cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Differential response of heroin and nonheroin abusers to inpatient treatment.

Differences between heroin and nonheroin users were determined at intake and discharge from an inpatient rehabilitation program. Background data as well as attitudes toward drug-related concepts, mood, and symptoms were gathered from 65 male veterans. Data were analyzed by analysis of variance and covariance comparing heroin and nonheroin users at intake and discharge. There were no significant differences between these two groups on their prescores, indicating that heroin and nonheroin patients were quite similar at time of intake. However, at discharge significant differences were found in terms of Tense and Thoughtful from the Mood Scale and Somatization, Obsessive/Compulsiveness, Interpersonal Sensitivity, Depression, and Anxiety from the Symptom Checklist. The heroin subjects had consistently more positive ratings than the nonheroin subjects following treatment.
The Effect of Adaptation on the Taste Threshold Observed with a Semiautomatic Gustometer

A special "gustometer" has been built, which permits continuous measurement of the threshold of taste sensations. Taste sensations show strong adaptation even at the threshold level. The adaptation was much the same for the four primary tastes, but there were large individual differences. Of theoretical interest is the finding that adaptation to a taste can occur even with subliminal stimuli.
The Necessity for a Theology of Disease: Reflections on Totalities and Fragments

Our ideas of disease try to explain it, and they aim at facilitating cures. In the process, they become entwined in sociocultural networks that have totalizing effects. Disease, however, counters this totalizing effect byrevealing to us that our lives are fragments. Unless we engage this fragment character of disease and of our lives, we cannot properly understand disease or deal with it. HIV/AIDS clarifies these issues in an extraordinarily powerful fashion. Medical, legal, commercial, political, and institutional approaches to disease overlook the fragment character of disease in favor of totalizing world-views. A theology of disease is necessary in order to maintain the focus on fragments. Unless we recognize this fragment character, we do not really understand our lives, and we do not really understand either disease or healing.
The State of Problem Decomposition in Engineering Design

As engineers examine larger coupled systems, computational complexity, available resources and the lack of expert intuition create a need for advancing the state of automated decomposition methods. Larger coupled problems may, for instance, expand beyond an expert’s experience in manual decomposition. This paper describes the current state of automated decomposition within engineering and explores several promising ideas that could be utilized to advance the state of the practice. It is proposed that the explicit modeling of dependencies is both possible and available for a new avenue of advancement in how problem decomposition is applied to engineering.
The Centrality of Epistemology in Methodology Education

respect from the academic community and society at large, most political scientists had only the vaguest sense of what that meant. Many people in political science had fled to that refuge out of fear of what they perceived to be the imperatives of scientific analysis, especially mathematical techniques and formal notational analysis. Hence, many political scientists went gamely about the task of pursuing the scientific analysis of politics without a clear understanding of a defensible criterion of demarcation separating work that is deserving of that muchenvied label of "scientific" from work that is not. In those early halcyon days of engineering a methodological "revolution" of the field, political scientists frequently, indiscriminately coopted terms, concepts, and methods from scholars whom we perceived as epitomizing the scientists we longed to become. For example, a group of leading comparative politics scholars, those who dominated the Comparative Politics Committee of the Social Science Research Council in the 50s and 60s, fell in love with the work of social theorist Talcott Parsons. These scholars were apparently mesmerized by the perception that he was putatively producing theory that was not normative in intent and that was associated with any impressive vocabulary; yet, these scholars neglected to ask whether his concepts had any empirical content. This tryst with sociological theory led to the affair with functional analysis, an intellectually captivating but empirically empty enterprise. As a result, their product, a large body of published work including an expensive 10-volume set of works on political development from Princeton University Press, contained not a single testable hypothesis. Similarly, political scientists have produced a large corpus of literature consisting of obsequious obeisance to Thomas Kuhn, the accepted guru of the history and essence of science. Only a few political scientists had sufficient under-
Advanced Online Learning for Natural Language Processing

Most research in machine learning has been focused on binary classification, in which the learned classifier outputs one of two possible answers. Important fundamental questions can be analyzed in terms of binary classification, but real-world natural language processing problems often involve richer output spaces. In this tutorial, we will focus on classifiers with a large number of possible outputs with interesting structure. Notable examples include information retrieval, part-of-speech tagging, NP chucking, parsing, entity extraction, and phoneme recognition.
Different roles for simple-cell and complex-cell inhibition in V1

Previously, we proposed a model of the circuitry underlying simple-cell responses in cat primary visual cortex (V1) layer 4. We argued that the ordered arrangement of lateral geniculate nucleus inputs to a simple cell must be supplemented by a component of feedforward inhibition that is untuned for orientation and responds to high temporal frequencies to explain the sharp contrast-invariant orientation tuning and low-pass temporal frequency tuning of simple cells. The temporal tuning also requires a significant NMDA component in geniculocortical synapses. Recent experiments have revealed cat V1 layer 4 inhibitory neurons with two distinct types of receptive fields (RFs): complex RFs with mixed ON/OFF responses lacking in orientation tuning, and simple RFs with normal, sharp-orientation tuning (although, some respond to all orientations). We show that complex inhibitory neurons can provide the inhibition needed to explain simple-cell response properties. Given this complex cell inhibition, antiphase or "push-pull" inhibition from tuned simple inhibitory neurons acts to sharpen spatial frequency tuning, lower responses to low temporal frequency stimuli, and increase the stability of cortical activity.
Treatment of Nosocomial Pneumonia and Tracheobronchitis Caused by Multidrug-Resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa with Aerosolized Colistin

Gram-negative bacilli including multidrug-resistant (MDR) Pseudomonas aeruginosa are responsible for a significant proportion of episodes of nosocomial pneumonia. Since the development of new antibiotics with activity against gram-negative organisms has not kept pace with the increase in prevalence of MDR pathogens, there has been renewed interest in antimicrobial agents that had previously been used but had been abandoned because of toxic side effects. This report describes three patients with nosocomial pneumonia or tracheobronchitis due to multiresistant strains of P. aeruginosa for whom aerosolized colistin proved beneficial as supplemental therapy. Aerosolized colistin merits further consideration as a therapeutic intervention for patients with pulmonary infections due to MDR P. aeruginosa.
NMR studies of pH-dependent conformational polymorphism of alternating (C-T)n sequences

Alternating (C-T)n sequences are involved in the H-DNA structure associated with (GA)n.(CT)n sequences. Low pH values facilitate H-DNA formation. We have undertaken a detailed analysis of the structural consequences of the (C-T)n sequence as a function of pH. The structures of three DNA oligonucleotides, d(CT)4, d(TC)4 and d(TC)15, have been studied by NMR. We found that their conformations are polymorphic and pH dependent. There are at least three major conformational species: an antiparallel-stranded (APS) duplex with entirely C:T base pairs at pH 7, an antiparallel-stranded (APS) duplex with entirely C+:T base pairs at pH 3, and a possible parallel-stranded (PS) duplex with C+:C and T:T base pairs near pH 5. In the intermediate pH range, the APS duplex may have varying numbers of C+:T and C:T base pairs, and there may be a fast exchange going on between APS duplex species involving these two kinds of base pairs. However, the transition between the APS and PS duplexes is slow. Structural refinement of the two octamers, d(TC)4 and d(CT)4, at pH = 6.9 and pH = 3 using 2D-NOE data suggests that the molecules are likely in the duplex form at 5 degrees C. We lack evidence that the structure at pH 3 is a PS structure with T nucleotides residing in the exterior of the helix. Titration of the longer oligonucleotide, d(TC)15, showed a prominent pKa of approximately 6, approaching the value of 7.0 obtained from the titration of poly-(dC).
Materials issues in diagnostic systems for BPX and ITER

Abstract Diagnostic systems in advanced D-T-burning fusion devices will be subjected to intense fluxes and fluences of high-energy neutrons and gamma rays. Materials used in these systems may suffer significant degradation of structural, optical, and electrical properties, either promptly upon irradiation or after accumulation of structural damage. Of particular concern are windows, optical fibers, reflectors, and insulators. Many materials currently specified for these components are known to degrade under anticipated operating conditions. However, materials selection and modification based on results from an appropriate irradiation testing program, when combined with design optimization for location, shielding, and ease of replacement, should point the way to development of acceptable systems.
Enhancing the Prediction of 30-Day Readmission After Percutaneous Coronary Intervention Using Data Extracted by Querying of the Electronic Health Record

Background—Early readmission after percutaneous coronary intervention is an important quality metric, but prediction models from registry data have only moderate discrimination. We aimed to improve ability to predict 30-day readmission after percutaneous coronary intervention from a previously validated registry-based model. Methods and Results—We matched readmitted to non-readmitted patients in a 1:2 ratio by risk of readmission, and extracted unstructured and unconventional structured data from the electronic medical record, including need for medical interpretation, albumin level, medical nonadherence, previous number of emergency department visits, atrial fibrillation/flutter, syncope/presyncope, end-stage liver disease, malignancy, and anxiety. We assessed differences in rates of these conditions between cases/controls, and estimated their independent association with 30-day readmission using logistic regression conditional on matched groups. Among 9288 percutaneous coronary interventions, we matched...
An Improved Image Encryption Algorithm Based on Chaotic Maps

This paper proposes a 3-D Lorenz system based image encryption scheme, which improves the security and performance of the encryption system over conventional one dimension chaos based ones. The balance and correlation properties of the analog sequences generated by Lorenz system are analyzed and a pre-process method is proposed, which makes the key stream have good statistical properties. Three initial parameters of Lorenz system are combined together as one key, which greatly enlarges the key space under precision restricted condition. The encryption speed is also improved since the position permutation and grayscale substitution of a pixel can be done by one iteration operation. Besides, the encryption system is strong against adaptive parameter synchronous attack since it has more complicated structure than one dimension ones. The experimental results indicate that the algorithm is more secure and efficient than conventional ones.
Biological responses to flexion/extension in spinal segments ex-vivo.

Mechanical loading is a salient factor in the progression of spinal disorders that contribute to back pain. Biological responses to loading modes like flexion/extension (F/E) in relevant spinal tissues remain unstudied. A novel, multi-axial experimental system was developed to subject viable functional spinal units (FSUs) to complex, in-situ loading. The objective was to determine biological effects of F/E in multiple spinal tissues—annulus fibrosus, nucleus pulposus, facet cartilage, and ligamentum flavum. Rabbit lumbar FSUs were mounted in a bioreactor within a robotic testing system. FSUs underwent small (0.17/0.05 Nm) and large (0.5/0.15 Nm) range-of-motion F/E for 1 or 2 h of cycling. Outcomes in each tissue, compared to unloaded FSUs, included (i) relative mRNA expression of catabolic (MMP-1, 3 and ADAMTS-5), pro-inflammatory (COX-2), and anabolic (ACAN) genes and (ii) immunoblotting of aggrecan degradation. Total energy applied to FSUs increased in groups subject to large range-of-motion and 2-h cycling, and moment relaxation was higher with large range-of-motion. F/E significantly modulated MMP1,-3 and COX-2 in facet cartilage and MMP-3 and ACAN in annulus fibrosus. Large range-of-motion loading increased MMP-mediated aggrecan fragmentation in annulus fibrosus. Biological responses to complex loading ex vivo showed variation among spinal tissues that reflect tissue structure and mechanical loading in F/E. © 2015 Orthopaedic Research Society. Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Orthop Res 33:1255–1264, 2015.
Childhood Adultification in Economically Disadvantaged Families: A Conceptual Model*

Abstract: This article presents an emergent conceptual model of childhood adultification and economic disadvantage derived from 5 longitudinal ethnographies of children and adolescents growing up in low-income families. Childhood adultification involves contextual, social, and developmental processes in which youth are prematurely, and often inappropriately, exposed to adult knowledge and assume extensive adult roles and responsibilities within their family networks. Exemplar cases from the ethnographies are integrated in the discussion to illustrate components of the model. Four successive levels of adultification are described: precocious knowledge, mentored-adultification, peerification/spousification, and parentification. The developmental assets and liabilities children incur also are discussed. Recommendations for school, health care, and social service practitioners working with low-income families and children are provided.
Research On How The Composting Process Impacts Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Global Warming

This paper reviews the literature on composting process as it impacts the issue of greenhouse gases (GHGs) and global warming. A number of studies are examined which report the emissions of GHGs under differing composting scenarios. The major modeling attempts that could impinge on this issue including models of integrated waste management are discussed. Questions are raised concerning the need for additional research and the development of broadly agreed upon research methods and average values and conditions relative to GHGs and composting practices.
Defining Animal Welfare

Without highly reliable measurement, welfare assessment relies on anecdotal and sometimes anthropomorphic judgments that may not accurately capture or reflect an animal’s state of well-being. It is critical that zoos instead develop objective, reliable, and replicable measures that allow different individuals, at different time points in different settings or contexts, to assess welfare in a consistent manner. There is much to be learned from the welfare metrics of related fields, such as biomedicine or agriculture, but zoos also present a unique set of challenges such as the variety of species, low sample size and the housing of animals that have not been domesticated. Early conceptions of welfare targeted the prevention of suffering, thus many early measurements of welfare were aimed primarily towards reducing or eliminating negative behaviors, such as stereotypic behavior, or reducing associated physiological indicators, such as decreasing cortisol levels. More recently, scientists have begun to focus on identifying measures that indicate an increase in positive welfare. To progress as a science, it is critical to identify effective theories and rule out those that are obsolete or redundant. Given the wide variety of tasks used to measure welfare, and the many complexities and challenges of studying welfare, it is critical to avoid reliance on a single measure, but include multiple measures when analyzing welfare. There is also a pressing need for scientific research to validate metrics of welfare in zoos. Future research should focus on continuing the development of positive measures of welfare by refining behavioral techniques and identifying physiological markers.
Liquid-Phase Epitaxy

The long history of liquid-phase epitaxy (LPE) is surveyed starting at its origins around 1960 up to recent applications for making narrow- and wide-bandgap semiconductor surrogate substrates. Various modes of LPE are described, including transient cooling, and growth induced and sustained by temperature gradients, electric currents and magnetic fields, chemical reactions and potential gradients using metastable sources, solvent evaporation, forced flow, surface and capillary effects, and centrifugal forces. This chapter also covers special or unique features of LPE that can serve niche applications based on high growth rates, lower temperatures, wide choice of dopants including rare earths for gettering, high material quality, and adaptations of LPE for selective epitaxy, epitaxial lateral overgrowth, and bulk crystal growth. Work assessing the feasibility of LPE-like processes for low-cost silicon solar cell production, both for purification and high-throughput deposition, is also reviewed.
A CMOS High Resolution Multi-Edge Delay Generator

This paper describes a new architecture of a high-resolution multi-edge delay generator for on-chip testing applications, which enables a timing generation with a sub-gate delay resolution to be fully implemented in any purely digital CMOS process. The proposed delay generator utilizes multi edge-triggered oscillators to achieve a high resolution based on the Vernier technique with low power, a smaller footprint and without requiring a high speed clock reference compared to the conventional delay generators. In addition, the maximum measured delay range of the proposed design can be improved without degrading the achievabl5ve resolution. Simulation results based on 0.09 µm CMOS technology shows an achievable delay resolution of 14.6 ps with a reference input frequency at 500 MHz.
Nice Questions Unanswered: Grokster, Sony's Staple Article of Commerce Doctrine, and the Deferred Verdict on Internet File Sharing

When is the developer or distributor of a copying technology legally responsible for the copyright infringements committed by users of that technology? Over the past twenty years or so, development and deployment of digital copying technologies (personal computers, CD and DVD burners, iPods and other portable music devices, the Internet itself, etc.), and tools for Internet file sharing and file distribution, have thrust that question into the center of a high-profile public debate. That debate gave rise to the most closely watched copyright case of recent years, MGMStudios Inc. v. Grokster, Ltd. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals had held that defendants Grokster and StreamCast, the developers and distributors of peer-to-peer file-sharing software, were shielded from copyright liability by the so-called Sony doctrine (also called the Betamax case), interpreting that doctrine to mean that distributors of copying technology that is capable of commercially significant noninfringing use are shielded from liability for the infringement committed by users of the technology, unless the distributors had specific knowledge of infringement obtained at a time at which they contributed to the infringement and had failed to act upon that information. The Supreme Court unanimously reversed, holding that because Grokster and StreamCast had distributed their software with the object of promoting its use to infringe copyright, as shown by clear expression or other affirmative steps taken to foster infringement, Sony did not protect them from liability, whether or not their software was capable of commercially significant noninfringing use. The unanimous decision in the copyright holders' favor is, obviously, a big loss for Grokster Inc. and StreamCast, Ltd.; its broader implications for Internet file-sharing practices and file-sharing technology, however, are much less clear; to try to understand what they might be, we rewind the tape, back to Sony in 1984 . . .
Characterizing bioaerosol risk from environmental sampling.

In the aftermath of a release of microbiological agents, environmental sampling must be conducted to characterize the release sufficiently so that mathematical models can then be used to predict the subsequent dispersion and human health risks. Because both the dose–response and environmental transport of aerosolized microbiological agents are functions of the effective aerodynamic diameter of the particles, environmental assessments should consider not only the total amount of agents but also the size distributions of the aerosolized particles. However, typical surface sampling cannot readily distinguish among different size particles. This study evaluates different approaches to estimating risk from measurements of microorganisms deposited on surfaces after an aerosol release. For various combinations of sampling surfaces, size fractions, HVAC operating conditions, size distributions of release spores, uncertainties in surface measurements, and the accuracy of model predictions are tested in order to as...
A Comparison of the Resistance of Bacteria and Embryonic Tissue to Germicidal Substances. I. Merthiolate

Lambert1, 2 bathed fragments of human tissues in a dilute broth culture of Staphylococcus aureus for a few minutes and then in dilutions of the germicides for one hour. The tissue fragments were th...
The crystal chemistry of the silicate garnets

Refined structures of eight natural garnets [Cr-pyrope, almandine, spessartine, Mngrossular, grossular, uvarovite, goldmanite, and andradite] are compared with that of synthetic pyrope to determine the effects of the substituent cations on polyhedral interactions,bond lengths, and angles. The Si-O bonds in these garnets constitute two populations whichcan be related to (r!X!), the mean radius of the X dodecahedra] cation. If (r{X}) is lessthan 1.0 A, then Si-O= 1.635 :1:0.005A, but if (r!X\) exceeds 1.0 A, then Si-O = 1.650 to.005 A. However, the X-O and Y-O bond lengths and the O-X-O, O-Y-O, and O-Si-O anglesare linearly dependent on (r{X!) and on (r[Y]) (where (r[Y])= the mean radius of the Y octahedral cation). A multiple linear regression analysis indicates the positional parameters of these garnets to be related to (1'{X} ) and (1'[ V]) using Shannon and Prewitt's effectiveradii as follows: x = 0.006 + 0.022(r{X} > + 0.014(r[Y]) y = 0.051 - 0.023(r{X}) + 0.037(r[Y]) z = 0.643 - 0.009(r{X}) + 0.034(r[Y]). The positional parameters of Fe-pyrope calculated with these equations [x=0.0336; y =0.0491; z=0.6530] are in statistical agreement with the observed [x=0.0339(5); y =0.0491(6);z=0.6535(6)] (Euler and Bruce, 1965). Furthermore, using a cell edge calculated from an equation obtained by regression analysis of 56 well characterized silicate garnets [a=9.04+1.61(r{XD+1.89(r[YJ)], the predicted positional parameters give bond lengthsand angles that are statistically identical with those observed. These equations were used to predict the structural details of over 200 hypothetical cubic silicate garnet compounds by assigning (r{XI) values between 0.80 and 1.50 A and (r[Y]) values between 0.50 and 1.15 A (at 0.05 A intervals). Using criteria based on reasonable 0-0, Si-O, X-O, and Y-O distances, a diagram was prepared in which the structural "stability" field of silicate garnets is delineated as a function of (r{X}) and (r[Y]).
Studies in the Genus Tolyposporella

The genus Tolyposporella was described by Atkinson (1897) for a leaf smut on Chrysopogon nutans Benth. collected in Auburn, Alabama. Atkinson's description of the genus was brief and precise: "the spore balls are composed of numerous spores which are firmly agglutinated by their sac-like epispores. Promycelium branched, septate; sporidia pleurogenous, single." The chief characteristics of the genus were misinterpreted, and several leaf smuts with dark agglutinated spore masses were described as Tolyposporella species. Clinton (1906) and Zundel (1953) misinterpreted Atkinson's description of spore germination in Tolyposporella chrysopogonis Atkinson by stating that the spores germinated by a septate branched promycelium bearing single lateral spo? ridia. Clements and Shear (1931) characterized Tolyposporium as hav? ing spore balls with spores germinating by promycelia bearing terminal and lateral sporidia, Thecaphora with promycelia developing single terminal sporidia, and Tolyposporella as having lateral sporidia. Fischer and Holton (1957) also state that germination is by a branched septate promycelium with lateral sporidia. Atkinson stated that the sporidia are pleurogenous and single, but he did not add the words, "one at each septum." This would have made Atkinson's description clear. The germination in Tolyposporella does not differ from that of several Usti? lago species. No one but Atkinson germinated the teliospores of T. chrysopogonis, the type of the genus. The authors have studied T. chrysopogonis and Tolyposporella nolinae Clinton using type and fresh material collected in the United States.
Self, Society and Kantian Impersonality

Many Greek moralists are eudaemonists; they assume that happiness (eudaimonia) is the ultimate end of rational human action. Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, and most of their successors treat this assumption as the basis of their ethical argument.1 But not all Greek moralists agree; and since the eudaemonist assumption may not seem as obviously correct to us as it seems to many Greek moralists, it is worth considering the views of those Greeks who dissent from it. The most radical dissenters we know of are the Cyrenaic school, descended (in some way) from Aristippus, a disciple of Socrates.2 Our sources, scanty though they are, report clearly that the Cyrenaics reject hap piness as the ultimate end:
The Flipped Classroom in Emergency Medicine Using Online Videos with Interpolated Questions

Abstract Background Utilizing the flipped classroom is an opportunity for a more engaged classroom session. This educational approach is theorized to improve learner engagement and retention and allows for more complex learning during class. No studies to date have been conducted in the postgraduate medical education setting investigating the effects of interactive, interpolated questions in preclassroom online video material. Objectives We created a flipped classroom for core pediatric emergency medicine (PEM) topics using recorded online video lectures for preclassroom material and interactive simulations for the in-classroom session. Methods Lectures were filmed and edited to include integrated questions on an online platform called Zaption. One-half of the residents viewed the lectures uninterrupted (Group A) and the remainder (Group B) viewed with integrated questions (2–6 per 5–15-min segment). Residents were expected to view the lectures prior to in-class time (total viewing time of approximately 2½ h). The 2½-h in-class session included four simulation and three procedure stations, with six PEM faculty available for higher-level management discussion throughout the stations. Total educational time of home preparation and in-class time was approximately 5 h. Results Residents performed better on the posttest as compared to the pretest, and their satisfaction was high with this educational innovation. In 2014, performance on the posttest between the two groups was similar. However, in 2015, the group with integrated questions performed better on the posttest. Conclusion An online format combined with face-to-face interaction is an effective educational model for teaching core PEM topics.
Underlying Principles in Ejaculatory and Orgasmic Function and Dysfunction in the Male

Since sexual function relies on a myriad of complex interactions between neuroanatomical, biochemical, and psychosocial factors, understanding the mechanisms driving various sexual dysfunctions has been challenging. Our understanding of numerous mechanisms involved in male sexual function has been enhanced over the past several decades utilizing a variety of techniques ranging from animal models to human studies. Although studies of these conditions remain limited, the application of new investigative techniques, including molecular imaging and genetic analyses, will deepen our understanding of ejaculatory and orgasmic function. In this chapter, we discuss the neuroanatomical and biochemical pathways related to ejaculatory and orgasmic function and the promising future of investigation evaluating these conditions.
Automated Writing Evaluation

The global dominance of academic English and the increasing importance of developing an ability to effectively communicate in writing have put a strain on second language education programs worldwide. Faced with time-consuming and copious commenting on student drafts and inspired by the promise of computerized writing assessment, many ‘educational technology enthusiasts are looking to AWE as a silver bullet for language and literacy development’ (Warschauer & Ware, 2006, p. 175). This chapter examines the state of the art of AWE, discussing its current affor-dances and demonstrating that, as is, it is not a silver bullet for meeting the writing needs of learners and teachers. Nevertheless, if carefully conceptualized at the earliest design stage, AWE can realize its full potential in writing classrooms in general and in L2 research writing in particular.
RideSense: Towards ticketless transportation

Imagine a transportation system in which passengers simply get on/off without any explicit ticketing operation. Yet, the system tracks usage and charges passengers. Such a system will not only be more convenient and efficient, but also be more conducive for analytics, than existing systems. Towards that goal, we exploit the opportunity that people are carrying sensor-equipped smart devices, and their motion trajectories/patterns and experienced environment can be measured continuously. Assuming that vehicles are also equipped with such sensors (perhaps fixed devices or smart devices carried by drivers), the vehicles' motion and the experienced environment characteristics can also be recorded and uploaded to cloud. Under these assumptions, we hypothesize that the motion/environment sensed by a passenger's smart device correlates strongly with that of the vehicle she is traveling in and is distinct from that of other vehicles and/or other traces of the same vehicle. In this paper, we expand on this intuition and develop a system, called RideSense, that matches a passenger's sensor trace against the traces of buses in that area, to determine which bus, when she has taken and where she gets on/off. Our evaluation of RideSense, with 20+ hours of traces from 5 bus lines in our area, shows that it achieves an accuracy of 84∼98%, depending on the choice of sensors and their features, positions of the passengers' phones and the metrics of measurement. These results, while far from conclusive, offer confidence that ticketless public transportation may indeed be a possibility in smart cities of the future.
An ontology for active and passive aerial drone threat automatic plan recognition

This paper initiates a discussion on the design of terms, features, and descriptors that would support machine learning for automated plan recognition of drone and drone swarms engaged in threatening activity. A few prototype aerial missions for drones are discussed and semantic markers, such as distance and line of sight to potential targets, mirrored motion, path and position optimality, coordination, and formation, are noted. This semantic description of motion in terms of objectives and capabilities contrasts with a naive description of motion in a 3d coordinate system without reference to targets; terminology is the first step in automated anomaly detection analytics. The paper further discusses active plan recognition, which selects interventions in order to force the drone or swarm to reveal its intentions. Analogies to, and distinctions from, two-dimensional active plan discernment, e.g., stalking, tailing, pursuing, and intercepting, are given.
Systematic determination of seismic safety levels for design of R/C buildings

Publisher Summary This chapter proposes an approach for the systematic determination of the appropriate target reliability (or acceptable risk) for the earthquake-resistant design of reinforced concrete (R/C) buildings in Mexico City. The required acceptable risks for life safety and damage control may be determined on the basis of minimizing the respective expected life-cycle costs, from which the corresponding criteria for design may be derived. Cost is invariably important in engineering design; in particular, the total life-cycle cost of the system is of special concern. Systematic determination requires the proper integration of seismic hazard analysis, damage and reliability assessments, and formulation of appropriate life-cycle cost functions. This is especially pertinent in the case of design for damage control. The necessary models and tools are now available that allow the systematic determination of optimal risks from which the appropriate design criteria for safety and performance can be developed. The resulting target reliabilities are then translated into corresponding seismic base coefficients for damage control and life safety.
Insights from mathematical modeling for convection-enhanced intraputamenal delivery of GDNF.

Glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) is a potential therapy for Parkinson’s disease (PD) promoting survival and functional recovery of dopaminergic neurons when delivered to the degenerated striatum. To study the aspects of intraputamenal delivery of GDNF, a mathematical model of recombinant methionyl human GDNF (r-metHuGDNF) convection in the human putamen has been developed. The convection-enhanced delivery infusions of r-metHuGDNF were simulated at rates up to 5 μL/min. The high-rate infusions (≥1 μL/min) permit rapid and uniform distribution of drug with up to 75% of the distribution volume having a concentration within 5% of the infusate concentration. No relevant differences in distribution at infusion rates of 3 and 5 μL/min were found. The patterns of GDNF distribution were analyzed in relation to the anatomy of the posterior dorsal putamen, and a cylindrical shape was found to be preferable considering risks of target overflow. A magnetic resonance (MR) tracer Gd-DTPA (Magnevist®) was evaluated as a surrogate in clinical studies, and the most accurate prediction of GDNF distribution was calculated immediately after infusion. The clearance of GDNF from the striatum is confirmed to be slow, with a half-life of ca. 19 h.
Management of Myxedema Coma

Myxedema coma is the most severe manifestation of hypothyroidism. In spite of ready availability of sensitive thyrotropin assays, the recognition and treatment of myxedema coma remains a clinical challenge. It is typically caused by a precipitating event in an untreated or partially treated patient. Nearly every organ system is impaired in myxedema coma with varying degrees of severity. Depressed mental status and hypothermia are nearly universal. Severe hemodynamic and respiratory compromise can occur. Airway complications are rare but can be life threatening. Once the diagnosis is suspected, treatment should be initiated without delay. Thyroid hormone treatment, combined with ventilatory and hemodynamic support in the intensive care unit setting has improved the high mortality. The lack of controlled trials makes the optimal and most effective choice of thyroid hormone preparation controversial. Most patients can be managed with thyroxine alone, given intravenously at a loading dose, followed by standard oral regimen once clinical improvement is noted and adequate gastrointestinal motility is confirmed.
Making Noncitizens’ Rights Real: Evidence from Legal Services Fraud Complaints

Noncitizens applying for green cards and employment authorization encounter a bureaucratic labyrinth: limited information, costly fees, and fear of coming out of the shadows all create incentives to defraud immigrants as they pursue legal services to navigate the U.S. immigration system. This paper is the first empirical study of legal services crime targeting immigrants. It explores the county level determinants of legal service fraud complaints submitted to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and answers the question: where are noncitizens most likely to claim their rights of territorial membership by reporting these crimes? Results indicate that immigration scams were brought to the attention of the FTC more often in counties with a strong safety net, measure by above-average food stamp use among Hispanic households. Free legal aid services for immigrants can also make a difference in bringing immigration scams to light, while high deportation rates and Republican governments are associated with places where fewer legal services crimes were reported than one might expect based on noncitizen population size alone. This suggests not only that claims to justice tend to emerge in place where immigrant integration efforts have taken hold but also reveals an unintended consequence: places which prioritize deporting noncitizens are more likely to allow the crimes committed against them to go unpunished.
The Screaming Sun: Choreographing Synesthesia

Digital devices usually contain pre-programmed constraints and behaviours. These behaviours are programmed by the architect of these devices. Analogue devices, on the other hand, are bound by the properties of the components connected to them. Controlling these components and external physical properties will in-turn lead to controlling the output of these devices. Many devices are built to perceive physical phenomena and react to certain stimuli. The Screaming Sun is an analogue noise-making instrument that experiments with light as a stimulus. It is a solar-powered interactive artifact that is meant to be played with and explored. The instrument, much like a living being, thrives on light. The performer plays the instrument by actually influencing the physical properties of light that shines on the instrument, and not by pushing buttons or turning knobs.
A Satellite Study of Cloud Clusters over the Tropical North Atlantic Ocean

Signal enhancement is advanced as a method for isolating selected features of ATS images. The discussion covers enhancement theory, limitations, and one important application, the isolation of deep convection within tropical cloud clusters. Comparisons of brightness contoured ATS images with radar images from BOMEX test the validity of associating deep convection with very bright clouds. The enhancement technique is then applied in a census of Atlantic cloud clusters, and in case studies of individual clusters. It is shown that in spite of difficulties involving control of the ATS signal, enhancement is an effective, precise tool for isolating selected features of ATS images. Comparisons of ATS and radar images establish a high correlation of bright areas on ATS with large radar echoes; therefore, enhanced ATS pictures emphasizing the upper levels of the brightness range effectively isolate deep convection. The brightness structure of convective clouds is such that they can be studied over a three-to four...
Vertical Equilibrium of HI in the Galactic Disk

The analysis of vertical distribution and kinematics of disks of galaxies can yield the local mass density in the disk, distinct from the integrated mass inside a radius, derived from a rotation curve. III is a particularly good tracer because of its ubiquity, ease of observation, and near isothermal nature. In the simplest case one considers the turbulent pressure gradient of the gas balancing the gravitational force in the z-direction. But the atomic gas may be subject to other pressures, for example, magnetic, cosmic ray or radiation pressure. The relative contributions of these are essentially unconstrained. The mass densities obtained from the analysis of III vertical equilibrium can be verified with a similar analysis only in the solar neighborhood, where the vertical distribution and kinematics of stars can give an independent measure of the total midplane mass density (ρ0).
Using Rayleigh Wave Dispersion to Characterize Residual Stresses

Acoustoelasticity has been the subject of a great deal of research over the past thirty years. However, most of this work involved bulk waves. For surface waves’ activity has been limited. Rayleigh wave acoustoelasicity was first studied by Hayes and Riviin [1]. Subsequently, Iwashimizu and Kobori [2] analyzed Rayleigh wave propagation in a finitely deformed isotropic elastic material. Martin [3] investigated the relative effects of stress and preferred grain orientation. Adler [4] measured the residual stress of circumferential welds in pipe. Recently, Lee et al [5] utilized line-focus acoustic microscopy to determine local near surface stress in an isotropic material. However as a uniform strain distribution is assumed, the analysis is insensitive to variations in the stress through the thickness of the material. In 1981, M. Hirao et al [6] theoretically and experimentally studied the dispersion of Rayleigh waves for a plate in pure bending. They found that the dispersion of Rayleigh waves was prominent for relatively low frequencies and diminished as the frequency increases. In this paper, the research goal is to develop a more general technique to characterize the through thickness stress distribution. Assuming the strain to be distributed quadratically with depth, the formulas for the velocity change versus the initial static stress are derived based on the first order perturbation approach. This information can be used to reconstruct synthetic residual stress distributions from frequency dependent Rayleigh wave velocity data.
Rat Models of Polycystic Ovary Syndrome

Polycystic ovary (PCO) syndrome is a common endocrine disorder of unknown etiology. This condition is a major cause of menstrual irregularity and infertility in women with chronic anovulation. This chapter reviews the literature on methods of producing experimental PCO models in the laboratory rat, and the findings that support their resemblance to the human condition. The principal rat PCO models that have been validated include constant light exposure, hypothalamic lesions, sex steroid-induced models, and the mifepristone (RU486) model. The biological systems involved in developing chronic anovulation and PCO in these models include the hypothalamus, the pituitary gland, the adrenals, and the ovary with its paracrine, autocrine, and intracrine regulators. Animal models are central to making the transition from scientific concepts to understanding the reality of a human disease. Validated animal models can be used for therapeutic screens, in preclinical trials, and for basic research in reproductive biology. However, animal models of chronic anovulation and PCO may not fully reproduce the reproductive events seen in the human syndrome.
Mitochondrial metabolism in pulmonary hypertension: beyond mountains there are mountains

Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a heterogeneous and fatal disease of the lung vasculature, where metabolic and mitochondrial dysfunction may drive pathogenesis. Similar to the Warburg effect in cancer, a shift from mitochondrial oxidation to glycolysis occurs in diseased pulmonary vessels and the right ventricle. However, appreciation of metabolic events in PH beyond the Warburg effect is only just emerging. This Review discusses molecular, translational, and clinical concepts centered on the mitochondria and highlights promising, controversial, and challenging areas of investigation. If we can move beyond the "mountains" of obstacles in this field and elucidate these fundamental tenets of pulmonary vascular metabolism, such work has the potential to usher in much-needed diagnostic and therapeutic approaches for the mitochondrial and metabolic management of PH.
Passive Leg Raise: Feasibility and Safety of the Maneuver in Patients With Undifferentiated Shock.

Purpose:Passive leg raise (PLR), in combination with technologies capable of capturing stroke volume changes, has been widely adopted in the management of shock. However, dedicated evaluation of sa...
Political parties and mortality: The role of social status and personal responsibility.

Abstract Previous research findings across a variety of nations show that affiliation with the conservative party is associated with greater longevity; however, it is thus far unclear what characteristics contribute to this relationship. We examine the political party/mortality relationship in the United States context. The goal of this paper is two-fold: first, we seek to replicate the mortality difference between Republicans and Democrats in two samples, controlling for demographic confounders. Second, we attempt to isolate and test two potential contributors to the relationship between political party affiliation and mortality: (1) socioeconomic status and (2) dispositional traits reflecting a personal responsibility ethos, as described by the Republican party. Graduate and sibling cohorts from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study were used to estimate mortality risk from 2004 to 2014. In separate Cox proportional hazards models controlling for age and sex, we adjusted first for markers of socioeconomic status (such as wealth and education), then for dispositional traits (such as conscientiousness and active coping), and finally for both socioeconomic status and dispositional traits together. Clogg's method was used to test the statistical significance of attenuation in hazard ratios for each model. In both cohorts, Republicans exhibited lower mortality risk compared to Democrats (Hazard Ratios = 0.79 and 0.73 in graduate and sibling cohorts, respectively [p