cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A Graduate Course in Human Factors and Aging: Engineering Gerontology

This paper discusses a graduate course that focuses on human factors engineering solutions for issues faced by older adults. The course has attracted students from a broad range of disciplines. The course content and format are discussed. Brief examples of student research projects are given. The ongoing challenges of teaching such as specific topic to such a diverse audience are discussed in closing.
Max Weber's Urban Typology and Russia*

THE purpose of this paper is to explore the usefulness of Weber's city typology in relation to the Russian urban experience and to attempt to locate the Russian city within Weber's celebrated Oriental-Occidental dichotomy. The failure of various intellectual and revolutionary groups before and in 1917 to liberalize a traditionalistic societal system is correlated to the absence of a middle class in the Russian cultural context.
Observations of the Small-Scale Variability of Precipitation Using an Imaging Radar

For many years, spatial and temporal inhomogeneities in precipitation fields have been studied using scanning radars, cloud radars, and disdrometers, for example. Each measurement technique has its own advantages and disadvantages. Conventional profiling radars point vertically and collect data while the atmosphere advects across the field of view. Invoking Taylor’s frozen turbulence hypothesis, it is possible to construct time-history data, which are used to study the structure and dynamics of the atmosphere. In the present work, coherent radar imaging is used to estimate the true three-dimensional structure of the atmosphere within the field of view of the radar. The 915-MHz turbulent eddy profiler radar is well suited for imaging studies and was used in June 2003 to investigate the effects of turbulence on the formation of rain. The Capon adaptive algorithm was implemented for imaging and clutter rejection purposes. In the past several years, work by the authors and others has proven the Capon method to be effective in this regard and to possess minimal computational burden. A simple but robust filtering procedure is presented whereby echoes from precipitation and clear-air turbulence can be separated, facilitating the study of their interaction. By exploiting the three-dimensional views provided by this imaging radar, it is shown that boundary layer turbulence can have either a constructive or destructive effect on the formation of precipitation. Evidence is also provided that shows that this effect can be enhanced by updrafts in the wind field.
Studies of the fate of type 1 polioviruses in flies.

Studies on the fate of type 1 polioviruses in two common species of flies were carried out. The amount of virus in carcasses and excreta at different times was determined by the plaque assay method. Flies and their excreta remained infective for 11 days when kept at room temperature or when incubated at 36°C. for 2 hours a day. Flies remained infective for 3 months when kept in hibernation. A relative increase in titer was found to occur between 9 and 18 hours after feeding if the flies were incubated at 36°C. for 5 to 15 hours a day. The peak occurred later, at 40 to 52 hours after feeding if less incubation was used. Titers in excreta were parallel to titers in carcasses. A twofold increase in titer over the initial feeding was observed on 3 occasions with type 1 Mahoney but not with the LSc strain of virus.
Site-directed mutagenesis of a plant viral satellite RNA changes its phenotype from ameliorative to necrogenic.

Abstract Comparison of the nucleotide sequences of cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) satellite RNAs, which induce necrosis on tomatoes, reveals a highly conserved region within their 3' halves. The sequence of WL1 satellite (WL1-sat) RNA, which attenuates CMV symptoms on tomatoes, differs from all necrogenic satellite RNAs at three nucleotide positions within this conserved region. These nucleotides were progressively mutated to determine what sequence is required for the induction of necrosis in tomatoes. Infectious transcripts from a cDNA clone of WL1-sat RNA, and its mutated derivatives, were assayed on tomato. Three of the four mutant satellite RNAs, in which two of the three nucleotides correspond to those present in necrogenic satellite RNAs, and the rest of the molecule corresponded to WL1-sat RNA, attenuated CMV symptoms on tomatoes, and were phenotypically identical to the parental WL1-sat RNA. One other mutant satellite RNA, in which all three mutated nucleotides corresponded to the sequence of necrogenic satellite RNAs and the rest of the molecule corresponded to WL1-sat RNA, induced a lethal necrosis on tomatoes. Necrosis was also observed when the same mutant satellite RNA was associated with a second CMV strain as helper virus. These results indicate that a single nucleotide change at any of the three nucleotides examined distinguishes necrogenic from nonnecrogenic satellite RNAs. This necrosis was similar to that induced by a naturally necrogenic satellite RNA. The various mutations did not modify the effect of WL1-sat RNA on the symptoms induced by CMV on tobacco or squash.
Global cities of the South: Emerging perspectives on growth and inequality

This paper attempts to reframe debates on the equity implications of spatial, socioeconomic, and political change in global cities in developing countries through a review of recent literature on this topic. It begins by critiquing the view that global cities in developing countries are converging around a model of development similar to that of the prototypical global cities of the United States, Europe, and Japan. It argues that three emerging perspectives hold the key to an analysis that better accounts for local agency and divergent outcomes in such cities: a focus on the diversity of cities’ experience with globalization; recognition of the inherently negotiated nature of global impacts on urban outcomes; and a focus on actor-centered perspectives in urban analysis. The combined influence of these ideas amounts to a shift from a focus on global city ‘models’ to an examination of the interaction between global and local actors and institutions in a particular setting. Building on this literature review, the paper suggests an alternate framework for analyzing the link between global city development and inequality that focuses on three processes of change: the formation of public–private partnerships in urban governance, the spatial implications of the privatization of planning, and the flexiblization of labor. It argues that a focus on these processes has important implications for both theory and practice, as it allows us to understand similarity and difference in urban development, and more importantly, to understand the actors, institutions and interests that are driving change.
Prevalence of Nosema from Managed Honey Bee Colonies in South Dakota and New York1

Abstract Despite a number of studies on the prevalence of Nosema across the United States, limited information exists regarding comparative rates of N. ceranae and N. apis infection within individual states. We conducted a study to detect N. ceranae and N. apis using molecular diagnostics on managed honey bee colonies from New York and South Dakota. A total of 1200 apiaries were visited by New York state bee inspectors in 2009, and samples were collected from 4300 honey bee colonies. A total of 1023 apiaries were sampled from South Dakota in 2009. Microscopy was used to detect Nosema spore presence and to estimate the intensity of infection by estimating spore counts in positive samples. Nosema was detected in 528 (44%) of the New York and 300 (29%) of the South Dakota sampled apiaries. A total of 464 New York and 290 South Dakota Nosema-positive apiary samples were subjected to molecular diagnostic polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis. For the New York samples, 250 (54%) were PCR-positive for Nosema,...
Glutamine transport by human intestinal basolateral membrane vesicle.

ABSTRACI’ This study characterizes for the first time, by use of a well-validated technique, glutamine transport across human basolateral membrane vesicles. Glutamine transport represented uptake into an osmotically active intravesicular space without significant metabolism. Glutamine uptake was temperature- and pH-dependent with maximal uptake at pH 7.5, and it was mediated by sodium-dependent and -indcpendent processes. The initial rate of uptake was linear up to 20 s, as depicted by the formula y (nmol/mg protein) = O.0009X (s) - 0.001 1 (r = 0.99). Kinetic analysis of glutamine uptake at concentrations between 0.0 1 and 0.3 mmol/L at 5 s under sodium and potassium gradients showed a maximal transport capacity (Vmax) of 0.39 ± 0.04 and 0.2 1 ± 0.02 nmol. mg protein� . 5 s�’ for sodium-dependent and -independent processes, respectively (p < 0.01). Km values were 0. 17 ± 0.04 and 0.06 ± 0.2 mmol/L, respectively (p < 0.05). Glutamine uptake under the sodium-gradient condition was electrogenic whereas under the potassium-gradient it was elcctroneutral. Neutral amino acids inhibited both sodium-dependent and -independent processes. This study confirms and characterizes the presence of carrier-mediated glutaminc uptake at the basolateral membranes of human enterocytes. Am J Clin Nutr 199O;51:612-6.
Temporal patterns in adult salmon migration timing across southeast Alaska

Pacific salmon migration timing can drive population productivity, ecosystem dynamics, and human harvest. Nevertheless, little is known about long-term variation in salmon migration timing for multiple species across broad regions. We used long-term data for five Pacific salmon species throughout rapidly warming southeast Alaska to describe long-term changes in salmon migration timing, interannual phenological synchrony, relationships between climatic variation and migratory timing, and to test whether long-term changes in migration timing are related to glaciation in headwater streams. Temporal changes in the median date of salmon migration timing varied widely across species. Most sockeye populations are migrating later over time (11 of 14), but pink, chum, and especially coho populations are migrating earlier than they did historically (16 of 19 combined). Temporal trends in duration and interannual variation in migration timing were highly variable across species and populations. The greatest temporal shifts in the median date of migration timing were correlated with decreases in the duration of migration timing, suggestive of a loss of phenotypic variation due to natural selection. Pairwise interannual correlations in migration timing varied widely but were generally positive, providing evidence for weak region-wide phenological synchrony. This synchrony is likely a function of climatic variation, as interannual variation in migration timing was related to climatic phenomenon operating at large- (Pacific decadal oscillation), moderate- (sea surface temperature), and local-scales (precipitation). Surprisingly, the presence or the absence of glaciers within a watershed was unrelated to long-term shifts in phenology. Overall, there was extensive heterogeneity in long-term patterns of migration timing throughout this climatically and geographically complex region, highlighting that future climatic change will likely have widely divergent impacts on salmon migration timing. Although salmon phenological diversity will complicate future predictions of migration timing, this variation likely acts as a major contributor to population and ecosystem resiliency in southeast Alaska.
Computing Health Quality Measures Using Informatics for Integrating Biology and the Bedside

Background: The Health Quality Measures Format (HQMF) is a Health Level 7 (HL7) standard for expressing computable Clinical Quality Measures (CQMs). Creating tools to process HQMF queries in clinical databases will become increasingly important as the United States moves forward with its Health Information Technology Strategic Plan to Stages 2 and 3 of the Meaningful Use incentive program (MU2 and MU3). Informatics for Integrating Biology and the Bedside (i2b2) is one of the analytical databases used as part of the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC)’s Query Health platform to move toward this goal. Objective: Our goal is to integrate i2b2 with the Query Health HQMF architecture, to prepare for other HQMF use-cases (such as MU2 and MU3), and to articulate the functional overlap between i2b2 and HQMF. Therefore, we analyze the structure of HQMF, and then we apply this understanding to HQMF computation on the i2b2 clinical analytical database platform. Specifically, we develop a translator between two query languages, HQMF and i2b2, so that the i2b2 platform can compute HQMF queries. Methods: We use the HQMF structure of queries for aggregate reporting, which define clinical data elements and the temporal and logical relationships between them. We use the i2b2 XML format, which allows flexible querying of a complex clinical data repository in an easy-to-understand domain-specific language. Results: The translator can represent nearly any i2b2-XML query as HQMF and execute in i2b2 nearly any HQMF query expressible in i2b2-XML. This translator is part of the freely available reference implementation of the QueryHealth initiative. We analyze limitations of the conversion and find it covers many, but not all, of the complex temporal and logical operators required by quality measures. Conclusions: HQMF is an expressive language for defining quality measures, and it will be important to understand and implement for CQM computation, in both meaningful use and population health. However, its current form might allow complexity that is intractable for current database systems (both in terms of implementation and computation). Our translator, which supports the subset of HQMF currently expressible in i2b2-XML, may represent the beginnings of a practical compromise. It is being pilot-tested in two Query Health demonstration projects, and it can be further expanded to balance computational tractability with the advanced features needed by measure developers.
The evolution of an intervention — the use of Peplau's process of practice‐based theory development

In 1969, at the first Nursing Theory Conference, Hildegard Peplau proposed a research methodology that would guide the development of nursing knowledge. To direct nurses in the development of practice-based theory, Peplau proposed a three-step process that would assist in this pursuit. The purpose of this paper is to describe the use of Peplau's process of practice-based theory development as it has directed a program of research in the area of depression. Peplau's ideas related to practice-based theory development came at a time in nursing when grand theories were being developed and theoretical nursing was highly valued. Peplau, ahead of her time, proposed an approach that valued the development of nursing knowledge in practice, while also combining both qualitative and quantitative methods. This research methodology deserves recognition today, as one that can guide knowledge development in psychiatric nursing.
Effects of F171 Mutations in the 6′-N-Acetyltransferase Type Ib [AAC(6′)-Ib] Enzyme on Susceptibility to Aminoglycosides

Substitutions at position F171 of 6′-N-acetyltransferase type Ib cause variable loss of aminoglycoside resistance, indicating that this residue plays an important role in the structure and/or function of the enzyme.
Chronic alcoholism enhances hepatocarcinogenicity of diethylnitrosamine in rats fed a marginally methyl-deficient diet.

To determine whether the chronic consumption of ethanol was capable of enhancing the hepatocarcinogenic activity of diethylnitrosamine per se, or through the accentuation of a methyl deficiency, two groups (A and B) of Sprague-Dawley female rats were fed for 10 months either a 20% casein basal diet marginally deficient in methyl, or the same diet supplemented with choline (1 gm per 100 gm) and folic acid (0.54 mg per 100 gm). Both groups were offered a drinking ethanol solution, while two other nonalcohol control groups (C and D) were isocalorically pair-fed to Groups A and B, and received diets in which the alcohol consumed by the corresponding groups was replaced by isocaloric amounts of sucrose. A baseline nonalcohol Group E, isocalorically pair-fed to Group A, received the intact basal diet of Group A and water. One day before the initiation of the experiment, and again 2 months later, all rats from the five groups were injected with a single i.p. dose of diethylnitrosamine (100 mg per kg). The growth attained by all groups was statistically similar. Hepatic triglycerides in Group A were significantly higher than in all the other groups. While in Group A primary hepatocellular carcinomas and renal tumors were encountered at the end of the experiment in 3 of 6 and in 2 of 6 rats, respectively, no malignancies were observed in any of the other groups. These results indicate that chronic ethanol consumption enhances the hepatocarcinogenic and renal tumorigenic activity of diethylnitrosamine, and strongly suggest that this action is mediated through the accentuation of methyl deficiency.
Quantifying Whole Transcriptome Size, a Prerequisite for Understanding Transcriptome Evolution Across Species: An Example from a Plant Allopolyploid

Evolutionary biologists are increasingly comparing gene expression patterns across species. Due to the way in which expression assays are normalized, such studies provide no direct information about expression per gene copy (dosage responses) or per cell and can give a misleading picture of genes that are differentially expressed. We describe an assay for estimating relative expression per cell. When used in conjunction with transcript profiling data, it is possible to compare the sizes of whole transcriptomes, which in turn makes it possible to compare expression per cell for each gene in the transcript profiling data set. We applied this approach, using quantitative reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction and high throughput RNA sequencing, to a recently formed allopolyploid and showed that its leaf transcriptome was approximately 1.4-fold larger than either progenitor transcriptome (70% of the sum of the progenitor transcriptomes). In contrast, the allopolyploid genome is 94.3% as large as the sum of its progenitor genomes and retains ≥93.5% of the sum of its progenitor gene complements. Thus, “transcriptome downsizing” is greater than genome downsizing. Using this transcriptome size estimate, we inferred dosage responses for several thousand genes and showed that the majority exhibit partial dosage compensation. Homoeologue silencing is nonrandomly distributed across dosage responses, with genes showing extreme responses in either direction significantly more likely to have a silent homoeologue. This experimental approach will add value to transcript profiling experiments involving interspecies and interploidy comparisons by converting expression per transcriptome to expression per genome, eliminating the need for assumptions about transcriptome size.
Heat Transfer through Elastomeric Foams —A Review

Abstract A balance has to be struck between the complexity of the models used to represent the heat transfer mechanisms and the amount of experimental information and the associated accuracy of information needed to verify these models. The solid, gas and radiation contributions can be treated as uncoupled, yet such a treatment can reasonably represent the heat transfer through foams. The solid contribution is a strong function of how the polymer is distributed between struts and cell walls, and the density of the foam. The radiation heat transfer through foams can be represented by diffusion approximation, and it is mostly absorption dominated. Therefore, measurement of the extinction coefficient is sufficient for adequate representation. The higher the extinction coefficient, the lower is the radiation contribution.
The Virginia Student Threat Assessment Guidelines: An Empirically Supported Violence Prevention Strategy

The Virginia Student Threat Assessment Guidelines were developed in response to U.S. government studies recommending that schools should adopt a threat assessment approach to prevent school shootings. The Virginia Guidelines prepare school-based teams of school administrators, mental health professionals, and law enforcement officers to investigate and resolve student threats of violence using a standard decision tree. Simpler cases involving transient threats are resolved quickly while complex, substantive threats require a more extensive evaluation and development of a safety plan. Two field tests and three controlled studies demonstrated that threat assessment is a safe, efficient, and practical procedure that can reduce the use of long-term suspension from school and improve important qualities of school climate.
Correlates of Segmental Pulse Wave Velocity in Older Adults: The Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study

Background Carotid-femoral PWV (cfPWV) is a well-established measure of central arterial stiffness, while brachial-ankle PWV (baPWV) is being used more frequently in East Asian countries. Few studies have simultaneously characterized the distributions and correlates of segment-specific PWV measures and their associations with cardiovascular risk factors. Methods We evaluated segment-specific PWV (cfPWV, baPWV, and femoral-ankle (faPWV)) in 4,974 older-aged African American and Caucasian adults in the community-based Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study using a standardized protocol and the OMRON VP-1000 Plus system. We examined the distribution and multivariable-adjusted correlates of PWV measures by race and sex. Results Mean age ranged from 74 ± 5 to 76 ± 5 years across race-sex groups. In all race-sex groups, cfPWV correlated with baPWV but not with faPWV, and cfPWV and baPWV were higher with age, whereas faPWV was not. Heart rate and systolic blood pressure (SBP) were positively associated and weight was negatively associated with all PWV measures; however, the associations with age, glycated hemoglobin, triglycerides, and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol varied by segment and race-sex group. Conclusions Our findings indicate that cfPWV and faPWV reflect distinct aspects of segment-specific vascular stiffness and their associated profile of cardiovascular risk factors. Even among older adults, age is associated with higher cfPWV and baPWV, but not with faPWV. Understanding factors that ostensibly play a role in increasing arterial stiffness in different arterial territories can inform opportunities for cardiovascular disease (CVD) prevention and risk management.
Late Season Immigration of Boll Weevils into an Isolated Cotton Plot

A small plot of cotton and pheromone traps were used to measure late season immigration of Anthonomus grandis Boheman during 1974. The test location was isolated by ca. 3 miles from commercial cotton fields. Immigratory weevil movement into the plot began Aug. 5 and continued until Nov. 11. Weevils entered the plot in numbers ranging from an estimated 500 to 10,000/acre/wk. Immigratory weevils captured on traps and those entering the plot prior to mid-October were primarily reproductive insects. Peak immigration of diapausing weevils occurred after Oct. 24. Pheromone trap and cotton plot records indicated the same pattern of weevil movement except for the 1st 3 wk of immigratory weevil activity. Traps indicated an absence of weevil activity during the 1st 3 wk of August while weevils were entering the cotton plot in numbers estimated at 1000–3000/acre/wk.
Integration of Electric Propulsion in Efficient Heavy-Lift VTOL Concept

Recent advances in conventional rotorcraft vehicles allow them to perform faster and more efficient cruise segments, with only incremental improvement in payload capabilities. Electric propulsion might enable ground breaking performance by allowing new design degrees of freedom. While many recent electric VTOL concepts are expected to have increased cruise capabilities, very few are addressing the payload limitations. The present paper aims at proposing a new electric VTOL concept: the Electric Powered Reconfigurable Rotor that uses the advantages of electric propulsion to perform efficient load lifting: unmanned electric tethered aircraft takeoff vertically, transition to a circular flight path to perform load lifting of a payload and can reconfigure to a side-by-side formation flight to perform efficient cruise segment. A review of various electric VTOL vehicle along with details on the proposed concept are given. Finally, a study on extreme operating altitude is used to outline the possible advantages of the proposed concept.
Low Velocity Impact Testing of Laminated Carbon Fiber/Carbon Nanotube Composites

Carbon fiber laminated thermoset composites have become the industry standard for applications dictating a high strength-to-weight ratio. However, the brittle nature of the carbon fiber composite structure limits its energy dissipation characteristics, often leading to catastrophic failure under low energy impact loadings. This research examines the potential effects of including vertically aligned multi-walled carbon nanotube forests within a layered laminate structure with the goal being to increase the energy dissipation of the structure with attention given to the increase in the aerial density as a result of including the insert. These nanotube forests are of interest due to their broader application in coupled scenarios requiring tenability of structural, thermal and electrical properties. These nanotube forests have unique energy dissipative effects due to their hierarchical architecture (see e.g., Dario et al. (2006), Zeng et al. (2010) and Raney et al. (2011)). We synthesize vertically aligned nanotubes (VACNTs) on a single crystalline silicon wafer. After separation with the wafer, the VACNTs are placed within a carbon fiber laminated structure prior to resin infusion using vacuum assisted resin transfer molding (VARTM). Drop tower tests similar to ASTM D7136 are performed on carbon fiber laminates, carbon fiber laminates with nanotube forests, and carbon fiber laminates with several alternative materials. Results show an improved damage tolerance of the laminate with each of the investigated inserts, with the CNT system showing an increase of 13% in mean peak force. These results show a similar improvement to the alternative inserts while maintaining the potential for their broader application as a multifunctional material.Copyright © 2015 by ASME
Tissue-Negative Transient Ischemic Attack: Is There a Role for Perfusion MRI?

OBJECTIVE. Approximately 60% of patients with a clinical transient ischemic attack (TIA) do not have DWI evidence of cerebral ischemia. The purpose of this study was to assess the added diagnostic value of perfusion MRI in the evaluation of patients with TIA who have normal DWI findings. MATERIALS AND METHODS. The inclusion criteria for this retrospective study were clinical presentation of TIA at admission with a discharge diagnosis of TIA confirmed by a stroke neurologist, MRI including both DWI and perfusion-weighted imaging within 48 hours of symptom onset, and no DWI lesion. Cerebral blood flow (CBF) and time to maximum of the residue function (Tmax) maps were evaluated independently by two observers. Multivariate analysis was used to assess perfusion findings; clinical variables; age, blood pressure, clinical symptoms, diabetes (ABCD2) score; duration of TIA; and time between MRI and onset and resolution of symptoms. RESULTS. Fifty-two patients (33 women, 19 men; age range, 20–95 years) met the incl...
Renal localization and actions of adrenomedullin : a natriuretic peptide

Adrenomedullin (ADM) is a newly described 52-amino acid peptide originally isolated from extracts of human pheochromocytoma and, more recently, detected in human plasma. Based on the report that ADM mRNA and immunoreactivity are present in the kidney, the current study was designed to determine the renal distribution of ADM by immunohistochemistry and the renal biological actions of ADM. In the immunohistochemical studies, the present investigation demonstrated the localization of ADM in glomeruli, cortical distal tubules, and medullary collecting duct cells of the normal canine kidney. In the in vivo studies, ADM was administered (0.25 ng.kg-1.min-1 in group I and 1, 5, and 25 ng.kg-1.min-1 in group II) intrarenally in normal mongrel dogs with the contralateral kidney receiving only saline vehicle. Intrarenal infusion of ADM resulted in a marked diuretic and natriuretic response, whereas the contralateral kidney showed no renal effects. These significant natriuresis and diuresis in the ADM kidney were as...
Brief paper: Fast projection methods for minimal design problems in linear system theory

The so-called minimal design problem (or MDP) of linear system theory is to find a proper minimal degree rational matrix solution of the equation H(z)D(z)=N(z), where {N(z),D(z)} are given pxr and mxr polynomial matrices with D(z) of full rank r=
Context-Aware Computing

Many research areas are attempting to address this input deciency, but they can mainly be seen in terms of two basic approaches:Improving the language that humans can use to interact with • computersIncreasing the amount of situational information, or context, that is • made available to computerse rst approach tries to improve interaction by allowing the human user to communicate in a much more natural manner. is type of communication is still very explicit, in that the computer only knows what the user tells it. With natural input techniques such as speech and gestures, no other information besides the explicit input is available to the computer. As we know from human-human interactions, situational informationsuch as facial expressions, emotions, past and future events, the existence of other people in the room, and relationships to these other people are crucial to understanding what is occurring. e process of building this shared understanding between two people is called grounding (Clark and Brennan, 1991). Since both human participants in such an interaction share this situational information, there is no need to make it explicit. is helps to explain why a driver nds it easier to talk to a passenger than to someone on a cell phone-with the passenger, there is grounding without explicit communication. However, this need for explicitness does exist in human-computer interactions, because the computer does not share this implicit situational information or context. e goal of context-aware computing is to use context as an implicit cue to enrich the impoverished interaction from humans to computers, making it easier to interact with computers.
Causality: The Logic of Structure-Based Counterfactuals

And the Lord said, “If I find in the city of Sodom fifty good men, I will pardon the whole place for their sake.” Genesis 18:26 Preface This chapter provides a formal analysis of structure-based counterfactuals , a concept introduced briefly in Chapters 1 and 3 that will occupy the rest of our discussion in this book. Through this analysis, we will obtain sharper mathematical definitions of other concepts that were introduced in earlier chapters, including causal models, action, causal effects, causal relevance, error terms, and exogeneity. After casting the concepts of causal model and counterfactuals in formal mathematical terms, we will demonstrate by examples how counterfactual questions can be answered from both deterministic and probabilistic causal models (Section 7.1). In Section 7.2.1, we will argue that policy analysis is an exercise in counterfactual reasoning and demonstrate this thesis in a simple example taken from econometrics. This will set the stage for our discussion in Section 7.2.2, where we explicate the empirical content of counterfactuals in terms of policy predictions. Section 7.2.3 discusses the role of counterfactual in the interpretation and generation of causal explanations. Section 7.2 concludes with discussions of how causal relationships emerge from actions and mechanisms (Section 7.2.4) and how causal directionality can be induced from a set of symmetric equations (Section 7.2.5). In Section 7.3 we develop an axiomatic characterization of counterfactual and causal relevance relationships as they emerge from the structural model semantics.
Dissociation Conditions and Raman Spectra of CO2 + SO2 and CO2 + H2S Hydrates

To further define the information needed for CO2 gas sequestration and storage in the presence of impurities, the stability of hydrates made from CO2 + SO2 and CO2 + H2S mixtures was measured by an isochoric dissociation method. The hydrates were characterized with powder X-ray diffraction, confirming that CO2 + SO2 formed a structure I hydrate. The Raman spectra of CO2 + SO2 and CO2 + H2S hydrates were also measured along with those of THF + CO2 + SO2 and THF + CO2 + H2S hydrates to observe and assign the Raman peaks of SO2 or H2S in the small cages. It was found the SO2 Raman peaks are at 1147.1 and 1155.4 cm–1 in large and small cages, respectively; the H2S Raman peaks are at 2594.0 and 2603.0 cm–1 in large and small cages, respectively. At the equilibrium points established, the composition of the released gas mixture was analyzed by gas chromatography. Measurements for gas pressures (ranging from 0.72 to 3.59 MPa) and gas compositions (ranging from 0.04% to 7.63%, mole fraction of SO2 or H2S) at spec...
Blind channel estimation for multiple access UWB communications based on periodic time hopping and pulse-rate modeling

In an impulse radio based ultra-wideband (UWB) wireless communication system, the transmitted signal propagates through a rich multipath channel. So far, channel estimation has been addressed for a single-user system by a computationally demanding, maximum-likelihood technique. For a multiuser system, a pulse-rate channel input/output vector model is first derived in this paper which exhibits a tri-linear structure with a new-defined input, effective channel and hopping-code dependent matrix for each user. Such a structure can be regarded as similar to a code-division multiple access (CDMA) system. Therefore covariance based blind channel estimation methods successful therein can be applied to estimate UWB channels.
Stress, Angiotensin, and Cognate Receptors

Angiotensin II (AngII), the end product of the renin–angiotensin system (RAS), regulates cardiovascular homeostasis, acting upon type 1 AngII receptors (AT1R) coupled to calcium-/phospholipid-dependent pathways. In addition, AngII acts as neuropeptide in the brain, mediating the neuroendocrine regulation of blood pressure; sympathetic outflow; water and energy homeostasis; and modulating behavioral, autonomic, and hormonal responses to stress. The neuroendocrine effects depend on AT1R activation in brain areas outside the blood-brain barrier, which stimulate angiotensinergic pathways projecting to the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus, median preoptic area, and other nuclei-containing AT1R. AngII also activates subtype 2 receptors (AT2), which counteracts AT1R activity. Other angiotensin peptides (Ang(1-7) and Ang IV), and their cognate receptors (Mas and AT4-IRAP), also oppose AT1R actions. These peptides and receptors are critical for balancing the effects of AngII/AT1R in homeostatic control and have relevance for clinical effects of drugs targeting the RAS.
Evolution of Cancer Defense Mechanisms Across Species

Increases in organismal complexity come at the cost of an increased likelihood of developing cancer. As complex multicellular organisms evolve, concomitant mechanisms of cancer suppression evolve as well. Over the evolutionary timescale, organisms with the ability to renew somatic tissue needed to evolve tumor suppressor mechanisms to regulate and control cellular proliferation in order to avoid unregulated cell growth leading to cancer. Cells invest in careful control of growth-promoting signals (i.e., growth inhibitors) and multiple cell-cycle checkpoints to coordinate orderly progression of cell division. Additionally, cells have multiple redundant pathways to reduce the risk of any errors in DNA replication and multiple DNA repair mechanisms when DNA damage does occur (e.g., DNA mismatch repair, double-stranded break repair). These mechanisms help sustain normal tissue architecture and function and dysregulation can lead to uncontrolled cellular proliferation and cellular growth, fundamental characteristics of cancer (Hanahan, D., Weinberg, R.A., 2011. Hallmarks of cancer: the next generation. Cell 144 (5), 646–674). In the first part of this chapter, we provide a brief overview of the mechanisms that complex multicellular organisms use to suppress neoplastic growth. We divide these areas of cancer defense mechanisms into three (nonmutually exclusive) main categories: (1) physical mechanisms, (2) molecular mechanisms, and (3) microenvironmental mechanisms. While majority of the work in the past has focused on the molecular mechanisms of cancer defense, we observe a trend in the past decade to focus on microenvironmental influences, and most recently, physical mechanisms, such as tissue architecture and stem cell dynamics. In the second part of this chapter, we discuss that despite hundreds of millions of years of multicellular evolution and cancer suppression, we still find reports of cancer in many organisms, which is likely due to trade-offs that may increase the organism’s fitness.
Building Legitimacy: Interactional Dynamics and the Popular Evaluation of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in Turkey

Previous research has identified a variety of general mechanisms to explain how insurgents build legitimacy. Yet, there is often a gap between these mechanisms and the interactional dynamics of ins...
Hospitalizations and Nursing Facility Stays During the Transition from CKD to ESRD on Dialysis: An Observational Study

There is little information on hospital and nursing facility stays during the transition from pre-dialysis kidney disease to end-stage renal disease treated with dialysis. To examine hospital and nursing facility stays in the years pre- and post-dialysis initiation, and to develop a novel method for visualizing these data. Observational study of patients in the US Renal Data System initiating dialysis from October 2011 to October 2012. Patients aged ≥67 years with Medicare Part A/B coverage for 1 year pre-dialysis initiation. Proportion of patients with ≥1 facility day, and among these, the mean number of days and the mean proportion of time spent in a facility in the first year post-dialysis initiation. We created “heat maps” to represent data visually. Among 28,049 patients, > 60% initiated dialysis in the hospital. Patients with at least 1 facility day spent 37–42 days in a facility in the year pre-dialysis initiation and 59–67 facility days in the year post-dialysis initiation. The duration of facility stay varied by age: patients aged 67–70 years spent 60 (95% CI 57–62) days or 25.8% of the first year post-dialysis initiation in a facility, while patients aged >80 years spent 67 (CI 65–69) days or 36.8% of the first year post-dialysis initiation in a facility. Patterns varied depending on the presence or absence of certain comorbid conditions, with dementia having a particularly large effect: patients with dementia spent approximately 50% of the first year post-dialysis initiation in a facility, regardless of age. Older patients, particularly octogenarians and patients with dementia or other comorbidities, spend a large proportion of time in a facility during the first year after dialysis initiation. Our heat maps provide a novel and concise visual representation of a large amount of quantitative data regarding expected outcomes after initiation of dialysis.
Go South, Young Planner, Go South!:

This commentary calls for the deeper institutionalization of urban experiences in the global South into PAB-accredited planning programs in North America. While international “development” planning...
Long-Term Home Oxygen Therapy

Oxygen therapy improves mortality and morbidity in hypoxemic patients with COPD. For best results, oxygen should be administered continuously. The general guidelines that qualify a patient for long-term home oxygen therapy are rather explicit, although there are some gray areas, such as increasing exercise performance in normoxemic COPD patients and the treatment of dyspnea in certain patients. The physiologic goals of oxygen therapy are to reverse or prevent tissue hypoxia under the various conditions of life. Patients often experience a fall in oxygen saturation during REM sleep and during exercise. Thus, the oxygen prescription should specify the oxygen setting during wakeful rest, sleep, and exertion. Pulmonary rehabilitation is the definitive long-term management for patients with chronic lung diseases by building endurance, strength, and coping skills. Patients undergoing pulmonary rehabilitation are taught to become active and mobile. The rehabilitation programs have a special role in helping patients to accept and properly administer their own oxygen therapy. Oxygen therapy should be based on mobility and portability. Improvements in the weight and bulk of oxygen containers and the introduction of oxygen-conserving devices have rendered oxygen systems more portable and less costly. The prescription initiates a clinical triad relationship between the patient, physician, and home oxygen vendor. Prescribing home oxygen is now more time-consuming, and the prescription process requires the careful attention of the physician. The prescription must include patient data, the diagnostic reasons for oxygen, the blood gases, the type of system, and the liter-flow for the various living conditions such as rest, sleep, and exertion. Reimbursement for oxygen via Medicare and other carriers will depend upon the physiologic data as well as the successful completion of a rather complex form. Oxygen therapy should be monitored by regular arterial blood gases or pulse oximetry where appropriate. Patients should have a blood gas sample taken upon any change of condition or adjustment of the oxygen flow setting. Successful oxygen therapy should be physician directed, based on a solid understanding of the physiologic processes involved.
Noise Analysis of Circuits with Multitone Inputs

In the previous chapter, we developed a noise simulation algorithm for nonautonomous circuits which takes into account the effect of input signal phase noise as well. We showed that, for a nonautonomous circuit driven by a large periodic input signal corrupted by Brownian motion phase deviation, output noise is stationary. We also showed exactly how input signal phase noise contributed to wide band amplitude noise at the output. In this chapter we extend the analysis to the case when the nonautonomous circuit is subjected to more than one large periodic excitations. In this case, the circuit response is quasi-periodic.
Ionization Processes in Fullerenes (C 60 /C 70 )

The formation of positive and negative ions in the all-carbon-cage fullerene molecules C 60 and C70 has been studied using both electron beams and laser beams. Structures in the low energy electron attachment cross section for C 60 occur from the near zero energy threshold all the way up to ∼10eV. This behavior can be ascribed to angular momentum [l(l+1)/r2] barrier shape resonances (the electronic ground state of C60 corresponds to l=5). The long lifetimes for C- 60 with large internal energy (∼17eV) are attributed to equipartition of energy among the large number of available vibrational modes. Delayed photoionization of C60 by visible pulsed lasers and cw-Ar ion lasers is ascribed to “thermionic emission” from highly vibrationally excited C60 molecules. Some possible implications of the unusual ionic properties of C60/C70 to the dielectric strength of liquids and gases will be discussed.
The Baseline SPHINX System

In order to establish a benchmark performance on the resource management task using standard HMM techniques, we begin with a baseline HMM system. This baseline system will use basic HMM techniques utilized by many other systems [Rabiner 83, Bahl 83a, Schwartz 84, Sugawara 85]. We will show that using these techniques alone, we can already attain reasonable accuracies.
Analog Multilevel Simulation

SPICE and its derivative programs remain the primary simulation tools in use today by analog designers. However, over the past decade analog circuit designs have increased in complexity to the point where the basic techniques used in SPICE are not fast enough to produce a solution in a reasonable amount of time. Currently, system-level design, modeling and simulation are being emphasized to cope with the complexities of these large designs. As in the digital case, an analog designer would like to specify portions of the analog circuit at a higher level of abstraction in order to carry out functional verification. For example, the designer may wish to represent a filter block in terms of an s-domain transfer function, rather than specifying all the transistors and their interconnections, to evaluate a proposed architecture of an analog system before a detailed design begins. And ideally, the entire system could be specified in some form of standard analog hardware description language (AHDL) similar to the languages that have emerged for digital hardware description.
Antioxidant genes and other mechanisms involved in the extended longevity of Drosophila

We are engaged in a genetic analysis of the mechanisms responsible for the expression of the extended longevity phenotype (ELP) of Drosophila. This phenotype is characterized by a ca. 40% increase in mean and maximum life span. We have shown that the ELP is due to a delayed onset of senescence (DOS) in one of our selected strain (LA) relative to its control (RA) stain. A complete genetic analysis, identifying the role of each chromosome in the expression of the ELP in the LA strain, has been done. The recessive genes responsible have been localized to the 3rd chromosome (c3). Genes on other chromosomes are involved in the expression of the ELP but are not expressed in the absence of the c3 genes. There are epistatic effects as well. In addition, expression of the ELP requires raising the L animals under high larval density (HD) conditions; raising the same genotype under low density (L-LD) conditions leads to a normal life span. There exists a critical period in larval life during which the L-HD animal programs the expression of genes in the young adult. This takes the form of a coordinated increase in specific antioxidant mRNA levels and enzyme activities in the 5 day old L-HD adult, a time point which just precedes the DOS. These increases are functional, as shown by the fact that the L-HD animals show an increase in their resistance to exogenous paraquat at this same time. The control (R-HD and L-LD) strains do not show such elevations and shortly thereafter show a decrease in their paraquat resistance and other biomarkers which signal the normal onset of senescence. Destruction of catalase activity in L-HD animals results in a failure to express the paraquat resistance component of the ELP. Thus, the critical period events which take place in the larva lead to coordinated changes in antioxidant gene activities in the young adult, and bring about the DOS and the expression of the ELP. These events do not appear to be limited to one strain. Our data shows that the only stress factor or biochemical trait which distinguishes all of our independently derived L strains from their related control and short-lived strains is their enhanced resistance to exogenous paraquat. The down-regulation of the antioxidant defense gene system must be viewed as the proximal cause of the onset of senescence.
Benjamin Franklin: Illustrious Pioneer in Physical Education

(1936). Benjamin Franklin. The Journal of Health and Physical Education: Vol. 7, No. 2, pp. 67-125.