cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Biology and Seasonality of the Reemergent Pest Rhynchaenus pallicornis (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) and Methods for Monitoring Its Abundance.

Rhynchaenus pallicornis (Say) is a pest of commercially grown apples in the upper Midwest. This historic pest has resurged and caused severe yield loss on farms using certified organic production practices. The life history and potential monitoring methods of R. pallicornis are presented. Seasonal abundance data were collected through beat and visual sampling. A phenological model was developed for R. pallicornis. The minimum developmental threshold of R. pallicornis was determined to be 3.5°C with a required degree-day accumulation of 125°D for first adult emergence. Larval damage was observed on >60% of leaves in unmanaged orchards and affected significantly fewer basal leaf clusters (near the trunk), than medially or apically located clusters. Of 2,900 R. pallicornis larval mines collected over two years at three different sites, 18.0% produced at least one adult parasitoid, but the targeted larval stage is unknown. Measurements of R. pallicornis larval head capsules and the simple frequency method were used to determine three larval instars of R. pallicornis The number of larval instars could also be accurately determined by observing the presence or absence of two sets of thoracic sclerites. Pyramid traps, yellow sticky cards baited with olfactory cues (pear essence, benzaldehyde, and an aggregation of adult R. pallicornis) were evaluated as R. pallicornis monitoring tools. None of the traps or lures tested significantly affected the number of adult R. pallicornis per trap.
Government Social Media Messages across Disaster Phases

Social media platforms allow emergency managers to augment traditional approaches to crisis communication. Research on government messaging, however, disproportionately addresses large‐scale disaster response efforts, neglecting smaller‐scale incidents and activities across other disaster phases (e.g., prevention, mitigation, preparedness and recovery). This article offers a more complete analysis of messaging strategies by integrating existing typologies and analysing state‐level emergency management agencies in the United States over a one‐year period. Findings illustrate a range of messages, with response and preparedness being most prevalent. While all agencies disseminated protective action messages, situational information and preparedness guidance, fewer engaged in more interactive tactics that facilitate public participation and interagency collaboration. More work, therefore, is needed to pursue social media's full potential in promoting risk reduction.
Colonoscopy and Flexible Sigmoidoscopy in Colorectal Cancer Screening and Surveillance

Since the invention of endoscopy in the 1800s, colonoscopy and flexible sigmoidoscopy have evolved into important tools in the diagnosis and treatment of lower gastrointestinal luminal diseases. These two modalities along with biochemical markers and widespread implementation of colorectal cancer (CRC) screening are responsible for the overall downtrend of CRC. However, this downward trend is not as robustly reflected in the right-sided CRC. It is thought that flat lesions in the right colon (sessile serrated polyp (SSA/P)), suboptimal colon preparation, differences in gender, and endoscopic techniques are some of the contributing factors accounting for this difference. In this review, we will summarize the most current literature and guidelines on CRC screening and surveillance. In addition, we will describe the recent advances in endoscopic CRC screening with emphasis on colonoscopy and flexible sigmoidoscopy and the changes they have brought to the CRC landscape in the US.
Acute Blood Pressure Management After Intracerebral Hemorrhage

Hypertension is the most common risk factor for intracerebral hemorrhage and the majority of patients with intracerebral hemorrhage are hypertensive on presentation. While long-term control of elevated blood pressure has been proven to improve outcomes in this condition, the short-term management of hypertension has generated controversy. Recent clinical trials have shown that aggressive blood pressure reduction in intracerebral hemorrhage appears to be safe, however, in practice, it is difficult to achieve. Moreover, aggressive blood pressure reduction has not been definitively proven to decrease hematoma expansion or lower mortality after cerebral hemorrhage. Ongoing clinical trials with earlier initiation of therapy and more effective antihypertensive therapy might help clarify whether early aggressive blood reduction in intracerebral hemorrhage improves overall outcomes.
Measuring Quality, Evaluating Curricular Change: A 7-Year Assessment of Undergraduate Business Student Writing

This article reports the background, methods, and results of a 7-year project (2007–2013) that assessed the writing of undergraduate business majors at a business college. It describes specific issues with writing assessment and how this study attempted to overcome them, largely through a situated assessment approach. The authors provide the results of more than 3,700 assessments of nearly 2,000 documents during the course of the study, reporting on scores overall and for each rubric criterion and comparing the scores of English and business assessors. They also investigate how two curricular interventions were evaluated through this assessment project. Although overall, the writing of these business majors was assessed as good, results showed noteworthy differences between the scores of English and business assessors and a noteworthy impact for one of the curricular interventions, an effort to improve the material conditions of writing instruction. The authors conclude by discussing some next steps and i...
Demographic trends of binge alcohol use and alcohol use disorders among older adults in the United States, 2005-2014.

Abstract Background Alcohol use is common among older adults, and this population has unique risks with alcohol consumption in even lower amounts than younger persons. No recent studies have estimated trends in alcohol use including binge alcohol use and alcohol use disorders (AUD) among older adults. Methods We examined alcohol use among adults age ≥50 in the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) from 2005 to 2014. Trends of self-reported past-month binge alcohol use and AUD were estimated. Logistic regression models were used to examine correlates of binge alcohol use and AUD. Results The prevalence of both past-month binge alcohol use and AUD increased significantly among adults age ≥50 from 2005/2006 to 2013/2014, with a relative increase of 19.2% for binge drinking (linear trend p Conclusions Alcohol use among older adults is increasing in the US, including past-month binge alcohol use and AUD with increasing trends among females. Providers and policymakers need to be aware of these changes to address the increase of older adults with unhealthy drinking.
Best Practices or Advertising Hype? A Content Analysis of Cosmetic Surgery Websites' Procedural, Risk, and Benefit Information

ABSTRACTLittle is known about the procedural, risk, and benefit information on cosmetic surgery websites despite cosmetic surgery's potential health risks and the facts that websites influence patient decisions to have surgery yet are advertising tools for the industry, and the majority of patients get their information from the Internet. This study content analyzed website information for the top five surgical procedures, finding few differences among procedure types and the procedure, risk, benefit, and candidate screening information. However, when differences were found, the least risky procedures provided more procedural information than the riskiest procedures. Approximately half of the sites mentioned no benefits and candidate screening, while half had a moderate to high amount of risk information. Thus, websites did emphasize risks over benefits. Moreover, few differences were found based on the site sponsor and risk, benefit, and procedure information. When differences were found, most showed com...
Un intercambio de vocales altas en el sirionó (tupí-guaraní)

Este trabalho visa a demonstrar um processo de mudanca fonologica incomum e suas implicacoes para uma teoria de mudanca linguistica como aquela proposta por Labov (1994). Concretamente, o artigo descreve a mudanca diacronica que se deu no Siriono e no Bia-ye, duas linguas Tupi-Guarani faladas na regiao oriental da Bolivia. Em Bia-ye as vogais * ɨ , *i, e suas contrapartes nasais, * ɨ e * i do Proto-Tupi, fundiram-se nas vogais / i / e / i /, respetivamente. Em Siriono, porem, a anteriorizacao das proto-vogais * ɨ e * ɨ motivou o recuo das vogais *i, * i ou seja, essas vogais intercambiram suas posicoes originarias.
Bilinear Techniques and Petrochemical Applications

Abstract It is shown that bilinear models arise naturally for petrochemical and related process control. Such dynamics occur due to chemical process control. a massaction approximation. catalytic multipliers. convective and conductive heat transfer. distillation columns. mixing. and pump dynamics. In some cases. the system involves cascades of bilinear processes. Still. the subsystems are bilinear and may be so studied by recently developed techniques - some of which are just as useful for coupled bilinear sytems. BLS. These include optimal filtering for state estimation and parameter estimation. Walsh functions for similar applications and Volterra series for structural analysis and system realization.
Abstract 1083: Synergistic drug combination prediction through drug differential dependency network analysis

In an effort to discover strategies which identify effective drug combinations, we analyzed 39 of the 480 compounds screened in the Cancer Therapeutics Response Portal (CTRP) where combinations of two compounds were tested against 860 cancer cell lines; this enabled a comparison of the drug sensitivity of the combinations versus that of the individual compounds. More than half of the drug combinations (n=21) did not significantly improve the drug sensitivity, compared to individual compounds alone. In fact, some of the combinations showed reduced drug sensitivity. In EDDY-CTRP* analysis, the Cancer Cell Line Encyclopedia (CCLE) RNAseq data and CTRP compound response measurements were analyzed to discover both 1) pathways enriched with differential dependencies between sensitive and non-sensitive cell lines for each compound and 2) the mediators of cell line response to a drug. A mediator is a gene in a pathway that plays a significantly different role between sensitive and non-sensitive conditions. The significance is assessed for either essentiality, measured as a node’s centrality change, or specificity, measured as the difference in condition specific edges. These drug-pathway-mediator connections are predicted to reveal crucial molecular determinants of drug sensitivity that otherwise are hidden in the complexities of the molecular networks of the cell (Speyer et al., PSB 22:497-508, 2017). We further investigated whether mediators identified for single compounds could predict sensitivity to drug combinations. This analysis revealed that if two single compounds share the same specificity mediators, i.e. the genes with the most significant re-wiring of gene dependencies between sensitive and non-sensitive cell lines, combination of these two compounds correlate with improved sensitivity. The converse was also found: compounds that do not share mediators rarely show synergy. Further analysis and empirical testing of predicted combinations promises to prioritize synergistic drug combinations. We believe that this methodology may predict synergistic drug combinations from cancer cell line drug screening data. Supported by NIH U01CA168397. *available at http://biocomputing.tgen.org/software/EDDY/CTRP Citation Format: Seungchan Kim, Gil Speyer, Harshil Dhruv, Jeff Kiefer, Michael Berens. Synergistic drug combination prediction through drug differential dependency network analysis [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2017; 2017 Apr 1-5; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2017;77(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 1083. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2017-1083
Multiple ultrasound cavitation-enabled treatments for myocardial reduction

Ultrasound myocardial cavitation enabled treatment (MCET) is an image-guided method for tissue reduction. In this study, a strategy of fractionated (multiple) treatments was tested for efficacy. Dahl SS rats were anesthetized and prepared for treatment with a focused ultrasound transducer in a warm water bath. Aiming at the anterior left ventricular wall was facilitated by imaging with a 10 MHz phased array (10S, GE Vivid 7, GE Vingmed Ultrasound, Horten, Norway). MCET was accomplished at 1.5 MHz by pulse bursts of 4 MPa peak rarefactional pressure amplitude, which were intermittently triggered 1:8 from the ECG during infusion of a microbubble suspension for cavitation nucleation. Test groups were sham, a 200 s treatment, three 200 s treatments a week apart, and a 600 s treatment. Treatment outcome was observed by plasma troponin after 4 h, echocardiographic monitoring and histology at 6 wk. The impacts of the fractionated treatments summed to approximately the same as the long treatment; e. g. the troponin result was 10.5 ± 3.2 for 200 s, 22.7 ± 5.4 (p < 0.001) for the summed fractionated treatments and 29.9 ± 6.4 for 600 s (p = 0.06 relative to the summed fractionated). While wall thickness was not reduced for the fractionated treatment, tissue strain was reduced by 35% in the target area relative sham (p < 0.001). The ability to fractionate treatment may be advantageous for optimizing patient outcome relative to all-or nothing therapy by surgical myectomy or alcohol ablation.
Searching for Near-Horizon Quantum Structures in the Binary Black-Hole Stochastic Gravitational-Wave Background

Quantum gravity corrections have been speculated to lead to modifications to space-time geometry near black-hole horizons. Such structures may reflect gravitational waves, causing echoes that follow the main gravitational waves from binary black-hole coalescence. By studying two phenomenological models of the near-horizon structures under the Schwarzschild approximation, we show that such echoes, if they exist, will give rise to a stochastic gravitational-wave background, which is very substantial if the near-horizon structure has a near-unity reflectivity for gravitational waves, readily detectable by Advanced LIGO. In case the reflectivity is much less than unity, the background will mainly be arising from the first echo, with a level proportional to the power reflectivity of the near-horizon structure, but robust against uncertainties in the location and the shape of the structure—as long as it is localized and close to the horizon. Sensitivity of third-generation detectors allows the detection of a background that corresponds to power reflectivity ∼3×10^(−3), if uncertainties in the binary black-hole merger rate can be removed. We note that the echoes do alter the f^(2/3) power law of the background spectra at low frequencies, which is rather robust against uncertainties.
Robust Gradient Descent via Moment Encoding with LDPC Codes

This paper considers the problem of implementing large-scale gradient descent algorithms in a distributed computing setting in the presence of {\em straggling} processors. To mitigate the effect of the stragglers, it has been previously proposed to encode the data with an erasure-correcting code and decode at the master server at the end of the computation. We, instead, propose to encode the second-moment of the data with a low density parity-check (LDPC) code. The iterative decoding algorithms for LDPC codes have very low computational overhead and the number of decoding iterations can be made to automatically adjust with the number of stragglers in the system. We show that for a random model for stragglers, the proposed moment encoding based gradient descent method can be viewed as the stochastic gradient descent method. This allows us to obtain convergence guarantees for the proposed solution. Furthermore, the proposed moment encoding based method is shown to outperform the existing schemes in a real distributed computing setup.
‘Coming out of the closet’ – examining a metaphor

ABSTRACTThis essay examines use of the metaphor ‘coming out of the closet,’ providing an overview of the origins of the metaphor and examples of scholarly and popular use. Several examples are pres...
Search for Cold Fusion in High-Pressure D2-Loaded Titanium and Palladium Metal and Deuteride

This paper reports on various titanium and palladium metal and hydride preparations subjected to D{sub 2} gas loading at pressures up to 2.4 kbars followed by temperature cycling. Neutron yield was monitored in an underground laboratory with a detection system with a counting efficiency of {approximately}9.2% and a background of 10 count/h. No clearly identified neutron yield in excess of background has been detected.
Abandoning Standing: Trading a Rule of Access for a Rule of Deference

The Supreme Court's long struggle over the nature of constitutional standing has taken on new urgency with the addition of Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Alito to the Court. Four justices are now strongly committed to a restrictive approach to standing that invokes separation of powers to bar federal courts from hearing the claims of plaintiffs who assert mere "generalized grievances." These four were just one vote away in Massachusetts v. EPA from blocking judicial review of the legality of EPA's failure to regulate greenhouse gases on the ground that global warming does not cause "particularized" injury. Four justices are strongly committed to a permissive approach that permits widely shared injuries to support standing so long as they are "concrete" enough. And Justice Kennedy's views are somewhere in the middle. This Article uses this 4-1-4 split as an occasion to reexamine constitutional standing and, in particular, its relation to separation of powers. It concludes that neither the restrictive nor the permissive approach to standing can justify reliance on an indeterminate "injury" requirement to create a constitutional bar to judicial access. Nonetheless, the separation-of-powers concerns that motivate the restrictive approach do justify a rule of judicial deference. More specifically, just as Professor Louis Jaffe suggested nearly fifty years ago, these concerns justify a rule that courts should, when resolving "public actions," defer to the reasonable judgments of political branch officials.
Recent advances in the design of matrix amplifiers

Recent developmental trends in the field of wideband matrix amplifiers are discussed using a 6 GHz–18 GHz monolithic module as a representative example. Employing only four MESFET functions, the unit achieves a gain ofG=16.5 dB±0.35 dB at a maximum return loss ofRL=−10 dB across the 6 GHz–18 GHz frequency band. Even at gain compression levels of 10 dB, the worst harmonic output power does not exceedP(3f0)=−13.2 dBc. The monolithic chip's dimensions are 1.8×2.75×0.115 mm.
Mechanisms of Humic Acid Fouling on Capacitive and Insertion Electrodes for Electrochemical Desalination

Though electrochemical deionization technologies have been widely explored for brackish water desalination and selective ion removal, their sustained performance in the presence of foulants common to environmental waters remains unclear. This study investigates the fundamental mechanisms by which carbonaceous electrodes used in capacitive deionization and insertion electrodes used for high-capacity selective ion removal are affected by the presence of humic acid (HA). We evaluate HA adsorption behavior and the resulting impact on the ion storage capacity and cycling stability of the electrode materials. We find that HA is primarily adsorbed to the mesopores of two carbonaceous electrodes with distinctly different pore structures, but that the ion storage and transport properties of the electrodes are not significantly impacted by HA adsorption. In contrast, HA adsorption resulted in sharp capacity decay for the insertion (Na4Mn9O18) electrode. We attribute this decay to both hindered Na+ ion diffusion to the insertion interface in the presence of adsorbed HA, as well as HA mediated electrode dissolution. These findings highlight the contrasting mechanisms for HA fouling of capacitive and insertion electrodes and suggest that insertion electrodes may be more susceptible to performance decline in electrochemical deionization of environmental waters.
Applying User-Centered Design to Business Modeling: CBM.next as a Case Study

Business modeling engagements involve complex, intricate processes that require easy access to domain knowledge, close collaboration among stakeholders and consultants, and clear communication through visualization. It is imperative that business modeling tools underpinning these processes are closely aligned to user needs, but they have been constrained by a function-driven design approach and technological limitations. In this paper, we propose the use of User-Centered Design, including Design Thinking methods, in modernizing business modeling tools, based on our own experience in the past two years of a large-scale revision of IBM's Component Business Modeling tool. We share not only the process and methods behind the effort, but discuss lessons learned and feedback captured to validate its success.
Analysis of volatile profiles of green Hawai'ian coffee beans damaged by the coffee berry borer (Hypothenemus hampei)

The coffee berry borer (CBB), Hypothenemus hampei, is the most destructive insect pest of coffee globally, causing significant losses in yield and leading to 'off' flavors in damaged beans. Automated headspace sampling (AHS) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) were used to investigate changes in the volatile profiles of CBB-damaged green coffee beans. Green coffee from three coffee farms on the island of Hawai'i were sorted into three levels of CBB damage: non-damaged, slightly damaged (1-2 pinholes/bean), and heavily damaged (> 2 pinholes/bean).; Results: Distinct differences were found between green coffee bean samples based on the amounts of eight prominent volatiles. The amount of CBB damage was particularly correlated with the amount of both hexanal and 2-pentylfuran. Principal component analysis showed clustering of non-damaged green beans, which did not overlap with the slightly or heavily damaged clusters. Good separation was also found between a mixture of 50% slightly damaged and non-damaged coffee. However, 20% slightly damaged and non-damaged coffee clusters showed strong overlap.; Conclusion: Understanding the effects of CBB damage on coffee flavor profiles is critical to quality control for this valuable agricultural product. The results of this study show that the volatile profiles of green coffee beans vary with CBB damage. With specific volatile profiles for CBB-damaged coffee identified, coffee samples can be tested in the lab, or potentially on the farm or in coffee mills, to identify high levels of CBB damage that may lead to off flavors and a reduction in product quality and value. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry.; © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry.
Comparing Full Day Kindergarten to Half Day Kindergarten

This study examines half- and full-day kindergarten programs and their effectiveness in regard to a child’s academic progress. Some literature finds a positive relationship between the success of a child and the minutes spent in the classroom. However, other literature debates as to how long the progress is sustained. The purpose of this study is to compare the scores of kindergarten students in both half-day and full-day programs and analyze the data to determine if one program is more successful than the other. Three assessments in language arts were given to each student, assessing uppercase, lowercase, and letter sounds. The kindergarten scores from both classes, full-day and half-day, were compared to observe if student achievement was effected by spending more academic minutes in the classroom. The data did not reveal an overall statistical significance. However, out of the four ANCOVA tests that were completed, one did show statistical significance when the scores were disaggregated by the individual students’ scores. The lowercase letter assessment did discover a statistical difference. But based on the three other tests, more academic minutes in the classroom doesn't always mean more academic success for students.
Using Nanoscience as a Theme for Capstone Projects in an Elementary Education Majors Science Course

The national interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) has called attention to P-12 education, the STEM pipeline. Education of teachers is a primary influence on the education of children in the classroom. While high school (and often middle school) teachers are versed in the content of a particular aspect of STEM (e.g. Mathematics or Chemistry), elementary teachers, on the other end of the pipeline, are educated as generalists, with a primary goal of setting the foundations for future learning. In 2004, a team of STEM and education faculty at St. Catherine University (SCU) was called together, united by their interest in improving STEM education for all students at SCU, particularly women. Combining the content expertise of the biology, chemistry, physics/engineering, and mathematics departments with the methods expertise of the education department, the team designed courses that made STEM concepts more engaging and relevant to students. In 2010, the STEM Certificate was solidified and required of all elementary education students. It is comprised of three interdisciplinary, team-taught, lab based courses that are open to all undergraduate majors at the institution. Each course is centered on one discipline (i.e. biology, chemistry, or engineering/physics). Chemistry of Life is the chemistry-focused course. The course was designed to include a capstone project. As an introduction to materials science, nanoscience was selected as the theme for the projects. The topic allowed for socially relevant and also highly interdisciplinary projects. Students working in teams of three or four, designed projects, determined how to measure and obtain data, and analyzed and interpreted results. A content and confidence assessment given to students before and after the projects showed an increase in both their understanding of nanomaterials and their confidence in conducting a nanoscience project.
Web Trends: A valuable tool for business research

Abstract Web search data are a valuable source of business and economic information. Previous studies have utilized Google Trends web search data for economic forecasting. We expand this work by creating an algorithm to combine and aggregate search volume data, so that the resulting data are both consistent over time and consistent between data series. We give a brand equity example, where Google Trends is used to create several brand equity series for 100 top-ranked brands. We validate these series by correlating them with the Interbrand brand equity index and by testing how well the series components predict company revenue. We give a managerial business research example, where Google Trends data are implemented as a measure of consumer “buzz” and is used to improve pre-release predictions of movie revenue.
Associations between frequent pain or headaches and neurobehavioral symptoms by gender and TBI severity

Objective: To investigate differences in frequent pain or headaches and associated neurobehavioral symptoms among men, women, and transgender individuals with and without a history of traumatic bra...
Sex Ratios in a Warming World: Thermal Effects on Sex-Biased Survival, Sex Determination, and Sex Reversal

Rising global temperatures threaten to disrupt population sex ratios, which can in turn cause mate shortages, reduce population growth and adaptive potential, and increase extinction risk, particularly when ratios are male biased. Sex ratio distortion can then have cascading effects across other species and even ecosystems. Our understanding of the problem is limited by how often studies measure temperature effects in both sexes. To address this, the current review surveyed 194 published studies of heat tolerance, finding that the majority did not even mention the sex of the individuals used, with <10% reporting results for males and females separately. Although the data are incomplete, this review assessed phylogenetic patterns of thermally induced sex ratio bias for 3 different mechanisms: sex-biased heat tolerance, temperature-dependent sex determination (TSD), and temperature-induced sex reversal. For sex-biased heat tolerance, documented examples span a large taxonomic range including arthropods, chordates, protists, and plants. Here, superior heat tolerance is more common in females than males, but the direction of tolerance appears to be phylogenetically fluid, perhaps due to the large number of contributing factors. For TSD, well-documented examples are limited to reptiles, where high temperature usually favors females, and fishes, where high temperature consistently favors males. For temperature-induced sex reversal, unambiguous cases are again limited to vertebrates, and high temperature usually favors males in fishes and amphibians, with mixed effects in reptiles. There is urgent need for further work on the full taxonomic extent of temperature-induced sex ratio distortion, including joint effects of the multiple contributing mechanisms.
Post-IPO Geographic Expansion

Transitioning to public ownership affects where firms invest. Post-IPO, we find that firms conduct more geographically diversifying acquisitions on the intensive and extensive margins, relative to both withdrawn IPO filings and seasoned matched peers. The effect is larger for IPO filers that are large relative to their local economy, and smaller for IPOs led by less active underwriters. We find little evidence of geographic expansion after seasoned equity offerings, suggesting that capital raised does not drive the expansion decision. Our results suggest that going public alleviates significant geographic-based information frictions faced by private firms.
Detailed chemical characterization of the composition and variability of soil gas at remediated residential heating oil discharges

Abstract Underground storage tanks containing petroleum or other hazardous substances are used widely for residential storage of home heating oil. Spills and leaks of fuel from these tanks are common, and resulting subsurface petroleum vapors may pose health risks. However, understanding of this risk is limited by a lack of observational data on the chemical composition of vapors from discharged fuel. We present here the composition of soil gas sampled at 66 remediated residential sites of underground heating oil discharges throughout Virginia using a newly developed data analysis technique that allows characterization of hydrocarbons by carbon number and degree of unsaturation. Measured concentrations of total petroleum hydrocarbons exceeded 100,000 μg/m3 at 12 sites, but its composition varied widely between sites. Concentrations of hydrocarbons from chemical classes differing by more than a few carbon numbers or degrees of unsaturation are found to be poorly correlated. Furthermore, differences in composition are poorly described by metrics expected to indicate subsurface weathering (e.g., discharge year, or ratio of n-heptadecane to pristane). These results suggest that the composition and magnitude of residual contamination at remediated subsurface discharges is driven by rarely documented spill characteristics (e.g., age and composition of source material, discharge rate, etc.).
Nonadherence to Ledipasvir/Sofosbuvir Did Not Predict Sustained Virologic Response in a Randomized Controlled Trial of Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Hepatitis C Virus Coinfected Persons Who Use Drugs

BACKGROUND Eliminating Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) will require effective treatment delivery to persons with substance use disorders (SUDs). We evaluated the relationship between ledipasvir/sofosbuvir treatment persistence (receiving 84 tablets), adherence, and sustained virologic response (SVR) in persons with HIV/HCV coinfection. METHODS Of the 144 participants with HIV/HCV and SUDs, 110 initiated a 12-week treatment course under one of three conditions (usual care, peer mentors, and cash incentives). We used self-report, pharmacy pill counts, and expected date of refill to examine adherence. Persistent participants were categorized as high adherence (taking ≥90% of doses) or low adherence (taking <90% of doses). RESULTS Most participants persisted on treatment after initiation (n=105), with 95% (n=100) achieving SVR. One-third (34%) of participants had moderate/heavy alcohol use by the biomarker phosphatidylethanol (PEth ≥50 ng/mL), and 44% had urine toxicology positive for cocaine or heroin at enrollment. The proportion of persons with high adherence was 72% (n=76) and low adherence, 28%. Although low adherence was associated with moderate/heavy alcohol use by PEth (RR 2.77, 95% CI 1.50-5.12), SVR did not vary according to adherence (p=0.702), and most participants (97%) with low adherence achieved SVR. CONCLUSION Treatment persistence led to high SVR rates among persons with HIV/HCV, despite imperfect adherence and SUDs.
Understanding the Tethered Generation: Net Gens Come to Law School

Prior generations are often seen as romanticized versions of what young people coming of age during that time period actually experienced. Through movies and literature, for instance, Americans have glamorized the Lost Generation of the 1920s, picturing Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald writing in Paris cafes and attending extravagant parties with flappers while listening to the new sounds of jazz. But the young people that shaped this generation had survived two world wars and the Depression, and their generation “reflected a variety of emotions and mannerisms: weary cynicism at a young age, risk-taking, binge-like behavior, [and] disdain for a pompous ‘older generation.’” As such, individuals coming of age in the 1920s became known as the Lost Generation.Every generation has a peer personality that reflects the common events and occurrences of that generation, even though not every member of that generation possesses all of those generations’ attributes. The youngest generation in the United States, “Net Gens,” born at the earliest in 1994, are currently receiving a bad rap from the media, teachers, and employers for being constantly connected to their smartphone and being overprotected by their parents. They are a tethered generation: tethered to technology, to their friends through social media, and to their parents. Even though each member of that generation may not be deserving of some of the negative connotations given to them by the older generations, each member of the Net Gen generation has experienced the same cultural phenomena related to online media, educational reforms, and societal changes. Each one of them grew up as a digital native, never knowing what it means not to have easy, constant access to online resources; and, they are also all experiencing the effects of a terrible job market even though they are one of the most educated generations in history — with the student loans prove it. Every member of Net Gen shares a set of unique cultural events, and, though they are all unique individuals, they are collectively bound by the effects these events have had on their generation.
Microarray analysis of the in vivo response of microglia to Aβ peptides in mice with conditional deletion of the prostaglandin EP2 receptor.

Amyloid-β (Aβ) peptides accumulate in the brains of patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD), where they generate a persistent inflammatory response from microglia, the innate immune cells of the brain. The immune modulatory cyclooxygenase/prostaglandin E2 (COX/PGE2) pathway has been implicated in preclinical AD development, both in human epidemiology studies and in transgenic rodent models of AD [2,3]. PGE2 signals through four G-protein-coupled receptors, including the EP2 receptor that has been investigated for its role in mediating the inflammatory and phagocytic responses to Aβ [4]. To identify transcriptional differences in microglia lacking the EP2 receptor, we examined mice with EP2 conditionally deleted in Cd11b-expressing immune cells. We injected Aβ peptides or saline vehicle into the brains of adult mice, isolated primary microglia, and analyzed RNA expression by microarray. The resulting datasets were analyzed in two studies [5,6], one describing the basal status of microglia with or without EP2 deletion, and the second study analyzing the microglial response to Aβ. Here we describe in detail the experimental design and data analyses. The raw data from these studies are deposited in GEO, accession GSE57181 (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/geo/query/acc.cgi?acc=GSE57181).
A Qualitative Analysis of Medical Students’ Reflection on Attending an Alcoholics Anonymous Meeting: Insights for Future Addiction Curricula

Objective This paper describes medical students’ views of alcoholism and their response to attending an Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meeting during their psychiatry clerkship. This may assist other educators in planning their addiction curricula.
Formal verification of programs that use MPI one-sided communication

We used formal-verification methods based on model checking to analyze the correctness properties of one existing and two new distributed-locking algorithms implemented by using MPI's one-sided communication. Model checking exposed an overlooked correctness issue with the first algorithm, which had been developed by relying only on manual reasoning. Model checking helped confirm the basic correctness properties of the two new algorithms, while also identifying the remaining problems in them. Our experience is that MPI-based programming, especially the tricky and relatively poorly understood one-sided communication features, stand to gain immensely from model checking. Considering that many other areas of concurrent hardware and software design now routinely employ model checking, our experience confirms that the MPI community can benefit greatly from the use of formal verification.
Usage of Complementary and Alternative Medicine in Pediatric Sedation

Complementary and alternative medicine includes those acceptable health care approaches outside of our conventional medicine. The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine classified these therapies from a complete medical system of premise and practice; biological-based practices; mind-body medicine; manipulative and energy medicine.
RF Power Amplifiers

This chapter contains sections titled: Transistor Configurations Class B Amplifier Class C Amplifier Class C Input Bias Voltage Class D Power Amplifier Class E Power Amplifier Class F Power Amplifier Feed-Forward Amplifiers Conclusions Problems References ]]>
Principles of rule-based expert systems

Rule-based expert systems are surveyed. The most important considerations are representation and inference. Rule-based systems make strong assumptions about the representation of knowledge as conditional sentences and about the control of inference in one of three ways. The problem of reasoning with incomplete or inexact information is also discussed, as are several other issues regarding the design of expert systems.
On toolboxes and telescopes

We outline new ways of using computers as scientific tools, introducing two concepts which go beyond traditional numerical simulations. On the level of software, we describe a “dynamicist’s workbench”, an environment to provide interactive support for setting up, executing and analyzing computational experiments. On the level of hardware, we discuss the concept of a “computational observatory”, especially designed and manufactured for specific problems in stellar dynamics.
The preliminary design of a stability augmentation system for a remotely piloted vehicle in hover

A stability augmentation system (SAS) to assist in the control of a remotely piloted aircraft in hover is described. The SAS includes a decoupler designed to reduce nonintuitive dynamic effects such as gyroscopic propeller moment through feedforward cancellation. Simulation results indicate that the controller is effective even with inaccuracies in estimates of the canceled moments. >
Role of SHIP1 in cancer and mucosal inflammation.

The SH-2 containing inositol 5′-polyphosphatase 1 (SHIP1) is a multifunctional protein expressed predominantly, but not exclusively, by hematopoietic cells. SHIP1 removes the 5′-phosphate from the product of PI3K, PI(3,4,5)P3, to generate PI(3,4)P2. Both PIP species influence the activity level of Akt and ultimately regulate cell survival and differentiation. SHIP1 also harbors several protein interaction domains that endow it with many nonenzymatic cell signaling or receptor masking functions. In this review, we discuss the opposing roles of SHIP1 in cancer and in mucosal inflammation. On one hand, germline loss of SHIP1 causes myeloid lung consolidation and severe inflammation in the ileum, a phenotype that closely mimics human Crohn's disease and can be rescued by reconstitution with SHIP1-competent T cells. On the other, transient inhibition of the enzymatic activity of SHIP1 in cancer cells leads to apoptosis and enhances survival in lethal murine xenograft models. Overall, careful dissection of the different pathological mechanisms involved in several diseases provides novel opportunities for therapeutic intervention targeting SHIP1.
Comparative performance of parallel join algorithms

The authors recently (1990, 1991) described two new join algorithms designed to address the data skew problem. These algorithms were based, respectively, on the traditional sort merge and hash join algorithms, and employed techniques borrowed from mathematical optimization theory. The current paper proposes significant improvements to both algorithms, increasing their effectiveness while simultaneously decreasing their execution times. It then focuses on the comparative performance of the improved algorithms and their more conventional sort merge and hash counterparts. The latter two are perfectly good algorithms except that they fail to deal with data skew. Both I/O- and CPU-bound configurations were examined. The new algorithms outperform their more conventional counterparts in the presence of just about any skew at all, dramatically so in cases of high skew. >
Model-based 2D&3D dominant motion estimation for mosaicing and video representation

It is fairly common in video sequences that a mostly fixed background (scene) is imaged with or without objects. The dominant background changes in the image plane mostly due to camera operations and motion (zoom, pan, tilt, track etc.). We address the problem of computation of the dominant image transformation over time and demonstrate how this can be effectively used for efficient video representation through video mosaicing and image registration. We formulate the problem of dominant component estimation as that of model based robust estimation using M estimators with direct, multi resolution methods. In addition to 2D affine and plane projective models, that have been used in the past for describing image motion using direct methods, we also employ a true 3D model of motion and scene structure imaged with uncalibrated cameras. This model parameterizes the image motion as that due to a planar component and a parallax component. For rigid 3D scenes imaged under camera motion only, least squares (LS) methods with the plane and parallax parameterization are also presented. Furthermore, in the context of robust estimation, in contrast with previous approaches for similar problems, our algorithm employs an automatic computation of a scale parameter that is crucial in rejecting the non dominant components as outliers. >
Fractional Calculus and Memory in Biophysical Time Series

The simplest and probably the most familiar model of statistical processes in the physical sciences is the random walk. This model has been applied to all manner of biophysical phenomena, ranging from DNA sequences to the firing of neurons. Herein we extend the random walk model to include long-time memory in the dynamics and find that this gives rise to a fractional-difference stochastic process. The continuum limit of this latter random walk is a fractional Langevin equation, that is, a fractional differential equation driven by random fluctuations. We show that the index of the inverse power-law spectrum in many biophysical processes can be related to the order of the fractional derivative in the fractional Langevin equation. This fractional stochastic model suggests that a scale-free process guides the dynamics of many complex biophysical phenomena.
Rats Fed a Low Protein Diet Supplemented with Sulfur Amino Acids Have Increased Cysteine Dioxygenase Activity and Increased Taurine Production in Hepatocytes

The metabolism of cysteine and cysteinesulfinate and the activities of key enzymes in cysteine catabolic pathways were investigated in hepatocytes isolated from rats fed a basal (100 g casein/kg) diet or the diet supplemented with L-methionine (3 or 10 g/kg diet) or the sulfur equivalent as L-cystine (2.4 or 8 g/kg diet). Cysteine dioxygenase activity was higher in hepatocytes from rats fed diets with the higher level of sulfur amino acid supplementation, and the higher enzyme activity was paralleled by a greater total catabolite production (taurine + sulfate) from cysteine. Taurine production as a percentage of total cysteine catabolism was significantly greater in hepatocytes from rats fed the diet with excess methionine or cystine (basal, 22%; excess methionine, 61%, excess cystine, 49%). Glutathione production was markedly lower in hepatocytes from rats fed excess sulfur amino acids such that total cysteine utilization was similar for all dietary treatments. Cysteinesulfinate decarboxylase activity and catabolism of cysteinesulfinate by hepatocytes were unaffected by the dietary supplementations. Results are in contrast to previous studies in which increased dietary protein resulted in decreased cysteinesulfinate decarboxylase activity and decreased partitioning of cysteinesulfinate to taurine vs. sulfate. Thus, sulfur amino acids may be less effective than protein in decreasing cysteinesulfinate decarboxylase activity and may result in a pattern of sulfur catabolite production from cysteine that favors taurine production.
The Cultural Production of Locality: Reclaiming the ‘European City’ in Post‐Wall Berlin

Berlin's post-1989 rebuilding is used to explore the role of cultural professionals, exemplified by architects and urban planners, in the production of locality. Drawing on an analysis of architectural debates, competitions and building projects, the article traces how the model of the ‘European city’ became the dominant paradigm of urban reconstruction in the 1990s and what precisely was understood by the term ‘European city’. In so doing, the analysis demonstrates how the contentious notion of ‘tradition’ was mobilized as the main localizing strategy in response to intense internationalization. It shows how locality came to be constructed in contrast to other spatial-cultural units (e.g. the ‘American city’) and to particular historical layers of the city (e.g. that of the socialist era). The intense controversies over Berlin's rebuilding lucidly illustrate how the ‘global’ and the ‘local’ are symbolically constructed by actors as relational categories, where the very categories are not fixed but multilayered, value-laden, historicized, contested, repeatedly redefined and restructured.