer access plots contained significantly more reactive N than exclosure plots soon after snowmelt (P 0.036) in April. While the pulse was indistinguishable by May, our nonmetric multidimensional scaling ordination results suggest that plant community composition in exclosure and control plots reflects this pulsed gradient in N availability. Given the importance of canopy disturbances and gaps to the perpetuation of forest ecosystems, localized and/or heterogeneous impacts may be magnified as forests turn over.
WELLBORE PRESSURE DROP CALCULATION CONSIDERING THE RADIAL INFLOW THROUGH WALL IN THE EXTENDED REACH WELL

According to the characters of wellbore flow in the extended reach well, wellbore pressure drop calculation model considering radial inflow through wall in the extended reach well with arbitrary dip angle was established by using the principle of mass conservation and momentum conservation. The calculation model about monophasic fluid pressure drop in the ordinary horizontal pipe and the Dikken's pressure drop model are special examples of the model set up in this paper. Under the condition of laminar or turbulent flow in the wellbore, the wall friction factor considering inflow through wall was analyzed and discussed. As an applied example, the pressure distribution and pressure drop along the well bore of varying well-length and well production in the case of single-phase flow in the wallbore was calculated. The result of calculation shows that the pressure drop in the long well bore and high production can not be neglected.
Evaluation of Occupational Hazards Control in A Construction Project of An Electronic Assembly Production Plant

[Objective]To indentify the occupational hazards in the construction project of an electronic assembly production plant through occupational hazards control evaluation,to analyze its hazard degree and the influence on workers' health,to evaluate the effects of the measures for occupational hazard control,and put forward control measures for the systems or modules without meeting the requirement of occupational hazard protection.[Methods]Methods of occupational health scene investigation,occupational health testing,occupational health screening and check-list were adopted for qualitative and quantitative assessments.[Results]The short-term exposure concentration and the time-weighted average concentration of xylene and the short-term exposure concentration of solvent gasoline exceeded the occupational allowable limits.[Conclusion]The protective measures against occupational hazards in this project are feasible. The air flow design was inadequate or the exhaust gas adsorption unit was not cleaned regularly or replaced which caused the resistance excessively may be the reasons of exceeding the standard in some posts.
Anxiety and education: An examination of anxiety across a nursing program

Nursing students report higher levels of anxiety than the overall population of college students, in part due to competition for entrance into programs, course structure, long hours of clinical experiences, and working with very sick persons. Excessive anxiety in nursing students can have negative health, academic, economic, and patient care outcomes, as well as impact future role transition into professional practice; including burnout and poor job performance. This 2013 study examined the type of anxiety that is experienced by baccalaureate nursing students, the timing, and severity of anxiety within the program of study. The results showed that a significant number of nursing students experienced state and trait anxiety at alarmingly high levels compared to the overall norm for college students. Contrary to the literature, anxiety did not increase in the study population over time spent in the program, rather students beginning clinical nursing courses (midway through the program of study) experienced the most alarming levels of state and trait anxiety. In order to recruit and retain healthy nurses essential to the future of the profession; nurse educators, administrators, and policy makers must become aware of the factors contributing to and the implications of anxiety in student and novice nurses. Anxiety reduction strategies should be implemented at every level to maintain positive learning and working environments.
Ureteroileourethrostomy: 16-year followup.

AbstractUreteroileourethrostomy has been abandoned at our institution for replacement of the bladder because: 1) it compromised the cancer operation and 2) upper urinary tract deterioration forced conversion to ureteroileocutaneous diversion in 2 of 3 patients.The ureteroileourethrostomy may have future application if all of the prostate is removed when cystectomy is necessary for bladder cancer. The urinary retention can be satisfactorily managed with clean, intermittent self-catheterization. The hyperchloremic metabolic acidosis can be satisfactorily managed by reducing residual urine and potassium citrate administration. The upper urinary tract changes can be partially or wholely prevented with antirefluxing ureteroileal anastomoses.
Identification of dysmorphic syndromes using landmark-specific local texture descriptors

The early detection of genetic disorders in infants is crucial for the timely management of patients and disease. The particular facial characteristics of patients affected by dysmorphic syndromes, which account to about half of genetic disorders, allows to identify positive cases prior to cytogenetic results, and avoid the overuse of genetic blood tests. However, the diagnostic accuracy by pediatricians is moderate. In this work, we present a general framework for the detection of genetic disorders from facial pictures, combining geometrical and texture features. Based on the 2D extension of Linear Discriminant Analysis, we propose the extraction of optimal landmark-specific Local Binary Pattern-based features. In particular, the proposed framework computes optimal local image filters and soft neighborhood weighting matrices that enhance the discriminative ability of the system. This new framework was tested on a database of 145 cases, including 73 pathological patients with 15 different genetic syndromes, obtaining a detection accuracy of 0.95.
Utility-Scale Solar PV in South Carolina: Analysis of Suitable Lands and Geographical Potential

The purpose of this study is to determine prospective locations for the implementation of utility-scale solar photovoltaic (PV) technologies and the associated geographical potential of solar energy in South Carolina. By considering limitations imposed by land use, land type, protected areas, and topography, the absolute solar potential was restricted to areas physically, socially, and environmentally favorable for utility PV projects. Using a geographical information system-based suitability model, lands were ranked from 0 (unsuitable for development) to 100 (most suitable). The available solar resource was then calculated for lands with suitability values of at least 50, 70, and 90, with contiguous area requirements of 0.18 and 0.036 km2 (consistent with approximately 5 MWAC and 1 MWAC capacity systems, respectively). The results indicate that, with a 5 MWAC capacity requirement, 3253 km2 (approximately 4.2 % of state land area) obtains the mid-range suitability value of 70. These lands annually receive 5460 TWh of energy from the sun. The analysis and results can facilitate the identification of potential land areas for implementation of utility-scale solar development and demonstrate the maximum solar flux extractable on these lands.
Stable and metastable (Al,Ga)As/(In,Ga)As n-channel strained quantum well field-effect transistors

It is demonstrated that FETs with excellent electrical properties can be generated in metastable (Al,Ga)As/(In,Ga)As SQW (strained quantum well) material if processing approaches which do not substantially exceed the growth temperature are utilized. To demonstrate this effect an n-channel structure with a 15-nm In/sub 0.15/Ga/sub 0.85/As SQW, capped by 38 nm of Al/sub 0.1/Ga/sub 0.83/As and 40 nm of GaAs, was fabricated into FETs. It is further demonstrated that significant spatially nonuniform relaxation occurs after high-temperature annealing in structures which were not recognized until recently as being metastable. The dislocations associated with this relaxation modify transistor characteristics in gross, uncontrolled ways. >
P2P Caching Schemes for Jointly Minimizing Memory Cost and Transmission Delay over Information-Centric Networks

Peer-to-peer (P2P) cache techniques for information-centric networks (ICN) provide the local data resources services for mobile users by storing the popular data contents in their peer mobile users' cache stations, so that a mobile user can obtain these data contents directly from its peer mobile users instead of the remote service provider. Retrieving the requested data content from the nearby storage locations (i.e., cache stations), the P2P caching technique improves the network performance by reducing the duplicate data transmission traffic. To overcome the difficulties of minimizing the data transmission delay for the P2P caching system, we divide all mobile users in a wireless cell as several P2P caching groups, where a mobile user can obtain its requested data content from a peer mobile user in the same group, or from a peer mobile user in another group. We propose the Markov decision process (MDP) based stochastic optimization scheme in this cache system with dynamic number of peers to derive the optimal lifespan for cached data contents in cache stations. The objective of our proposed stochastic optimization framework is to efficiently minimize the cost function, which jointly measures the cache size/cost and the data content transmission delay, over all P2P caching groups in the wireless cell. To achieve this goal, we apply the finite-state Markov chain to characterize the number of mobile users in each caching group and dynamically adapt the cached data lifespan in cache stations. We also develop an efficient iteration algorithm to implement our proposed MDP scheme. Finally, we validate and evaluate the performance of our proposed schemes through the numerical analyses, which show that our proposed schemes converge to a unit optimal solution.
Discoradius, a new name for the genus Heteractis Gabb & Horn, 1862 (Cheilostomata, Bryozoa), junior homonym of Heteractis Milne-Edwards & Haime, 1851 (Cnidaria, Actiniaria)

The bryozoan genus Heteractis is known from three, possibly four, different geographical regions and times. Gabb & Horn (1862) introduced the genus Heteractis for Lunulites duclosii Lea, 1833, from...
Epidemiology of Mesothelioma

While malignant mesothelioma has generally been associated with exposure to asbestos, several lines of evidence suggest strongly that, like all other cancers, it can and does occur spontaneously and that age is a strong risk factor for its development. This includes not only pleural mesothelioma, the most common site for this disease, but also extra-pleural sites (peritoneum, pericardium, tunica vaginalis testis). Recent epidemiologic studies show that ionizing radiation is another risk factor. The discovery of a germline mutation in the BRCA1 associated protein 1 (BAP1) gene, the inheritance of which increases greatly the risk of developing mesothelioma, may provide the first step in the understanding of the underlying genetic events in the pathogenesis of mesothelioma. Whether and how inheritance of this mutation interacts with other risk factors remains an open question. The diminution of the impact of asbestos on mesothelioma incidence in western countries due to its phase-out may enable the discovery of more modest risk factors. Exposure-response relationships are probably determined by the entire temporal history of exposure, not just the cumulative exposure to fibers. The concept of latency is more nuanced than appears at first sight.
Tubulointerstitial damage predicts end stage renal disease in lupus nephritis with preserved to moderately impaired renal function: A retrospective cohort study.

Abstract Objectives The presence of tubulointerstitial damage (TID) on renal biopsy is considered to be a late sequela of lupus nephritis (LN). The objective of this study was to determine if TID predicts progression to end stage renal disease (ESRD) in LN patients without advanced kidney disease. Methods All SLE patients with an index biopsy consistent with LN between January 2005 and July 2015, and eGFR ≥ 30mL/min/1.73m 2 were included. Moderate-to-severe TID was defined as the presence of moderate-to-severe tubular atrophy and/or interstitial fibrosis. Time to ESRD was defined as time from the index biopsy date to incident ESRD date; non-ESRD patients were censored at the time of death or the last visit before December 2015. Time-dependent analyses were conducted to evaluate whether moderate-to-severe TID was predictive of ESRD progression. Results Of the 131 LN patients with eGFR ≥ 30mL/min/1.73m 2 , 17 (13%) patients progressed to ESRD. Moderate-to-severe TID was present in 13% of biopsies with eGFR ≥ 60mL/min/1.73m 2 and in 33% of biopsies with eGFR between 30 and 60mL/min/1.73m 2 . Moderate-to-severe TID was associated with a higher risk of ESRD progression: adjusted hazard ratio (HR) = 4.1, 95% CI: 1.4–12.1, p = 0.01 for eGFR ≥ 30mL/min/1.73m 2 ; HR=6.2, 95% CI: 1.7–23.2, p = 0.008 for eGFR ≥ 60mL/min/1.73m 2 . There was no association between tubulointerstitial inflammation (TII) and ESRD progression. Conclusions Moderate-to-severe TID, but not TII, was a strong predictor of ESRD progression independent of eGFR or glomerular findings, therefore, providing an important window for potential early interventions.
Phonon Modes of Molecular Crystals

In order to account for the phonon modes of solids, the Bravais space cell is used by molecular spectroscopists to obtain the irreducible representation for the lattice vibrations. The crystallographic unit cell may be identical with the Bravais cell or it may be larger by a multiple of two, three or four. The relationship between the Bravais cell and ciystallographic cell can be obtained from the Hermann-Mauguin x-ray symbol which is used to designate the crystal symmetry. For all crystal structures designated by a symbol P (primitive), the ciystallographic unit cell and the Bravais unit cell are identical. Crystal structures designated with capital letters A, B, C, or I are doubly primitive and, therefore, the ciystallographic unit cells contain two Bravais cells. Crystal structures designated with the letters R or F are triply and quadruply primitive, respectively, and the ciystallographic unit cells contain three and four Bravais cells, respectively. Therefore, to obtain the number of molecules per Bravais space cell from the crystallographic unit cell, one simply divides the number of molecules in the crystallographic unit cell by the number of lattice points. In summary, the number of molecules in the Bravais space cell, Z’, is the number of molecules in the crystallographic unit cell (Z) divided by the number of lattice points (LP): Z’ = Z/LP, and this reduction is illustrated with the data in Table 1.
Palliative care utilization in oncology patients with 30-day hospital readmission.

110Background: Reducing the rate of hospital readmissions is an important aspect of improving quality of life and cost of care for patients with advanced cancer. Early Palliative Care (PC) has been shown to improve quality of life and downstream healthcare utilization in patients with advanced cancer. The aim of this study was to examine palliative care (PC) utilization and factors associated with 30-day readmission in cancer patients. Methods: All patients with 30 day readmissions to the inpatient oncology service at the Wilmot Cancer Institute from July 2015-June 2016 were identified. Chart reviews were conducted to determine primary cancer stage and type; reason for, length of stay and discharge disposition (e.g. discharged on hospice, deceased) for index and readmission; potential preventability of readmission; and if and when the patient had met with PC. Results: A total of thirty-nine patients experienced a 30-day readmission, with 95% of patients having stage IV disease and 77% having a primary lun...
Antitrust Policy for Two-Sided Markets

As technology and interconnectivity have continued to flourish, so too has an important and complex form of enterprise: the platform. Services like Uber, Google Search, Hulu, and American Express cater to distinct but deeply-interdependent “sides” of customers that derive value or revenues from one another, such as the patients and care providers on a health insurance network, or the advertisers and consumers on a social media platform. A hallmark of “two-sided markets”—those in which platforms compete—is the need to get both sides on board. The platform cannot operate successfully without a critical mass of users on both sides, which is often challenging. Platform economics has important implications for antitrust policy, as the interdependence between sides adds new complexity to the evaluation of competitive effects. It becomes critical to discern whether a platform-defendant’s conduct is plausibly necessary to get both sides on board. Until recently, courts had dealt with platform commerce only on an ad hoc basis, without articulating any general principles for evaluating restraints within two-sided markets. But the Supreme Court is poised to bring platform competition to antitrust’s frontier, as its impending decision in American Express is likely to influence how core aspects of antitrust law and procedure are to be applied within two-sided markets moving forward. Against this backdrop, this article provides a broad analysis of antitrust in two-sided markets. It begins with a discussion of the distinctive features of platform commerce, explaining how they sometimes clash with established intuition and methods in antitrust. The bulk of the paper addresses a wide range of different antitrust concerns that might emerge from platform conduct, with emphasis on discerning when the market’s two-sidedness might plausibly justify the practice in question (and when it probably doesn’t). The balance of the paper then addresses the issues in American Express—both the market definition and burden shifting questions before the Supreme Court, and the substance of the original antitrust claim.
Between kudzu and killer apps: Finding human ground between the monoculture of MOOCs and online mechanisms for learning

Although MOOCs have not lived up to previously breathless predictions of disruption, they have had an outsized influence on university administrators who see online learning as a “savior solution” ...
The Value of Phenomenology for Psychology

Phenomenology is a philosophy that had its beginnings in 1900 when Edmund Husserl (1900/1970), its founder, wrote one of his more famous works. Logical Investigations. The notion of phenomenology that Husserl advocated was more implicit in that work than defined, but his sense of phenomenology became explicit in his subsequent work. Ideas I (1913/1983). Phenomenology takes as its theme the relationship between conscious acts and the objects to which they are directed, the term object referring to anything, real or imaginary, or even illusory, that can be related to acts of consciousness. More briefly, one could say that phenomenology is the study of the relationship between consciousness and its objects. It is a philosophy that tries to develop this theme in a rigorous and consistent way, and it has also articulated an attitude and a method whereby the relationship between conscious acts and their objects can be accessed and thoroughly studied. Over the course of the last century phenomenology has developed in disparate and almost contrary ways, but as Spiegelberg (1982) has shown, there is nevertheless a unifying theme to its development.
Seed germination in rainforest fragments

Habitat loss and fragmentation remain the greatest threats to the world's biodiversity1. The local extinction of plant species from habitat fragments is common2, although the reasons for this are not fully understood. Fragmentation is known to influence both birth- and death-related processes3, but the disruption of plant reproduction, especially pollination and seed production, is thought to be particularly important4,5. The effects of fragmentation on post-pollination processes such as seed dispersal and germination have rarely been explored experimentally6. Here I show that seeds planted in forest fragments are less likely to germinate than those in continuous forest. This finding can have negative demographic consequences because it reduces the emergence of seedlings.
NIR Spectroscopy and Microspectroscopy Analysis of Intact Soybean Seeds for Food Applications through Composition Improvements. Version 2.0

The soybean-derived products are among the most important agricultural products in the USA and the world. Conventional analytical methods for soybean composition analysis are both time consuming and costly. Faster and less expensive methods are required for most practical applications. To improve the accuracy, reliability and sensitivity of NIR, major advancements in instrumentation, as well as, data analysis / calibration methodology are required. Novel NIR instruments, such as DA-NIR and FT-NIR spectrometers developed in recent years have the potential for improving significantly the quantification of soybean composition at a reasonable cost. We present representative calibrations and data for intact soybean composition analysis obtained at the University of Illinois at Urbana with cutting-edge NIR instrumentation that is currently commercially available.
Radio-Frequency Spectroscopy: Broad Introduction

Radio-frequency (RF) spectroscopy has emerged as a powerful probe of cold atoms. It provided the first evidence of BEC in dilute hydrogen gases, probed the pair structure and binding energy across the BEC/BCS crossover, and was used to study the quantum phase transition between Mott and superfluid states of lattice boson.
Dissociation between hypothermia and neurotoxicity caused by mephedrone and methcathinone in TPH2 knockout mice

Mephedrone is a commonly abused constituent of “bath salts” and has many pharmacological effects in common with methamphetamine. Despite their structural similarity, mephedrone differs significantly from methamphetamine in its effects on core body temperature and dopamine nerve endings. The reasons for these differences remain unclear. Mephedrone elicits a transient hypothermia which may provide intrinsic neuroprotection against methamphetamine-like toxicity to dopamine nerve endings. Furthermore, evidence in the literature suggests that this hypothermia is mediated by serotonin. By utilizing transgenic mice devoid of brain serotonin, we determined the contribution of this neurotransmitter to changes in core body temperature as well as its possible role in protecting against neurotoxicity. The effects of methcathinone and 4-methyl-methamphetamine, two structural analogs of mephedrone and methamphetamine, were also evaluated in these mice. The hypothermia induced by mephedrone and methcathinone in wild-type mice was not observed in mice lacking brain serotonin. Despite preventing drug-induced hypothermia, the lack of serotonin did not alter the neurotoxic profiles of the test drugs. Serotonin is a key mediator of pharmacological hypothermia induced by mephedrone and methcathinone, but these body temperature effects do not contribute to dopamine nerve ending damage observed in mice following treatment with mephedrone, methcathinone or 4-methyl-methamphetamine. Thus, the key component of methamphetamine neurotoxicity lacking in mephedrone remains to be elucidated.
Memory and cognition in schizophrenia

Episodic memory deficits are consistently documented as a core aspect of cognitive dysfunction in schizophrenia patients, present from the onset of the illness and strongly associated with functional disability. Over the past decade, research using approaches from experimental cognitive neuroscience revealed disproportionate episodic memory impairments in schizophrenia (Sz) under high cognitive demand relational encoding conditions and relatively unimpaired performance under item-specific encoding conditions. These specific deficits in component processes of episodic memory reflect impaired activation and connectivity within specific elements of frontal-medial temporal lobe circuits, with a central role for the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), relatively intact function of ventrolateral prefrontal cortex and variable results in the hippocampus. We propose that memory deficits can be understood within the broader context of cognitive deficits in Sz, where impaired DLPFC-related cognitive control has a broad impact across multiple cognitive domains. The therapeutic implications of these findings are discussed.
The Optimal Setting of Inverse Time Overcurrent Relay in Distribution Systems Installed with Smart Grounding Device

For distribution systems, transition resistances affect the fault current greatly, especially when the single phase to ground fault occurs. Since the fault currents varies with different values of transition resistances, it is suggested to utilize the inverse time overcurrent relays in protection process. For neutral point ineffective grounding systems, a smart grounding device is recently proposed to be installed. This device can add a small resistance to the neutral point and multiplies the fault current for easier protection. Under such circumstances, this paper utilizes the Exhaustive Search based method to obtain the optimal settings of the relays. The selectivity and the speed of the relays are demonstrated through a 10KV distribution system.
Multi-year surface radiative properties and vegetation parameters for hydrologic modeling in regions of complex terrain—Methodology and evaluation over the Integrated Precipitation and Hydrology Experiment 2014 domain

Abstract Study region Southeast US (SE US). Study focus This study probes the propagation of errors in standard remote-sensing vegetation products caused by cloud contamination and the impact of time-variant radiative properties for correctly describing land-surface properties in hydrologic models. Spatiotemporally-varying quality-controlled vegetation attributes (i.e., leaf area index and fractional vegetation coverage) and surface radiative properties (i.e., longwave broadband emissivity and shortwave broadband albedo) were derived from MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) products over the SE US at 1 km × 1 km and hourly resolutions from 2007 to 2013. The data sets are publicly available. The impact of uncorrected standard vegetation products and static treatments of radiative properties was assessed systematically clearly illustrating improvements in simulated water and energy fluxes using the developed landscape attributes with a fully-distributed uncalibrated hydrologic model. New hydrological insights for the region Through simulations in the Southern Appalachian Mountains, we found that the spatiotemporal variability of radiative properties significantly influences the diurnal cycle of the surface energy budget with marked differences in sensible heat fluxes (up to 10–20%). Better performance of streamflow simulations achieved by using the improved vegetation attributes is tied to changes in rainfall interception and evapotranspiration, reflecting the importance of SE forests in the regional water cycle. The largest improvements in streamflow simulations result from larger corrections to MODIS products in the inner mountain region where cloudiness is persistent.
4-1BB-Costimulated CAR-Mediated Non-Canonical NF-Kb Signaling Enhances CAR T Cell Survival and Suppresses Bim Expression

Abstract Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) T cell therapy induces deep and durable responses in a large percentage of patients with B-cell malignancies. These responses often correlate with CAR T cell persistence in patients. The first two FDA-approved CAR-T cell therapies employ 2nd generation CARs that use different costimulatory domains derived from either CD28 or 4-1BB. Data from pre-clinical studies as well as clinical trials suggest that 4-1BB CAR (BBz) T cells persist longer than CD28 CAR (28z) T cells. One signal associated with cellular survival and activated by endogenous 4-1BB, but not CD28, is the non-canonical NF-kB (ncNF-kB) pathway. NcNF-kB is required for memory T cell persistence and enhances tumor cell survival by suppressing pro-apoptotic gene transcription. Therefore, we hypothesize that the BBz, but not the 28z CAR, activates ncNF-kB signaling, which promotes CAR T cell persistence by suppressing pro-apoptotic gene expression. Using primary human T cells isolated from the apheresis products of anonymous healthy donors, we generated 28z or BBz T cells by lentiviral transduction following activation by CD3 and CD28. Induction of ncNF-kB signaling following CAR activation was assessed by western blot. NcNF-kB function was evaluated by concomitant expression of a dominant-negative mutant of NF-kB-inducing Kinase (dnNIK) to block the ncNF-kB pathway. In addition to pathway analysis by western blotting, T cell proliferation, immunophenotype and survival were assessed by bead-based counting via flow cytometry. To explore mechanisms affecting survival, pro- and anti-apoptotic gene expression was analyzed by qPCR and western blot over three weeks following restimulation through the CAR. Following CAR activation, ncNF-kB signaling was detected in BBz but not 28z T cell lysates. Control mRFP BBz T cells expanded approximately 10 fold more than BBz T cells coexpressing dnNIK. DnNIK-expressing BBz T cells exhibited higher rates of cell death contributing to the observed differences apparent in ex vivo expansion. This cell death was associated with a 2 fold increase in the message and nearly 3 fold increase in the expression of the pro-apoptotic protein, Bim, in the dnNIK BBz T cells relative to control. In contrast, dnNIK 28z T cells had no appreciable difference in proliferation or survival compared with control. Therefore, BBz, but not 28z signaling activates the ncNF-kB pathway, which protects BBz T cells from cell death likely by restricting the expression of the pro-apoptotic protein, Bim. Disclosures Milone: Novartis: Patents & Royalties.
Chapter 188 – Ovarioles

Publisher Summary This chapter deals with the ovarioles, an egg-producing tubules that are the fundamental units of ovaries in female insects. Each ovariole is a tube in which oocytes form at one end and complete development as they reach the other. The terminal filament and the germarium, which contains germ cells, are at the distal end. Ovarioles may have one of several topological arrangements within an ovary. In some species, ovarioles join the end of an oviduct radially around a central point. In others, ovarioles arise in single file off the oviduct, like teeth on a comb. The period during which ovarioles form varies widely in insects, ranging from embryonic development in aphids to the pupal stage in flies. In some taxa, the number of ovarioles can be adjusted on the basis of environmental factors. In Drosophila, for example, ovarioles form during the pupal period. This timing provides the opportunity for the number of ovarioles constructed to be adjusted on the basis of previous diet and temperature. In honeybees, however, ovarioles form in early larval development. The number of ovarioles formed is at first the same in future queens and workers. In workers, however, most ovarioles undergo cell death, whereas those in developing queens persist. Ovariole architecture is related to both phylogeny and life history. Both panoistic and meroistic ovarioles can support very rapid egg production as illustrated by the more than 40,000 eggs/day produced by both the panoistic ovarioles of the most fecund termite queens and the polytrophic ovarioles of the most fecund ants.
Reliability Assessment of Electrical Grids Subjected to Wind Hazards and Ice Accretion with Concurrent Wind

AbstractThe supportive structures of power grids are vital but susceptible to weather-related events, such as extreme wind and icing rain with concurrent wind. The objective of this paper is to ass...
Nested conformal prediction and quantile out-of-bag ensemble methods

Conformal prediction is a popular tool for providing valid prediction sets for classification and regression problems, without relying on any distributional assumptions on the data. While the traditional description of conformal prediction starts with a nonconformity score, we provide an alternate (but equivalent) view that starts with a sequence of nested sets and calibrates them to find a valid prediction set. The nested framework subsumes all nonconformity scores, including recent proposals based on quantile regression and density estimation. While these ideas were originally derived based on sample splitting, our framework seamlessly extends them to other aggregation schemes like cross-conformal, jackknife+ and out-of-bag methods. We use the framework to derive a new algorithm (QOOB, pronounced cube) that combines four ideas: quantile regression, cross-conformalization, ensemble methods and out-of-bag predictions. We develop a computationally efficient implementation of cross-conformal, that is also used by QOOB. In a detailed numerical investigation, QOOB performs either the best or close to the best on all simulated and real datasets.