cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Mode of Corporate Diversification and Economic Performance

In this article the authors discuss research they conducted on the diversification strategies used by multibusiness corporations. Two of the strategies that they identify include internal diversifi...
Magmatic eruptions and iron volatility in deep-sea hydrothermal fluids

Author(s): Pester, NJ; Ding, K; Seyfried, WE | Abstract: During periods of volcanic activity, hydrothermal fluid chemistry changes drastically, becoming unusually dilute due to enhanced degrees of phase separation. Despite decreases in nearly all other metals, these dilute fluids maintain surprisingly high dissolved Fe concentrations. This is demonstrated by a 17 yr time series from 9°50'N on the East Pacific Rise, where two eruption cycles are separated by a decade of steady-state chemical and physical conditions. We report experimental data confi rming a sharp increase in Fe solubility in low-salinity and low-density vapors that constitutes a reversal in behavior exhibited in near-critical vapors characteristic of the steady-state condition. In accordance with field observations during the eruptions, a fundamental divergence between the otherwise similar behaviors of Fe and Mn also results. This helps explain how Fe fluxes are maintained during magmatic events, which may have important implications for the succession and temporal evolution of vent-related fauna. Calibrated geochemical proxies for subseafl oor reaction conditions (pressure-temperature) now allow us to elucidate hydrothermal processes from steady state through eruptive and recovery stages at the 9°50'N system. © 2014 Geological Society of America.
John A. Roebling's Sons Co. and Early Concrete Floors in New York City, 1890s - 1910

Around 1892, John A. Roebling’s Sons Co. introduced one of the first concrete fireproof floor systems to be used in the United States. The floor was designed to span between I-beams in steel-frame buildings. Made with stiffened wire-cloth manufactured by a Roebling’s Sons Co. subsidiary, it was marketed as a lighter, cheaper alternative to terra cotta tile and brick arches. New York City’s building code required tall buildings to be fireproof; however, the code in the 1890s did not allow concrete floors, and this hobbled the firm’s floor business there. In the early twentieth century, after much political intrigue, the code was revised to allow concrete floors, and a great variety of concrete systems came on the market. For a short time the Roebling firm was the main contractor for concrete floors in the United States, and its floors proved their worth in several disastrous building fires and urban conflagrations. But eventually the business succumbed to competition and closed in 1914. Nevertheless, many buildings with Roebling floors are still standing. Background to the invention of the Roebling concrete fireproof floor The 1885 revision of New York City’s building code required for the first time that tall buildings be fireproof. The revised code responded to concerns, most especially from fire insurance underwriters, that the city’s new tall buildings – rising beyond the reach of firefighting capabilities – were fire hazards. Fearing the multiplication of these buildings sowed the seeds of urban conflagration, underwriters lobbied for restrictions on building height. And New York lawmakers obliged them, but rather than limiting heights, they required that all new buildings over 70 feet be fireproof. This meant that all structural materials going into such buildings had to be noncombustible, specifically, made of iron, clay or stone. The building code was revised several times from 1885 to the early twentieth century, and the fireproofing requirements were extended to a variety of building occupancies. For example, the 1892 code called for hotels, theaters, hospitals, asylums, and schools over 35 feet tall, as well as any building over 85 feet, to be fireproof (Fryer 1892). These fireproof construction requirements, along with similar ones adopted by other cities in the 1880s and 1890s, had the effect of creating a new, large market for noncombustible building products. This demand – for fireproof floors, roof decks, and partitions, and for means to protect structural metal – drew many firms into the business. One of these was the John A. Roebling’s Sons Company (JARSCo).
Home-built Apparatus for Measuring Thermal Conductivity of Glass and Polymer Materials

As a part of the IMI-NFG’s series of low-cost experiments in glass science [1,2] we have developed a simple home-built apparatus for measuring the thermal conductivity of glassy materials, from polymers to oxide glasses, in the range of 0.1 to 1.5 W/ °C. Our apparatus is inexpensive, relatively easy to construct and accurate enough for students to use for quantitative measurements of their own glass or polymer samples. Standard materials are used to demonstrate good correlation with literature values. We also measured the thermal conductivity of a silica filled epoxy and showed a linear increase with fill fraction to 20%. This simple, low-cost method can provide students and researchers with a much broader access to this important property.
Multiplexed labeling of genomic loci with dCas9 and engineered sgRNAs using CRISPRainbow

A lack of techniques to image multiple genomic loci in living cells has limited our ability to investigate chromosome dynamics. Here we describe CRISPRainbow, a system for labeling DNA in living cells based on nuclease-dead (d) Cas9 combined with engineered single guide RNA (sgRNA) scaffolds that bind sets of fluorescent proteins. We demonstrate simultaneous imaging of up to six chromosomal loci in individual live cells and document large differences in the dynamic properties of different chromosomal loci.
Thoracic Paravertebral Block, Multimodal Analgesia, and Monitored Anesthesia Care for Breast Cancer Surgery in Primary Lateral Sclerosis

Objective. Primary lateral sclerosis (PLS) is a rare idiopathic neurodegenerative disorder affecting upper motor neurons and characterized by spasticity, muscle weakness, and bulbar involvement. It can sometimes mimic early stage of more common and fatal amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Surgical patients with a history of neurodegenerative disorders, including PLS, may be at increased risk for general anesthesia related ventilatory depression and postoperative respiratory complications, abnormal response to muscle relaxants, and sensitivity to opioids, sedatives, and local anesthetics. We present a case of a patient with PLS and recent diagnosis of breast cancer who underwent a simple mastectomy surgery uneventfully under an ultrasound guided thoracic paravertebral block, multimodal analgesia, and monitored anesthesia care. Patient reported minimal to no pain or discomfort in the postoperative period and received no opioids for pain management before being discharged home. In patients with PLS, thoracic paravertebral block and multimodal analgesia can provide reliable anesthesia and effective analgesia for breast surgery with avoidance of potential risks associated with general anesthesia, muscle paralysis, and opioid use.
Clonal Screens to Find Modifiers of Partially Penetrant Phenotypes in C. elegans

Unbiased genetic screens are an excellent way to discover novel genes involved in specific biological processes in vivo. Modifier screens, whether to suppress or enhance a phenotype, are a powerful way to find proteins that modulate biological processes responsible for specific phenotypes. However, modification of phenotypes that are only partially penetrant, which is often the case, are often extremely difficult to screen this way in a traditional F2 or non-clonal genetic screen. Here we describe an F3 or clonal screen in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans to search for genes that modify partially penetrant phenotypes. Specifically we describe a screen to search for modifiers of genes that cause defects in migration of a specific developmentally regulated cell, the distal tip cell.
Frequency estimation of sinusoids from nonuniform samples

Sinusoid signals with multiple frequencies appear in various systems and their frequencies may carry some important features. Frequency estimation from their discrete samples is one of the fundamental problems and many frequency estimators have been proposed for uniform sampling setting. In this paper, frequency estimators based on adaptive notch filtering are proposed for nonuniform sampling setting. We observe that some dynamic systems associated with adaptive notch filters can be solved in nonuniformly sampled time steps with high accuracy. This leads us to propose a digital adaptive notch filtering method to estimate frequency of a sinusoidal signal with single frequency from its nonuniform samples. The proposed method exhibits convergent and robust frequency estimation in the presence of random sampling noises, and its variance is comparable to the Cramer-Rao lower bound in the presence of additive white noise. The above method designed for single frequency estimation could track abrupt single frequency change of an input signal, but it is not applicable directly for multiple frequency estimation. Our simulations show that the proposed estimators have robust performance for sinusoidal signals with multiple distinct frequencies, and they can be used to separate two very close frequencies of an input signal in a highly noisy sampling environment. HighlightsThe method exhibits convergent and robust estimation (CRLB lower bound).The continuous dynamic system discretized with high accuracy.Well designed to handle seamlessly both uniform and nonuniform sampled data.Comparable performance with state of the art discrete adaptive notch filter.Cascade and parallel methods to handle multiple frequencies.
Pediatric malignant salivary gland tumors: 60 year follow up.

Abstract Objective To evaluate the presentation, treatments and outcomes in pediatric patients with salivary gland malignancies. Study design Retrospective chart review (1950–2012), Prospective phone interview. Methods Patients ≤18 years old with a salivary gland malignancy treated at our institution were identified. Patients were also contacted by phone for a follow up survey. Results Fifty-six patients were identified. Tumor origin was 88% parotid (n = 49), 5% (n = 3) submandibular and 7% (n = 4) minor salivary glands. Time from onset of symptoms to diagnosis was over one year (mean = 14.4 years). Fifteen out of 52 patients with major gland malignancy had a locoregional recurrence and local recurrences were almost all after initial enucleation. Two of these patients died of disease (overall disease specific survival = 96%). Three out of 4 patients with minor gland malignancy had a local recurrence and two patients with high grade pathology developed metastases and died of their disease (overall survival = 50%). On long term follow up survey in 13 patients (25%), 100% reported normal facial movement and 54% described symptoms of Frey's syndrome, which is higher than other reported series in children. Recurrence was noted up to 45 years after initial treatment. Conclusions The majority of malignant pediatric salivary gland tumors are low grade and have excellent survival, especially if found at an early stage. Minor salivary gland malignancies, particularly high grade, have a worse prognosis. Long term mild Frey's syndrome can be expected in approximately half of patients. We advocate a need for long term follow up and increased awareness among providers to diagnose these patients earlier.
Some dynamics of children's participation in after-care groups.

(1983). Some Dynamics of Children's Participation in After-Care Groups. International Journal of Group Psychotherapy: Vol. 33, No. 3, pp. 333-348.
Carbamazepine Vs Valproate and Cognitive Function

Effects of carbamazepine vs valproate on cognitive functioning in patients with previously unmedicated epilepsy were evaluated in a prospective, randomized, double-blind Veterans Affairs multicenter study.
The community microgrid distribution system of the future

Abstract There is a recognized need for community microgrids to serve multiple electricity customers in the event of long-term unavailability of the main power grid. Community microgrids connect critical loads and distributed energy resources of multiple owners, thereby presenting significant new design goals, operating constraints and business models.
Mobile phone-delivered reminders and incentives to improve childhood immunisation coverage and timeliness in Kenya (M-SIMU): a cluster randomised controlled trial

Summary Background As mobile phone access continues to expand globally, opportunities exist to leverage these technologies to support demand for immunisation services and improve vaccine coverage. We aimed to assess whether short message service (SMS) reminders and monetary incentives can improve immunisation uptake in Kenya. Methods In this cluster-randomised controlled trial, villages were randomly and evenly allocated to four groups: control, SMS only, SMS plus a 75 Kenya Shilling (KES) incentive, and SMS plus 200 KES (85 KES = USD$1). Caregivers were eligible if they had a child younger than 5 weeks who had not yet received a first dose of pentavalent vaccine. Participants in the intervention groups received SMS reminders before scheduled pentavalent and measles immunisation visits. Participants in incentive groups, additionally, received money if their child was timely immunised (immunisation within 2 weeks of the due date). Caregivers and interviewers were not masked. The proportion of fully immunised children (receiving BCG, three doses of polio vaccine, three doses of pentavalent vaccine, and measles vaccine) by 12 months of age constituted the primary outcome and was analysed with log-binomial regression and General Estimating Equations to account for correlation within clusters. This trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT01878435. Findings Between Oct 14, 2013, and Oct 17, 2014, we enrolled 2018 caregivers and their infants from 152 villages into the following four groups: control (n=489), SMS only (n=476), SMS plus 75 KES (n=562), and SMS plus 200 KES (n=491). Overall, 1375 (86%) of 1600 children who were successfully followed up achieved the primary outcome, full immunisation by 12 months of age (296 [82%] of 360 control participants, 332 [86%] of 388 SMS only participants, 383 [86%] of 446 SMS plus 75 KES participants, and 364 [90%] of 406 SMS plus 200 KES participants). Children in the SMS plus 200 KES group were significantly more likely to achieve full immunisation at 12 months of age (relative risk 1·09, 95% CI 1·02–1·16, p=0·014) than children in the control group. Interpretation In a setting with high baseline immunisation coverage levels, SMS reminders coupled with incentives significantly improved immunisation coverage and timeliness. Given that global immunisation coverage levels have stagnated around 85%, the use of incentives might be one option to reach the remaining 15%. Funding Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Abstract P299: Gender-Based Differences in Ozone-Induced Cardiac Dysfunction

Sex related differences have been noted in cardiovascular disease where females have a lower incidence of heart failure, and a higher rate of heart failure survival. On-the-other-hand, some studies...
The Myxomycetes: Introduction, Basic Biology, Life Cycles, Genetics, and Reproduction

Abstract In this chapter, the definitions of myxomycete terminology used to describe species are provided and also include the morphology of fruiting bodies, occurrences in habitats, and biology associated with life cycle stages. These terms include illustrations of fruiting bodies and structural parts along with publications and page numbers to guide the user to information sources. In addition, a review, discussion, and illustrations are provided that highlight life cycle stages represented by spores, myxamoebae, swarm cells, plasmodia, sclerotia, as well as fruiting body development and ploidy levels. Genetics, reproduction, and mating systems are discussed.
86 Firearms and elections: a review of the 2016 candidates’ platforms to inform public health policy

Statement of Purpose Suicide or homicide by firearm accounted for the fourth and sixth leading causes of death due to injury in the United States. Evidence-based firearm injury prevention policies requires political support. Passage of effective policy requires public health officials to understand factors influencing political decisions. Geography and political partisanship are non-modifiable factors; however, health advocates can capitalise on opportunities for policy change if they can identify when opportunities arise within these political arenas. Methods To test the relationship of geography and partisanship on candidates’ positions on firearms, three indicators were collected during the 2016 primary elections for Governor, Congressional Senator and House Representative: 1) issue statements on firearms from campaign websites, 2) NRA grade assignments indicating the organisation’s evaluation of each candidate’s position on firearms, and 3) NRA endorsement or non-endorsement of a candidate. Data were aggregated by geographic region and political party. Results Firearm positions for the 2016 candidates clearly varied along party lines with the exception of two regions ‘“ with both parties having similar positions on firearms on their campaign websites. Little difference in NRA grade average presented in some of the regions, with some Democrats actually receiving more endorsements. Findings suggest that geography, more than partisanship, impacts candidates’ firearm positions. Conclusions Nationally there is a difference between partisanship and positions on firearms. However, one does not necessarily predict the other, nor does it demonstrate a correlation between party affiliation and firearms on a more regional, state or local level. Understanding these variations will assist with the issue-framing of firearm injury prevention programs and laws across the country, leading to the greater success and better health outcomes. Significance Using publicly available tools to assess potentially friendly venues for firearm injury prevention policy will assist advocates creation of national strategies for successful passage of policies.
Exploring Pedagogical Foundations of Existing Virtual Reality Educational Applications: A Content Analysis Study.

New virtual reality (VR) applications for education appear frequently in the marketplace but rarely contain explicit pedagogies. The research objective of this study was to identify and categorize ...
Immunosuppression with Limited Toxicity: The Characteristics of Nucleoside Analogs and Anti-Lymphocyte Antibodies Used in Nonmyeloablative Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation

The availability of two groups of pharmacologic agents, the nucleoside analogs and anti-lymphocyte antibody preparations of various specificities has enabled the development of NST. Although these agents are significantly less cytotoxic than high-dose alkylating agents and total-body irradiation (TBI), they are profoundly immunosuppressive. Opportunistic infections such as the reactivation of cytomegalovirus remain clinical obstacles when NST are performed using these agents, especially in elderly and previously immunosuppressed patients For anti-lymphocyte antibody preparations, the degree of immunosuppression produced and hence the risk of opportunistic infection varies depending upon specificity of the antibody (broad versus narrow). Allergic reactions and infusion related toxicity can occur with any antibody preparation, but the infusion of muromonab-CD3 is sometimes associated with a particularly potent cytokine-release syndrome. Although fludarabine has been the mainstay of nucleoside analog usage for NST, the other nucleoside analogs-cladribine and pentostatin are beginning to be investigated in this context.
Radiology of the Musculoskeletal System

Modern orthopedic practice relies heavily on various imaging modalities including plain radiographs, computer-assisted tomography, magnetic resonance imaging and bone scintigrams. These techniques help in diagnosis and management of various orthopedic problems such as trauma, tumor, infections and metabolic skeletal diseases.
The Method of Applied Logic: Some Philosophical Considerations

For a generation now, through his philosophical writings, Nicholas Rescher has been devoting his extraordinary intellectual talents and energy to a remarkably wide range of philosophical problems. Especially central among his areas of interest has been logic, a field to which he has made extensive contributions.1 Within logic, Rescher has dealt with many technical topics, but mostly with ones falling somewhat outside the busy mainstream of modern mathematical logic; modal logic, many-valued logic, and temporal logic are among the non-standard regions of logic in which he has worked. To the more formal and technical side of these branches of logic he has made numerous contributions, but his aim has not been merely to study formalisms for their own sake; he has sought to use formal methods in order to answer philosophical questions, always interpreting and appraising the philosophical significance of the formalisms being dealt with. If we say that a logician’s spirit animates Rescher’s work in other areas of philosophy, we must balance this by saying that in his work within logic itself a philosopher’s spirit is strongly present.
Communicating with Patients about Harmful Behaviors

A commentary about the need for a physician to communicate in a manner that will encourage honest patient disclosure and motivate behavior change, where necessary. Virtual Mentor is a monthly bioethics journal published by the American Medical Association.
Linear Viscoelasticity and Swelling of Polyelectrolyte Complex Coacervates

Mixing oppositely charged hydrophilic polyelectrolytes is the simplest path to constructing a polyampholyte gel that is useful as a soft tissue scaffold for binding enzymes in their native state. The swelling and viscoelastic properties of such a synthetic polyampholyte gel coacervate, constructed from polyions of different charge density, are reported in water with various amounts of NaCl salt. When constructed, this coacervate is roughly 70% water and 15% of each polyion, nearly charge balanced. If salt is removed from the surrounding supernatant, the gel swells owing to the weak charge imbalance because small amounts of salt screen electrostatic repulsions. If instead more salt is added to this coacervate, the gel behaves as any polyampholyte gel, swelling as salt is added because the excess salt screens the electrostatic attractions and eventually this leads to redissolving the coacervate. The amount of salt needed to redissolve the coacervate increases with polyion molecular weight. To our surprise, ...
Stigma and Legitimacy: Two Ends of a Single Continuum or Different Continua Altogether?:

Hampel and Tracey and Helms, Patterson, and Hudson offer contrasting perspectives regarding whether stigma and legitimacy belong on a single continuum or different continua altogether. To clarify t...
Automated Identification of Causal Relationships in Nuclear Power Plant Event Reports

A large number of licensee event reports are available in the nuclear power generation sector. A comprehensive analysis of the reports will provide valuable insights for improving nuclear power pla...
Apocalypticism and Mysticism in Joachim of Fiore’s Expositio in Apocalypsim

Joachim of Fiore’s Expositio in Apocalypsim rests on divine revelation that gave him insight into “the concord of the whole Old and New Testaments.” Through his revolutionary concordist exegesis, the Abbot laid out the Trinitarian structure of the whole of sacred history with its three status ascribed to the Father (the time of the Old Testament), the Son (the time of the New Testament), and the coming millennial time of the Holy Spirit. Joachim detected a mystical dimension within the imminent third status, an era of communal deeper awareness of God in which the universal church will become a contemplative community. Joachim’s distinctive communal-ecclesiastical mysticism is biblical, for it features the earthly attainment of what Joachim called the intellectus spiritualis scripturarum. It is also liturgical, realized in monastic liturgical psalmody; and affective, characterized by loving relation to Christ. Joachim’s ecclesia spiritualis, or ecclesia contemplantium, with its viri spirituales, has been called a monastic utopia, but it is perhaps more accurate to speak of it as the mystical community of the age of the Holy Spirit.
Time-gated measurements of fusion-class laser beam profiles

The National Ignition Facility (NIF) laser produces 192 pulsed beams with transverse dimensions ∼40 cm × 40 cm and a diversity of temporal shapes with typical durations ranging from 1 to 30 ns and a total energy on target up to 2.1 MJ in the UV.1 Standard diagnostics include near-field cameras that record the spatial dependence of the time-integrated pulse fluence, as well as sensors that record the spatially integrated pulse power versus time. While these diagnostics are indispensable, beamlines and the pulses they transport may be better characterized with a diagnostic that reveals more of the spatio-temporal pulse structure, i.e., the local irradiance, especially in the presence of nonlinear optical effects. Recently, the time-resolving capability of the Icarus camera has been leveraged in the Precision Diagnostic System (PDS) at the NIF. The Icarus is a gated CMOS sensor designed to capture X-ray images in various experimental settings.2, 3 However, its sensitivity in the near-IR is sufficient for capturing time-gated images of NIF beams, thus opening the door to better characterization than is possible with standard space- and/or time-integrated diagnostics. In this work, we present the first time-gated beam profiles measured in PDS at the NIF during high-energy and high-peak-power experiments, and discuss their implications in terms of past, present, and future laser performance.
Co-learning in the High School English Class through Translanguaging: Emergent Bilingual Newcomers and Monolingual Teachers

There is a growing chasm between the instruction of secondary emergent bilinguals (EBs) and research illustrating the benefits of adolescent EBs using translanguaging practices for academic engagem...
A complete view of the outskirts of the Coma cluster

We present a new extended XMM-Newton mosaic of the nearby Coma cluster, which covers the cluster out to the virial radius with nearly complete azimuthal coverage. This large mosaic is combined with the Planck Sunyaev Zel'dovich effect observations to recover the thermodynamic properties of the intracluster medium in an azimuthally averaged profile and 36 angular sectors, producing the highest spatial resolution view of the thermodynamics of the outskirts of a galaxy cluster in its entirety. Beyond $r_{500}$, our clumping corrected entropy measurements along the less disturbed directions are statistically consistent with the power-law entropy profile predicted by non-radiative simulations, and the gas mass fraction agrees with the mean cosmic baryon fraction. However, there is a clear entropy deficit in the outskirts to the southwest, coinciding with where Coma connects to a cosmic web filament which joins it to Abell 1367. The low entropy to the southwest extends from 0.5-1.0$r_{200}$, and is consistent with what is expected from simulations of a filamentary gas stream penetrating into the cluster as it continues to accrete matter from the cosmic web. We also find that the radial profiles of the recovered quantities become increasingly asymmetric in the outskirts, particularly along the more disturbed directions, consistent with the predictions of cosmological simulations.
Wearable Shoulder Exoskeleton with Spring-Cam Mechanism for Customizable, Nonlinear Gravity Compensation

Wearable, mechanically passive (i.e. spring-powered) exoskeletons may be more practical and affordable than active, motorized exoskeletons for providing continuous, home-based, antigravity movement assistance for people with shoulder disability. However, the biomechanical moment due to gravity is a nonlinear function of shoulder elevation angle and, thus, challenging to counteract proportionally across the shoulder elevation range of motion with a spring alone. We designed, fabricated, and tested an integrated spring-cam-wheel system that can generate a nonlinear moment to proportionally compensate for the expected antigravity moment at the shoulder. We then incorporated the proposed system in a benchtop model and a novel wearable passive cable-driven exoskeleton that was intended to counteract half of the gravitational moment during shoulder elevation movements. The rotational moment measured from the benchtop model closely matched the theoretical moment during simulated positive shoulder elevation. However, a larger moment (up to 12.5% larger) was required during simulated negative shoulder elevation to stretch the spring to its initial length due to spring hysteresis and friction losses. The wearable exoskeleton prototype was qualitatively tested for assisting shoulder elevation movements; we identified several aspects of the prototype design that need to be improved before further testing on human participants. In future studies, we will quantitatively evaluate human kinematics and neuromuscular coordination with the exoskeleton to determine its suitability for assisting patients with shoulder disability.
Making Ventilator Associated Pneumonia Rate a Meaningful Quality Marker.

Introduction:Ventilator associated pneumonia (VAP) rate has been tracked as a comparable quality measure but there is significant variation between types of ICUs. We sought to understand variabilit...
Novel investigation of perovskite membrane based electrochemical nitric oxide control phenomenon

The combustion of hydrocarbon fuels within the automotive industry results in harmful and reactive incomplete combustion byproducts. Specifically, nitric oxide emissions (NO) lead to increased smog, acid rain, climate change, and respiratory inflammation within the population [Nitrogen Dioxide | American Lung Association]. Current methods for treating combustion exhaust include the catalytic converter in conjunction with nitrogen oxide traps. However, there is no active, continuous reduction method that does not require restrictions on the combustion environment (Hirata in Catal Surv Asia 18:128-133, 2014). Here, a small voltage potential oscillation across a newly designed electro-chemical catalytic membrane significantly reduces NO emissions. A ceramic membrane consisting of two dissimilar metal electrodes, sandwiching a dielectric layer, is able to achieve an NO reduction in excess of 2X that of a platinum group metal (PGM) three way catalytic converter. An analysis of the exhaust effluent from the membranes indicates N2O as a precursor to N2 and O2 formation, without the introduction of ammonia (NH3), during the reaction of NO indicating a divergence from current literature. Our results demonstrate how an oscillatory electric potential on a catalytic surface may alter anticipated reaction chemistry and interaction between the catalytic surface and fluid flow.
“Keep withstanding”: Territory in the body, home and market in Xinjiang, China

Abstract Geographic literature has explored how territorialization occurs by multiple actors in material and symbolic spaces, especially in the home and body. Building on the important research in feminist geography concerning the body as territory, important questions remain: How do Uyghurs in China respond to state territory in their everyday lives? How does fear, pleasure, and mistrust constitute the social relations of territory? How do people experience and navigate state dispossession of territory? I use long-term ethnographic fieldwork to study these questions. China is a strong, authoritarian state with a monopoly on power and seemingly unlimited surveillance and policing capabilities. Uyghurs explored survival strategies that constituted social relations of territory as a node in overlapping networks in Xinjiang. My main argument is that despite a strong government presence, embodied Indigenous practices enabled survivance for the Uyghur people. People escaped the stress of government surveillance and policing by turning to material and symbolic modes of constituting embodied territory.
Virulence variations of Flavobacterium columnare in rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) eyed eggs and alevin.

Flavobacterium columnare (Fc) is the causative agent for columnaris disease (CD) in several fish species and an emerging problem for rainbow trout aquaculture. We characterize the virulence phenotype of two Fc isolates, CSF-298-10 and MS-FC-4, against trout from two sources, NCCCWA and a production stock (PS), at the eyed egg and alevin life stages. Immersion challenges demonstrated that NCCCWA eyed eggs were susceptible to the Fc isolate MS-FC-4 (>97% mortality) but no mortality was observed against PS eyed eggs. The CSF-298-10 had little effect on any eyed eggs tested and was not highly virulent to any alevin till day six post-hatch, up to 38% for NCCCWA and ~80% PS alevin. The MS-FC-4 strain produced ≥80% mortality any day an immersion challenge occurred post-hatch. Significant difference in CFU counts was recorded between the Fc strains on 2 days post-hatch immersion challenges. Counts for the NCCCWA alevin were 4.4 × 103 CFU/ml-1 and 1.8 × 106 CFU/ml-1 for the CSF-298-10 strain and MS-FC-4 strain, respectively, and for the PS alevin CSF-298-10 measured 9.9 × 101 CFU/ml-1 and 3.8 × 105 CFU/ml-1 for MS-FC-4. These two Fc isolates present stark differences in virulence phenotypes to both eyed eggs and alevin and present an interesting model system for virulence kinetics and potentially alternative pathogenic pathways.
Translational Research: The Time is Now

Breakthroughs in gene editing and gene therapy are changing the landscape of cancer, genetic, and metabolic disorders 16 16 EN BIOMEDICAL/TRANSLATIONAL RESEARCH IN RI - PART 2 Translational Research: The Time is Now JAMES F PADBURY, MD BONGSUP P CHO, PhD GUEST EDITORS The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Roadmap identified the need to develop new research pathways and inter- and cross- disciplinary research teams to accelerate clinical research and solve enigmatic problems TRACI GREEN et al provide an overview of the COBRE on Opioid and Overdoses, a collaborative research-based center addressing the opioid crisis in Rhode Island [Extracted from the article] Copyright of Rhode Island Medical Journal is the property of Rhode Island Medical Society and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use This abstract may be abridged No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract (Copyright applies to all Abstracts )
Cognitive Buffer-Aided Mixed RF/FSO Backhauling Network With Switch-Based Rate Adaptation

The cognitive relay networks can effectively mitigate the congestion problem of electromagnetic spectrum. In this context, data buffering at the relaying terminal and free space optical communication can be incorporated to further improve the performance of such networks. To explore this novel scenario, we develop a network model for the mixed RF/FSO cognitive relaying networks and design a transmission protocol to utilize the available resources. Furthermore, we derive the analytical outage probability for the secondary system under the proposed protocol. Monte-Carlo simulations demonstrate that the proposed model guarantees a reliable communication system and the presented theoretical analysis is correct.
MobiMan: Bringing Scripted Agents to Wireless Terminal Management

The increasing software complexity of wireless devices and wireless data service provisioning motivates a wireless terminal management challenge. The systems management solution for this problem needs to scale up to large device populations, while being lightweight enough to be pragmatic for resource-constrained devices. The work in this paper builds upon the emerging SyncML standard for wireless terminal management in order to bring sophisticated policy-based management to large populations of wireless data devices. It is anticipated that this technology will simplify the upgrade and management of wireless data devices substantially, thus encouraging the adoption of sophisticated data terminals.
Combinatorial Rigidity and Independence ofźGeneralized Pinned Subspace-Incidence Constraint Systems

Given a hypergraph H with m hyperedges and a set X of mpins, i.e. globally fixed subspaces in Euclidean space $$\mathbb {R}^{d}$$Rd, a pinned subspace-incidence system is the pair H,i¾źX, with the constraint that each pin in X lies on the subspace spanned by the point realizations in $$\mathbb {R}^d$$Rd of vertices of the corresponding hyperedge of H. Pinned subspace-incidence systems arise in modeling dictionary learning problems as well as biomaterials such as cell wall microfibrils. We are interested in combinatorial characterization of pinned subspace-incidence systems that are minimally rigid, i.e. those systems that are guaranteed to generically yield a locally unique realization. As is customary, this is accompanied by a characterization of generic independence as well as rigidity. Previously, such a combinatorial rigidity characterization is only known for a more restricted version of pinned subpsace-incidence systems, with H being a uniform hypergraph and pins in X being 1-dimension subspaces. In this paper, we extend the combinatorial characterization to general pinned subspace-incidence systems, with H being a non-uniform hypergraph and pins in X being subspaces with arbitrary dimension. As there are generally many data points per subspace in a dictionary learning problem, which can only be modeled with pins of dimension larger than 1, such an extension enables application to a much larger class of dictionary learning problems.
Compact Linear Operators

In a sense, nonlinear analysis doesn’t require a very long attention span. A few chapters ago, we were concerned with algebraic topology in the theory of the Brouwer degree; the previous chapter gave us a brief but bracing dip into the sea of point-set topology; and in this chapter we will discuss some topics in classical “linear” functional analysis.
Fast flip-chip power grid analysis via locality and grid shells

Full-chip power grid analysis is time consuming. Several techniques have been proposed to tackle the problem but typically they deal with the power grid as a whole or partition at unnatural boundaries. Using a locality effect under flip-chip packaging, we propose a natural partitioning approach based on overlapping power grid "shells". The technique makes more efficient any previous simulation techniques that are polynomial in grid size. It is also parallelizable and therefore extremely fast. Using complete partitions gives no loss of accuracy compared to a full matrix solution, while lesser partitions are conservative for droop and current. Results on a recent Pentium/spl reg/ microprocessor design show excellent speed and accuracy.
Electromagnetic scattering from a perfectly conducting wedge loaded by a dielectric circular cylinder

The rigorous field analysis of the scattering of an electromagnetic field from a perfectly conducting wedge loaded by a dielectric cylinder, which is excited by a line source or a plane wave for transverse electric (TE) and transverse magnetic (TM) polarizations, is investigated. The solution technique for the problem is developed by applying the field equivalent principle, which divides the problem into interior and exterior problems for each excitation. Enforcing the continuity of the tangential components of the magnetic field across the dielectric interface results in an integral equation in terms of unknown equivalent magnetic current. The far-scattered field for the external region is computed in terms of the magnetic current for both polarizations. >
What’s recalled depends on the nature of the recall procedure: The case of mnemic neglect.

According to the mnemic neglect model, people process non-threatening feedback more deeply than threatening feedback. Tests of the model rely on behavior recall as the primary dependent variable. Similar to other research programs in social psychology, little attention has been paid to determining the optimal recall procedure for testing the model and replicating its predicted findings. Four experiments reveal that the results of mnemic neglect studies are significantly affected by recall period length and how recalled behaviors are reported. A few basic principles (e.g., output interference, output primacy as an index of accessibility) can account for these findings. The lessons learned apply not just to mnemic neglect research, but to any investigation of social-cognitive processes utilizing free recall measures.
Fostering reflection with Socratic tutoring software: results of using inquiry teaching strategies with web-based HCI techniques

Often a lesson requires learners to reflect on their learning task, to stop and think about what they are doing, how, and why. One way educators can foster this kind of metacognition is to utilize the Socratic Method; ask learners probing questions to get them to examine their own thinking and assist them in an inquiry process. When there are not enough educators skilled in facilitating Socratic dialogue available to help all the learners in a learning environment in a timely manner, we propose using Web-based Socratic tutoring software to assist with the workload. We designed such a system and evaluated its effectiveness. The system, known as Sask, utilizes the Socratic Method via human computer interaction techniques to make the experience feel like a conversation with one's educator. It also includes an authoring system designed to help educators quickly and easily build the tutors, called Mentors. In a quasi-experimental study the Sask system had a statistically significant effect size of 0.69 on students' post-test scores. This implies that the unique interactive design of Sask Mentors can make such Socratic software effective tools for improving a learning environment where human educators already engage students in inquiry dialog.
Performance of Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein in Detecting Traumatic Intracranial Lesions on Computed Tomography in Children and Youth With Mild Head Trauma.

Objectives This study examined the performance of serum glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) in detecting traumatic intracranial lesions on computed tomography (CT) scan in children and youth with mild and moderate traumatic brain injury (TBI) and assessed its performance in trauma control patients without head trauma. Methods This prospective cohort study enrolled children and youth presenting to three Level I trauma centers following blunt head trauma with Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) scores of 9 to 15, as well as trauma control patients with GCS scores of 15 who did not have blunt head trauma. The primary outcome measure was the presence of intracranial lesions on initial CT scan. Blood samples were obtained in all patients within 6 hours of injury and measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for GFAP (ng/mL). Results A total of 257 children and youth were enrolled in the study and had serum samples drawn within 6 hours of injury for analysis: 197 had blunt head trauma and 60 were trauma controls. CT scan of the head was performed in 152 patients and traumatic intracranial lesions on CT scan were evident in 18 (11%), all of whom had GCS scores of 13 to 15. When serum levels of GFAP were compared in children and youth with traumatic intracranial lesions on CT scan to those without CT lesions, median GFAP levels were significantly higher in those with intracranial lesions (1.01, interquartile range [IQR] = 0.59 to 1.48) than those without lesions (0.18, IQR = 0.06 to 0.47). The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) for GFAP in detecting children and youth with traumatic intracranial lesions on CT was 0.82 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.71 to 0.93). In those presenting with GCS scores of 15, the AUC for detecting lesions was 0.80 (95% CI = 0.68 to 0.92). Similarly, in children under 5 years old the AUC was 0.83 (95% CI = 0.56 to 1.00). Performance for detecting intracranial lesions at a GFAP cutoff level of 0.15 ng/mL yielded a sensitivity of 94%, a specificity of 47%, and a negative predictive value of 98%. Conclusions In children and youth of all ages, GFAP measured within 6 hours of injury was associated with traumatic intracranial lesions on CT and with severity of TBI. Further study is required to validate these findings before clinical application.
Magnetic susceptibility of crystalline polyaniline

Abstract The results of electron spin resonance measurements of the magnitude and temperature dependence of the magnetic spin susceptibility of partially crystalline polyaniline in the (protonated) emeraldine salt form are presented. The temperature independence of the susceptibility of the more highly ordered crystalline material above 100K is consistent with the Pauli spin susceptibility of a true metallic state with a density of states at the Fermi level estimated as 1 state per eV per two ring formula unit (one sign of spin). Comparison of these results with similar data obtained from polyaniline prepared in noncrystalline from shows that in amorphous material, disorder induced localization plays an important role.
Efficient Incentive Contracts

SUMMARY This paper analyzes the widely used "incentive contract"-a linear payment schedule where the buyer pays a fixed fee plus some proportion of project cost. The remaining proportion of project cost borne by the seller is usually called the "sharing ratio." A higher sharing ratio creates more incentive to reduce costs. But it also makes the contractor bear more risk, requiring a greater fixed fee as compensation. The basic contribution of the present paper is a simple formula showing explicitly how the optimal sharing ratio depends on such features as uncertainty, risk aversion, and the contractor's ability to control costs. The formula is applied to some numericalexamples drawn from the area of defense contracting. Designing an efficient contract is an example of the so-called "principal-agent problem." While the basic theoretical issues are fairly well understood,1 results are at a rather high level of abstraction, somewhat removed from the realm of practical application. At the other extreme is a rich body of descriptive material about an already institutionalized linear contract2 (the "incentive contract"). In this paper I want to strike a middle position. Because a linear payment schedule has a simple structure, explicit formulae for an efficient contract can be derived that show clearly the tradeoff between risksharing and incentives.3 This has immediate applications, since the "incentive contract" is used in practice.