cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
On-site Calibration Test of ±800 kV Convertor Station DC Potential Transformer

DC potential transformer(DCTV) plays an important role in HVDC transmission system for its safety and steady operation.Taking the pole bus DCTV in ±800 kV Fulong converter station as an example,we researched the principle of DCTV,and developed a set of HVDC standard setup used in converter station for calibration test on site.The setup was made up of a standard divider and a measurement device with synchronous data acquisition system.Moreover,we constructed an appropriate circuit for calibration test on site,and performed the calibration test on site at rated voltage for the pole bus DCTV in Fulong converter station.Test results reveal that,when voltage range is from 0 to 500 kV,the relatively error of the scale factor of standard resistor DC voltage divider is less than 0.05%,and the linearity is 0.03%;when voltage range is from 0 to 800 kV,the linearity of the scale factor of standard resistor DC voltage divider is less than 0.05%;the scale factor accuracy of DCTV at pole bus Ⅰ in Fulong converter station meets the demands of 0.2 class,the linearity is 0.27%,and the scale factor decreases gradually as the voltage increases.Meanwhile,the setup can well perform the on-site calibration test for ±800 kV UHV DCTV.
Learning Weight Uncertainty with Stochastic Gradient MCMC for Shape Classification

Learning the representation of shape cues in 2D & 3D objects for recognition is a fundamental task in computer vision. Deep neural networks (DNNs) have shown promising performance on this task. Due to the large variability of shapes, accurate recognition relies on good estimates of model uncertainty, ignored in traditional training of DNNs, typically learned via stochastic optimization. This paper leverages recent advances in stochastic gradient Markov Chain Monte Carlo (SG-MCMC) to learn weight uncertainty in DNNs. It yields principled Bayesian interpretations for the commonly used Dropout/DropConnect techniques and incorporates them into the SG-MCMC framework. Extensive experiments on 2D & 3D shape datasets and various DNN models demonstrate the superiority of the proposed approach over stochastic optimization. Our approach yields higher recognition accuracy when used in conjunction with Dropout and Batch-Normalization.
Sex-specific foraging habits and roost characteristics of Nycticeius humeralis in north-central Arkansas

Sexual segregation is common in polygynous mammals, particularly in wild ungulates, but is less known in bats of North America. Yet, the declining bat populations caused by white-nose syndrome, wind energy facilities, and habitat loss throughout eastern North America require habitat management, which may be sex specific. We thus determined sex-specific roosting and foraging habits of evening bats ( Nycticeius humeralis ) in north-central Arkansas. During the summers of 2013 and 2014, we equipped 70 individuals with radiotransmitters to track their foraging movements and identify their roosts that we characterized with 3 tree-level and 7 plot-level variables. We found that evening bat males and females segregate spatially with females foraging over a larger area than males. Females’ roosts were also higher in elevation. Although the roost itself had similar characteristics between sexes, its surrounding habitat was characterized by less canopy cover and a smaller basal area for females. Our results support sex-specific habits and sexual segregation in a forest-dwelling bat, which highlights the importance of sex-specific studies to inform management decisions that would benefit both sexes, including females for which parental investment is higher.
Glass transition of soft segments in phase-mixed poly(urethane urea) elastomers by time-domain 1H and 13C solid-state NMR

Abstract The glass transition processes of the soft-segments (SS) in a series of poly(urethane urea) (PUU) elastomers were studied by solid-state NMR. Two SS fractions, rigid (SSr) and mobile (SSm), can be discerned by time-domain wideline separation, 13C 1H dipolar dephasing, and frequency-switched Lee-Goldberg spin-locked T1ρ relaxation experiments. At increasing temperature, part of the SSr population turns into SSm, while the decay constants of both fractions only see moderate changes. The extent of the population exchange is greater for samples with more phase mixing. This population exchange can be interpreted as the glass transition in the SS-rich domains. Comparison between T1ρ relaxations on the xy plane and along the magic angle indicates that the domain sizes of SSr and SSm are likely less than 2–3 nm. SSr is not completely rigid, but possesses both a fast, anisotropic chain rotation associated with the β relaxation and a slower motion with more isotropic nature at ca. 105 s−1. It is predicted that at high strain rates, most of SSr and part of SSm would become rigid, resulting in dynamically induced strengthening and toughening.
Video Tracking with Probabilistic Cooccurrence Feature Extraction

Video analysis is a rich research topic for a wide spectrum of applications such as surveillance, activity recognition, security, and event detection. Many challenges affect the efficiency of a tracking algorithm such as scene illumination change, occlusions, scaling and search window for the tracked objects. We present an integrated probabilistic model for object tracking, that combines implicit dynamic shape representations and probabilistic object modeling. Furthermore, this paper describes a novel implementation of the algorithm that runs on a general purpose graphics processing unit (GPGPU), and is suitable for video analysis in a real-time vision system. We demonstrate the utility of the proposed tracking algorithm on a benchmark video tracking data set while achieving state-of-the art results in both overlap-accuracy and speed.
High dose-rate brachytherapy for the treatment of lower extremity in-stent restenosis

Abstract Objective Historically, edge stenosis and late thrombosis limited the effectiveness of adjunctive endovascular brachytherapy (EVBT) for in-stent restenosis (ISR) after percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA) and stenting. We evaluated an updated protocol of PTA and EVBT for ISR among patients with lower extremity occlusive disease. Methods This is a retrospective, single-center review of patients treated with PTA and EVBT for ISR in the iliac and femoropopliteal segments between 2004 and 2012. A dose of 20 Gy was given at a depth of 0.5 mm beyond the radius of the largest PTA balloon using iridium 192, with at least 2-cm-long margins of radiation coverage proximal and distal to the injured area. Stents were assessed for patency by duplex ultrasound imaging at 1, 3, 6, 9, 12, and 18 months and then yearly. The primary end point was freedom from ≥50% restenosis in the treated segment at 6 months, 1 year, and 2 years. Patency data were estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method. Secondary end points were early and late thrombotic occlusion. Results Among 42 consecutive cases in 35 patients of EVBT for ISR in common or external iliac (9 [20.8%]) and superficial femoral or popliteal (33 [76.7%]) arteries, or both, 21 patients (50%) had claudication, asymptomatic hemodynamically significant stenoses were identified on duplex ultrasound imaging in 16 (38.1%), and 4 (9.8%) had critical limb ischemia. Mean treated length was 23.5 ± 12.3 cm over a mean duration of 16.1 ± 9.6 minutes. There was one technical failure (2.3%). Median post-EVBT follow-up time was 682 days (range, 1-2262 days). There were two (4.9%) and five (11.9%) cases of early and late thrombotic occlusions, respectively. There was one death, believed to be secondary to acute coronary syndrome. Primary, assisted primary, and secondary patency in the entire cohort was 75.2%, 89.1%, and 89.1%, respectively, at 1 year and 63.7%, 80.6%, and 85.6%, respectively, at 2 years. Conclusions This contemporary protocol of PTA and adjunctive EVBT for lower extremity ISR, which is updated from those used in prior trials and includes a surveillance strategy that identifies at-risk stents for reintervention before occlusion, may be a promising treatment for lower extremity ISR at institutions where a close collaboration between vascular surgeons and radiation oncologists is feasible.
Mimicking Complex Biological Membranes and Their Programmable Glycan Ligands with Dendrimersomes and Glycodendrimersomes

Synthetic vesicles have been assembled and coassembled from phospholipids, their modified versions, and other single amphiphiles into liposomes, and from block copolymers into polymersomes. Their time-consuming synthesis and preparation as stable, monodisperse, and biocompatible liposomes and polymersomes called for the elaboration of new synthetic methodologies. Amphiphilic Janus dendrimers (JDs) and glycodendrimers (JGDs) represent the most recent self-assembling amphiphiles capable of forming monodisperse, stable, and multifunctional unilamellar and multilamellar onion-like vesicles denoted dendrimersomes (DSs) and glycodendrimersomes (GDSs), dendrimercubosomes (DCs), glycodendrimercubosomes (GDCs), and other complex architectures. Amphiphilic JDs consist of hydrophobic dendrons connected to hydrophilic dendrons and can be thought of as monodisperse oligomers of a single amphiphile. They can be functionalized with a variety of molecules such as dyes, and, in the case of JGDs, with carbohydrates. Their ...
The Ecological Rise of Whales Chronicled by the Fossil Record

The evolution of cetaceans is one of the best examples of macroevolution documented from the fossil record. While ecological transitions dominate each phase of cetacean history, this context is rarely stated explicitly. The first major ecological phase involves a transition from riverine and deltaic environments to marine ones, concomitant with dramatic evolutionary transformations documented in their early fossil record. The second major phase involves ecological shifts associated with evolutionary innovations: echolocation (facilitating hunting prey at depth) and filter-feeding (enhancing foraging efficiency on small prey). This latter phase involves body size shifts, attributable to changes in foraging depth and environmental forcing, as well as re-invasions of freshwater systems on continental basins by multiple lineages. Modern phenomena driving cetacean ecology, such as trophic dynamics and arms races, have an evolutionary basis that remains mostly unexamined. The fossil record of cetaceans provides an historical basis for understanding current ecological mechanisms and consequences, especially as global climate change rapidly alters ocean and river ecosystems at rates and scales comparable to those over geologic time.
Glutamate is down-regulated and tinnitus loudness-levels decreased following rTMS over auditory cortex of the left hemisphere: A prospective randomized single-blinded sham-controlled cross-over study.

Abstract Using a prospective randomized single-blinded sham-controlled cross-over design, we studied the efficacy of low frequency (1-Hz) repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation ( r TMS) over auditory cortex of the left temporal lobe as an experimental treatment modality for noise-induced tinnitus. Pre/post outcome measures for sham vs . active r TMS conditions included differential changes in tinnitus loudness, self-perceived changes in the Tinnitus Handicap Questionnaire (THQ), and neurochemical changes of brain metabolite concentrations using single voxel proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy ( 1 H-MRS) obtained from left and right auditory cortical areas. While no subject in our sample had complete abatement of their tinnitus percept, active but not sham r TMS significantly reduced the loudness level of the tinnitus perception on the order of 4.5 dB; improved subscales in several content areas on the THQ, and down regulated (reduced) glutamate concentrations specific to the auditory cortex of the left temporal lobe that was stimulated. In addition, significant pair-wise correlations were observed among questionnaire variables, metabolite variables, questionnaire-metabolite variables, and metabolite-loudness variables. As part of this correlation analysis, we demonstrate for the first time that active r TMS produced a down regulation in the excitatory neurotransmitter glutamate that was highly correlated (r = 0.77, p
“Spying for the People”: surveillance, democracy and the impasse of cynical reason

This essay examines the Snowden affair as a sort of Rorschach test that traces the contours of what I am calling the impasse of cynical reason. In particular, I contend that the emerging form of algorithmic dataveillance both elicits and actively thwarts theoretical and critical approaches predicated on an a normative, symbolic model of epistemology that this form aspires to supplant. As a result, what such approaches tend to discern in the emerging culture of surveillance are its own epistemological commitments—the very ones comprising the impasse of cynical reason. Breaking out of this impasse will thus require disrupting the deep, hidden complicity of such critique with its ostensible object. I contend that this will require taking seriously the often disingenuous or fallacious arguments on behalf of dataveillance in order to overcome the critical resistance to the quite genuine eventuality they connote—that of the decline of cynical reason as the prevailing form of social coordination.
How Did Germany Go Right

To set a single agenda for German history would be a foolhardy task, but let us begin with a major generalization about the long-term development of the field. Two mega-issues have dominated the historiography and debates for a century or more, standing on the path of historical research like some huge boulders that can not be moved or even circumvented. The first concerns how the German communities of Central Europe had constructed a nation-state—Tantae molis erat Germanam condere gentem, to adapt Vergil. There was a Prussian-centered statist answer by scholars including Leopold von Ranke, Heinrich von Treitschke, and Friedrich Meinecke, and continuing through Christopher Clark's Iron Kingdom. A more decentered approach has, by contrast, stressed local experiences; liberal and participatory currents of a political or religious (often Roman Catholic in sympathy, e.g., the work of Franz Schnabel) or cultural nature; and, finally, the heritage of a federalist constitutionalism, whether instantiated in the Holy Roman Empire or in the later celebratory afterglow of Heimat. The second mega-issue that dominated the historiography for the first generation—perhaps half-century—after World War II and the collapse of Nazism was one that I was asked about at my undergraduate oral examinations in the spring of 1960: Where did Germany go wrong? The catastrophic career of National Socialist Germany, both internally and for Europe in general, compelled my generation and later ones never to lose sight of that issue. Even those who rejected claims about long-term disabling flaws in the emergence of liberal democracy—the political original sin, so to speak—had to address that fundamental issue.
Graded Pattern Generalization Processing of Elementary Students (Ages 6 Through 10 Years)

In this chapter, we focus on pattern generalization studies that have been conducted with elementary school children from Grades 1 through 5 (ages 6 through 10 years) in different contexts. Our contribution to the current research based on elementary students’ understanding of patterns involves extrapolating the graded nature of their pattern generalization schemes on the basis of their constructed structures, incipient generalizations, and the use of various representational forms such as gestures, words, and arithmetical symbols in conveying their expressions of generality. The gradedness condition foregrounds the dynamic emergence of parallel types of pattern generalization processing that is sensitive to a complex of factors (cognitive, sociocultural, neural, constraints in curriculum content, nature and type of tasks, etc.), where progression is seen not in linear terms but as states that continually evolve based on more learning. In a graded pattern generalization processing view, there are no prescribed stages or fixed rules but only states of conceptual coalescences and coherent covariations that change with more experiences. The chapter addresses different aspects of pattern generalization processing that matter to elementary school children. We also explore approximate and exact pattern generalizations along three dimensions, namely: whole number knowledge, shape sensitivity, and figural competence. We further discuss the representational modes that elementary students oftentimes use to capture their emergent structures and incipient generalizations. These modes include gestural, pictorial, verbal, and numerical. In another section, we address grade-level appropriate use and understanding of variables via the notions of intuited and tacit variables. We close the section with an analysis of the relationship between elementary children’s structural incipient generalizations and the natural emergence of their understanding of functions.
What Human Resource Management Can Teach The Goal: A Research Note

Human resource management is a key element in the production process of many companies operating in the global business environment. The need for proper functioning and personal discipline resource...
Inhibition of pancreatic cancer by targeting the epigenetic EZH2 complex.

e15736Background: Epigenetic regulators transmit, extend, and modify signals of oncogenes and tumor suppressors, thereby acting as effectors of the pancreatic cancer (PDAC) phenotype. The reversibl...
Transfusion-associated chest pain.

Background Chest pain is a common clinical dilemma and is rarely reported as part of suspected adverse events in transfusion recipients. The aim of this study is to describe and characterize the clinical presentation of transfusion-associated chest pain and how it relates to currently defined National Healthcare Safety Network hemovigilance entities. Study design and methods This is a retrospective chart review at a single large academic institution of patients who reported chest pain during or after a transfusion that resulted in a transfusion reaction investigation during the period January 2004 to December 2016. Results Of approximately 500,000 transfusions occurring during the study period and 3220 suspected transfusion reactions reported, 23 (0.7%) reactions involving chest pain were identified, of which 20 had medical records available for analysis. Ninety percent of cases presented with chest pain within 2.5 hours of the start of transfusion, with a mean time of onset of 92.2 minutes. Fourteen RBC units and 6 platelet units were implicated, and all transfusions were ABO identical. All posttransfusion workups were negative for hemolysis or agglutination on direct antiglobulin testing. Twenty percent of cases showed evidence of acute coronary ischemia that was first detected during transfusion with rising troponins or electrocardiographic abnormalities, all in association with RBC transfusion for anemia. For most reactions, the signs and symptoms did not fit any hemovigilance definitions for transfusion reactions. Conclusion Chest pain is an infrequently reported chief complaint for transfusion reactions. Increased circulatory volume due to transfusion may be an important contributor to myocardial demand ischemia in at-risk patients. Additional studies are necessary to determine the clinical significance of chest pain during transfusion and to elucidate potential mechanisms.
Got theory?: Reconceptualizing the nature of the theory-practice gap in K-12 educational leadership

The purpose of this paper is to reconceptualize the theory-practice gap in educational leadership, not as a deficit, but as a necessity for legitimacy within institutional contexts.,This paper draws on institutional theory to reframe the theory-practice gap, which is often seen as a deficit of leaders or preparation programs.,Three vignettes illustrate how aspiring and current educational leaders engage with theory and practice within specific contexts and in relation to specific aspects of leadership. Importantly, the vignettes show that when school leaders decouple theory from practice, they may be doing so to function as legitimate providers of K-12 educational leadership.,The theory-practice gap, while often perceived as something negative, can have certain benefits within particular contexts. Scholars interested in the interconnections of theory and practice would benefit from considering why and how school leaders engage theory and practice.,Implications for leadership preparation programs highlight developing more complex views of the challenges that leaders face in tightly coupling theory and practice. To support future and current leaders, leadership preparation programs need to ensure that their students understand their institutional contexts and the reasons that leaders may decouple theory from action in various ways.,Instead of viewing the theory/practice gap as a deficit, this paper argues for a new way to consider why school leaders and leadership candidates may engage with theory and practice in different ways.
Abstract 598: Monounsaturated Fat Reduces Foamy Monocyte Formation and Atherosclerosis Development in Ldlr-/- Mice Compared to Western High Saturated Fat Diet

Monounsaturated fat (MUF)-rich Mediterranean-type diet (MedD) has been reported to improve atherosclerotic outcome in clinical studies, but the underlying mechanism is ill defined. Circulating foam...
Hydrolytic Degradation of Poly DL-(Lactide)

Poly (DL-lactide) or poly (DL-lactic acid) (PLA), has been proposed as a component of several controlled-release drug forms because it degrades in living tissue to harmless products (1,2). Thus, devices or particles made of this material could be slowly metabolized and thus leave the body harmlessly after the drug is released. The solubility of PLA in many organic solvents (ketones, esters, aromatics, and chlorinated aliphatics) gives considerable flexibility in device fabrication. PLA has been proposed for use as fibers (3), microcapsules (4), and larger implants (2). Experimenters have made a variety of drug forms and devices to deliver drugs ranging from birth-control agents and narcotic antagonists, to anticoagulants and depressants.
Wave Excitation Force Prediction Methodology Based on Autoregressive Filters for Real Time Control

This paper presents a wave excitation force prediction methodology for a slider crank power take-off system (PTOS) based on autoregressive filters. This study shows the feasibility of half period and zero crossing prediction of the irregular ocean waves to keep phase lock condition between the generator and the wave excitation force. This is critically important for unidirectional continuous rotation of the generator to maximize energy extraction. Results from the prediction with different filter orders are analyzed to accommodate real time processing requirements. It has been shown that 10th order filter provides the good compromise of accuracy and timely processing.
Endovascular treatment of acute ischemic stroke

Endovascular thrombectomy is an effective treatment for major acute ischemic stroke syndromes caused by major anterior circulation artery occlusions (commonly referred to as large vessel occlusion) and is superior to intravenous thrombolysis and medical management. Treatment should occur as quickly as is reasonably possible. All patients with moderate to severe symptoms (National Institutes of Health stroke scale >8) and a treatable occlusion should be considered. The use of neuroimaging is critical to exclude hemorrhage and large ischemic cores. Very shortly after stroke onset (<3 hours) computed tomography (CT) and CT angiography provide sufficient information to proceed; diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is less reliable during this early stage. After 3 hours from onset diffusion MRI is the most reliable method to define ischemic core size and should be used in centers that can offer it rapidly. Recanalization is highly effective with a stentriever or using a direct aspiration technique, with the patient awake or under conscious sedation rather than general anesthesia, if it may be performed safely. After thrombectomy the patient should be admitted to an intensive care setting and inpatient rehabilitation undertaken as soon as feasible. Patient outcomes should be assessed at 3 months, preferably using the modified Rankin score.
A method to estimate residential PV generation from net-metered load data and system install date

Abstract In the USA, residential photovoltaic (PV) systems are often configured for net metering “behind-the-meter”, where PV energy generation and building energy demand are reported as a combined net load to advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) meters, impeding estimates of PV generation. This work presents a methodology for modeling individual array and system-wide PV generation using only weather data, premise AMI data, and the approximate date of PV installation – information available to most distribution utilities. The study uses 36 months of data spanning nearly 850 homes with installed PV systems in Fort Collins, Colorado, USA. The algorithm estimates building energy consumption by comparing time periods before PV installation with similar periods after PV installation that have common weather and activity characteristics. Estimated building energy consumption is then compared with AMI meter data to estimate otherwise unobservable solar generation. To assess accuracy, modeled outputs are compared with directly metered PV generation and white-box physical models of PV production. Considering aggregate, utility-wide, generation estimates for the three year study period, the proposed method estimates over 75% of all days to within ± 20% of established physical models. The method estimates more effectively in summer months when PV generation peaks and is of most interest to utilities. The model often outperforms physical models for days with snow cover and for arrays with shading or complex multi-roof implementations. The model also supports day-ahead PV prediction using forecasted weather data.
CHAPTER 5 – Cutting Methods

Publisher Summary This chapter describes dual and primary cutting methods and discusses the computational experience. Cutting methods are the first systematic techniques to be developed for the integer linear problem. The first finite cutting algorithm was developed by Gomory, for the pure integer problem, Gomory showed how the cuts can be constructed systematically from the simplex tableau. The algorithm is proved to converge in a finite number of iteration; however, it has the drawback that the machine round-off error represents a difficulty. This led to the development of a new algorithm by Gomory, which improves directly on this drawback. Later, Gomory extended his theory to cover the mixed integer problem. Cutting methods can be categorized as dual and primal methods. Dual cutting methods differ in the way the cut is constructed. In the mixed integer problem, it is necessary to develop a different cut. The chapter describes the basis for constructing the mixed cut and convergence proof in the mixed case.
Parametric Design and Comparative Analysis of a Special Purpose Flexure Spring

Flexure springs play pivotal role to ensure reliability and durability of the cryocooler compressors. The critical application of flexure spring intends to eliminate the wear, frictional losses and significantly vibrations. A parameter study was performed considering the design variables of a flexure spring to meet the requirements of the cryocooler compressors viz. complexity of the geometric configuration, radial and axial stiffness, fatigue life, material, etc. The parametric design approach was deployed using finite element analysis (FEA), to validate the same by experimental data to analyse the performance of the flexure spring. This paper also presents a comparative analysis of the design variables in terms of axial and radial stiffness, induced stress as well as the manufacturing methods’ considerations to optimize the design of a special purpose flexure spring for the cryocooler compressors. Furthermore, experimental study of the flexure spring was carried out in order to maximize the stroke.
JET MODIFICATION AND A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF HADRON v2 MEASUREMENTS IN $\sqrt{^SNN} = 200\ {\rm GeV}$Au+Au COLLISIONS AT RHIC-PHENIX

In this analysis we measure the azimuthal angle (φ) dependence of hadrons with respect to the reaction plane (ΨRP) in events that were triggered by a high-pT π0 of 5-10 GeV. Fitting the distribution of hadrons with a function of the type ξ(1 + 2v2cos (2(φ − ΨRP))), we observe that there is no significant statistical difference between v2 inclusive hadrons and those hadrons from hard scattering events. We also compare the near-side jet widths using PYTHIA simulations with h±−h± correlations in Au+Au at .
The Soft R\'egime and \beta Function of NRQCD

Progress towards a complete velocity power counting in non-relativistic effective field theories, especially NRQCD, is motivated and summarised.
Acupuncture for 'frequent attenders' with medically unexplained symptoms.

Paterson and colleagues do not provide any evidence for their claim that acupuncture is effective for patients with multiple unexplained symptoms1 for two main reasons. First, their study did not test acupuncture at all, and second, there were so many methodological flaws that no conclusions of any kind could reliably be drawn. Had no needling taken place, and patients in the intervention group simply been given the same amount of time …
Firm Network Structure and Innovation

This study examines how various aspects of firm network affect firm innovation and pricing of innovation by market participants. We use board interlocks to build interfirm network and construct different network measures to capture firm centrality in the interfirm network, cohesion and diversity within firm network, and innovativeness of network partners. Our results show that these different aspects of network affect firm innovation input and output, especially for firms in relatively intangible industries and also those not located in large metropolitan areas. We also find that firm network affects pricing of innovation by bond market participants: Innovation has a marginal positive effect on yield spread when firms have lower connectedness, suggesting that the market perceives innovative activities by these firms as more uncertain.
Real Time Ultrasonic Monitoring of Solid-State Lithium-Ion Cells in the Frequency Domain

The widespread use of lithium-ion battery technology for energy storage has created a need for accurate, real-time, state of charge and health monitoring. Most existing methodologies cannot access the electrochemical processes directly, often relying on inference into the internal states through proxy measurements, leading to increased predictive errors in remaining cell life and capacity. The proposed research uses noninvasive ultrasound applied to solid-state cells over a range of frequencies in the low megahertz to infer the intercalaction levels of the electrodes, bypassing the need for terminal voltage or current measurements. The preliminary experiments have shown a correlation between the charge state and acoustic phase changes with fixed distance transducers bonded to the battery surface.
Using conditional inference to quantify interaction effects of socio-demographic covariates of US COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy

COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy has become a major issue in the U.S. as vaccine supply has outstripped demand and vaccination rates slow down. At least one recent global survey has sought to study the covariates of vaccine acceptance, but an inferential model that makes simultaneous use of several socio-demographic variables has been lacking. In this article, we present such a model using US-based survey data collected by Gallup. Our study agrees with the global survey results in some respects, but is also found to exhibit significant differences. For example, women and people aged between 25-54 were found to be more vaccine hesitant. Our conditional inference tree model suggests that trust in government, age and ethnicity are the most important covariates for predicting vaccine hesitancy, and can interact in ways that make them useful for communication-based outreach, especially if conjoined with census data. In particular, we found that the most vaccine hesitant individuals were those who identified as Black Republicans with a high school (or lower) education and lower income levels, who were involuntarily unemployed and trusted in the Trump administration.
Children in Medicaid: Access to care and health status compared to all children in Iowa. A Report to the Iowa Department of Human Services

Summary Overall, children enrolled in Medicaid managed care programs were found to have a lower health state and to have been more likely to have a special health care need, more likely to need behavioral/emotional care, less likely to have a regular source of medical care, less likely to always get care as soon as they needed it, and to have a higher reported unmet need for dental care and prescriptions drugs. Conversely, children in Medicaid managed care had similar rates of unmet need for medical care, were more likely to have received preventive counseling (anticipatory guidance), had less reported need for a specialist, were less likely to have been treated in an emergency room, and had fewer physician visits. Many of these issues, however, are time sensitive and could have been affected by the differences in the response period of the two different surveys (i.e., Medicaid enrollees were asked about the past six months due to enrollment patterns, while the statewide survey asked about the past year).
Civil Protection Voluntary Service: An Introduction to the Issue Through Interviews with Experts

Chapter 6 introduces and analyzes the collection of nine semistructured interviews with civil protection experts at local, provincial, and regional levels. These semistructured interviews were aimed at understanding the Civil Protection Voluntary Service during the past few decades, its changes in organization, and its prosocial culture. I decided to focus attention on local, provincial, and regional levels because in these contexts the Civil Protection Voluntary Service has various and fundamental activities, competencies, roles, and skills.
The monotonicity of the term premium

Abstract Fama's evidence that the term premium on Treasury securities is not monotonically increasing is found to depend entirely on the behavior of bid-asked mean returns on 9- and 10-month bills, and only during the subperiod 8/64–12/72. When transactions costs, as reflected in the bid-asked spread, are taken into account, there is found to be no way to exploit this non-monotonicity. The anomalous behavior of the quotations is attributed to the Treasury's auctions of 9-month bills during the period 9/66–10/72. The hypothesis that the term premium is a monotonically increasing function of maturity remains unrefuted.
Modeling of Humoral Immune Response to Repeated Influenza A Virus Infections

Seasonal infections by Influenza A virus (IAV) causes hundreds of thousands of deaths worldwide each year, with most individuals being infected multiple times throughout their lifetimes. The relative impact of the components of the host immune system in controlling the severity and duration of repeated challenges from an IAV infection remains unclear. In particular, the differential contribution of the humoral immune response in primary and secondary challenges from IAV are relatively little explored. We develop a parsimonious mathematical model of the humoral immune response to IAV infection with biologically meaningful and identifiable parameters. We show the relative sensitivity of the viral load and antibody response to dynamics of B cell proliferation and antibody production. We relate immunoglobin class switching to a CD4^+ T-cell driven process for the formation of humoral memory. Results of this study help to illuminate the relative contribution of CD4^+ T-cells, B-cells, and antibody in the control of IAV infection and formation of humoral memory. Funding for this project was provided through the Nova Southeastern University President’s Faculty Research and Development Grant No. 335321.
Social Learning Theory

Historically, social learning theory has focused on the ways in which people learn from observing one another, with particular attention to modeling and imitation. In its early years in the 1960s, its roots were in behaviorism, giving attention to the potential roles of environmental stimuli and consequences (reinforcement and punishment) in learning and behavior. But over time, it has increasingly incorporated cognitive factors into its explanations of how people learn and why they behave as they do, and it is now sometimes called social cognitive theory. For example, it has expanded far beyond learning through observation to include people's interpretations of what they see, their expectations regarding future events, and their beliefs about their ability to successfully accomplish challenging tasks. Furthermore, it has increasingly portrayed learning and behavior as being controlled not by environmental circumstances but rather by learners themselves. Keywords: social learning theory; social cognitive theory; reciprocal causation; self-efficacy; self-regulation
Understanding the relationship between mental models, conflict and conflict asymmetry

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to test theoretically based hypotheses linking task and team-shared mental models (SMMs) with multiple dimensions of conflict and conflict asymmetry. SMMs are viewed as an underlying mechanism of team processes. While current research has begun to clarify their influence on functional team processes, their influence on dysfunctional processes is still unknown. Design/methodology/approach – The survey was administered to 17 graduate business classes working on intense semester-long group projects. A total of 295 individual responses were received which comprised 90 (N = 90) teams. Findings – Results suggest that team SMMs reduce all dimensions of conflict and relationship conflict asymmetry, while task SMMs increase all dimensions of conflict and relationship conflict asymmetry. Research limitations/implications – This study captured the influence of SMMs on conflict at one stage of group development. Future research should examine the impact of SMMs on conflict at mu...
Incidental left atrial and ventricular thrombi on routine CT: outcome and influence on subsequent management at an urban tertiary care referral center

Incidental left-sided cardiac thrombi are occasionally encountered on CT. This study examined clinical findings and outcome in patients with incidental cardiac thrombi on CT. Our image database was reviewed for incidental left-sided cardiac thrombi on CT. These patients’ charts were retrospectively reviewed. Thirty-five patients had incidental left-sided cardiac thrombi on CT, 26 of which were ventricular and 9 atrial. Thirty-two thrombi were unknown prior to the CT, and the radiologist interpretation triggered echocardiography or anticoagulation in most cases. Embolic complications occurred in 14 patients, 4 of which were fatal. Twelve patients had concomitant cancer, 6 of which were newly discovered. Incidental left-sided cardiac thrombi on CT appeared to confer substantial morbidity and mortality in our study. In many cases, the cardiac thrombi were new and led to changes in management. A high rate of malignancy was also noted, which may be related to the hypercoagulable state of malignancy.
Intimate Partner Violence, Physical Health, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Depression, and Quality of Life in Latinas

Objectives: The purposes of this exploratory study were to a) describe physical health symptoms and diagnoses in abused immigrant Latinas, b) explore the relationships between the women’s physical health and their experiences of intimate partner violence (IPV), their history of childhood trauma and immigration status, and c) explore the correlations between their physical health, health-related quality of life (HRQOL), and mental health, specifically symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and major depressive disorder (MDD).Methods: The convenience sample (n=33) for this cross-sectional descriptive study consisted of Latino women receiving emergency shelter and community-based services at a domestic violence services agency in the northeastern U.S. We used Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients to analyze the relationships between physical health variables and IPV type and severity, childhood and adulthood sexual abuse, and HRQOL.Results: All of the women experienced threatened abuse. More than two-thirds experienced moderate to severe psychological abuse, moderate to severe physical abuse, and/or sexual abuse. Twenty women experienced all three types. Women endorsed one or more items in neuromuscular (69.7%), gastrointestinal (63.6%), and genitourinary/gynecologic (45.5%) groupings. Pain was the most reported symptom: bodily pain in previous month (60%), repeated neck or back pain (54.5%), severe/frequent headaches (54.5%), and pelvic pain (21.2%). Eighty-one percent of women endorsed at least one pain item (mean=2.56), and the same number reported difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep. Pain and sleeping difficulty, the two most frequently reported symptoms, were consistently and highly correlated with PTSD and MDD diagnoses and symptom severity and HRQOL. Childhood sexual abuse was significantly correlated with total pain symptoms (r=0.606, p=0.000) and difficulty sleeping (from the PTSD scale) (r=0.349, p=0.046). Both pain (r=0.400, p=0.023) and sleeping difficulty (r=0.467, p=0.006) were also strongly correlated with undocumented immigration status. Conclusion: Detailed assessment of patients with pain and sleep disorders can help identify IPV and its mental health sequelae, PTSD and MDD. Accurate identification of the root causes and pathways of the health burden carried by victims and survivors of IPV, who are vulnerable to persisting health problems without adequate healthcare, is critical in both clinical practice and research. [West J Emerg Med. 2010; 11(3):247-251.]INTRODUCTIONNearly one in four women have been physically assaulted or raped by an intimate partner in their lifetime.
Interactions between neighbour environments and drought resistance

Abstract The effects of neighbours on drought resistance were tested for two perennial bunchgrasses that co-occur throughout a small-scale productivity gradient in a desert grassland in New Mexico. Seedlings of the relatively mesicSporobolus airoides and the relatively xeric Scleropogon brevifolius were grown alone and in intra- and interspecific pairs for 45 days after which they were left unwatered. Time to shoot death and subsequent revival success were monitored. Regardless of treatment, Scleropogon brevifolius was smaller at the end of the pre-drought period, survived longer into a drought and was more likely to revive after apparent above-ground death. Interspecific (but not intraspecific) neighbours strongly influenced relative biomass allocation to roots. It is concluded that the lack of effects of neighbours on total growth does not necessarily indicate that neighbours do not affect fitness by triggering morphological shifts. The study demonstrates the need both for incorporation of competition into studies of the physiology of drought resistance and plasticity and their possible implications in plant competition and community organization.
Horizontal dispersion of floatable particles in the vicinity of velocity singularities such as convergences

Abstract A singular point in a two-dimensional velocity field is a stationary point of flow. The simplest and most important singularities in oceanography are points of convergence (or divergence), neutral points, and lines of convergence (or divergence). In the neighbourhood of the singularity, the velocity field is approximated linearly in terms of coordinates whose origin is taken at the singularity. The linear velocity field thus considered consists of the rates of stretching deformation and shearing deformation, vorticity, and divergence (or negative convergence). A group of foreign particles initially arranged in a circle surrounding a singularity will be deformed into an ellipse the area of which increases or decreases with time depending on the sign of the divergence. When a random motion is superposed upon the velocity field, a group of particles will be subject to advection-diffusion. As a result of the combined action of the rates of stretching and shearing, vorticity, and random motion, the group size tends to grow against a collecting power of convergence toward the singularity. Asymptotically a stationary situation may be established in which a group of particles attains a certain limiting size. Only the theoretical aspect is considered.
An Improved Real-Time Global Sea Surface Temperature Analysis

Abstract The monthly global sea surface temperature (SST) analysis of Reynolds using real-time in situ and satellite SST data has now been improved by using sea ice data to simulate SSTs in ice-covered regions. The simulated SSTs now become the external boundary condition for the analysis solution. This technique eliminates any high-latitude satellite biases and extends the analysis to the ice edge. The analysis with the ice data has been computed for the period January 1982 to present.
Feedforward postural adjustments in a simple two-joint synergy in patients with Parkinson's disease

Abstract Patients with Parkinson's disease, age-matched controls and young control subjects performed discrete elbow or wrist movements in a sagittal plane under the instruction to move one of the joints "as fast as possible." Relative stability of the other, postural joint was comparable in all 3 groups, while movement time was the highest in the patients and the lowest in young controls. Typically, EMG patterns in both muscle pairs acting at the joints demonstrated a commonly observed "tri-phasic" pattern. A cross-correlation analysis of the EMGs confirmed virtually simultaneous bursts in the wrist and elbow flexors and in the wrist and elbow extensors. In all 3 groups, there were no signs of anticipatory activation of postural muscles in about 90% of movements. We consider postural anticipation not a separate process, but a separate peripheral pattern of a single control process that may involve a number of joints and muscles. We conclude that the postural deficits in Parkinson's disease are not related to a basic deficit in the ability to generate feedforward postural adjustments but to other factors that may include the specificity of maintaining the vertical posture in the field of gravity.