cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
IMPROVING ENGLISH AND CHINESE AD-HOC RETRIEVAL: TIPSTER TEXT PHASE 3 FINAL REPORT

We investigated both English and Chinese ad-hoc information retrieval (IR). Part of our objectives is to study the use of term, phrasal and topical concept level evidence, either individually or in combination, to improve retrieval accuracy. For short queries, we studied five term level techniques that together lead to improvements over standard ad-hoc 2-stage retrieval some 20% to 40% for TREC5 & 6 experiments.For long queries, we studied linguistic phrases as evidence to re-rank outputs of term level retrieval. It brings small improvements in both TREC5 & 6 experiments, but needs further confirmation. We also investigated clustering of output documents from term level retrieval. Our aim is to separate relevant and irrelevant documents into different clusters, and to re-rank the output list by groups based on query and cluster-profile matching. Investigation is still on-going.For Chinese IR, many results were confirmed or discovered. For example, accurate word segmentation is not as important as first thought, but short-word segmentation is preferable to long-word (phrase). Simple bigram representation can give very good retrieval. A stopword list is not necessary; and presence of non-content terms does not hurt evaluation results much. One only needs screening out statistical stopwords of high frequency. Character indexing by itself is not competitive, but is useful for augmenting short-words or bigrams. Best results were obtained by combining retrievals of bigram and short-word with character representation. Chinese IR returns better precision than English, and it is not clear if this is a language-related, or collection-related phenomenon.
Ethical and effective ethnographic research methods: a case study with afghan refugees in California.

SCHOLARLY STUDIES OF REFUGEES and other vulnerable populations carry special ethical concerns. In this invited case study of Afghan refugees in Fremont, California, I provide illustrations and recommendations of ethical research methods with refugees. I also com- pare and contrast some ethical issues in the U.S. with issues in Thailand. The qualitative, ethnographic meth- ods I report here demonstrate how to conduct culturally sensitive investigations by ethically approaching gate- keepers and other community members to preserve autonomy, ensure confidentiality, build trust, and improve the accuracy of interpretations and results. Six groups at risk for being marginalized in multiple ways within refugee populations are described. Ten best prac- tices are recommended for ethically acquiring an in- depth understanding of the refugees, their community, and appropriate research methods.
Effects of texture on color perception

Textures are common distinguishing features used in segmentation and characterization of images. It is common to characterize textures in a statistical manner using various first and second order statistics. Previous work has shown that texture influences the observer's ability to perceive color differences. By considering the frequency content of the texture patterns in relationship to the color frequency response of the human eye, we hope to explain the results of some perceptual experiments in a more quantitative manner and lay a foundation for improved segmentation in computer vision applications.
The Use of Computer-Assisted Instruction as an Instructional Tool to Teach Social Stories to Individuals Who Have Been Diagnosed on the Autism Spectrum:

This article discusses the use of computer-assisted instruction (CAI) to teach Social Stories as a method of positively affecting the social understanding and behaviors of learners who have been di...
A New Look at Working-Class Formation: Reflections on the Historical Perspective

Historians long have debated the relationship of history to the arts as well as to science. For some, language itself?the well-crafted narrative of a unique event?becomes the discipline's tie to the fine arts. Others emphasize patterns and recurring trends and draw explicitly on social scientific models to explicate the historical experience. History is not a "pure" science to be sure; events of the past cannot be duplicated in a laboratory and then defined and categorized according to agreed upon and replicable procedures. But it is also true that his torians implicitly (and sometimes explicitly) utilize theoretical postulates and relationships to develop their narrative. In some instances, the assumptions be hind the postulates become widely shared and directly influence both the choice and the interpretation of the raw data. In these cases, a dominant per spective?an orthodoxy?on a particular topic is formed. This occurred with the theme of European industrial development. Perhaps Marx shaped the interpretation when he noted that the lesser de veloped nations behold their own future in the fate of the more advanced countries. Subsequent generations of empirical historians, as well as those of more theoretical bent, began their work by assuming that there was one model of industrial development (based on the English experience) and, incidentally, one process of working-class formation (proletarianization). But recently this "model" has been punctured and partly overturned, as historians now empha size regional patterns in the exceedingly complex and varied process of indus trial advance.1 Thus, it seems appropriate at this stage of reformulation to take stock of several of the older notions that seem to be still intact and offer an al ternative perspective on them as well. The theme of working-class formation is a vital one and an integral part of the broader discussion of social changes accompanying industrial growth. Analysis of the creation of an industrial work force has rested upon an analytic differentiation between rural and urban spheres as well as between agrarian and industrial activities. Historians have acknowledged that rural areas con tribute labor to industrial settings; they implicitly correlate labor efficiency and adaptability for industrial pursuits with social and psychological distance from the countryside. This correlation has become one important ingredient in
Save radar absorbing material by coating only around the edges of a target for reduced RCS

UTD (uniform theory of diffraction) analysis for scattering from a wedge with arbitrary two-face impedances was used to formulate the problem of EM scattering from a plate with rim loading for TE and TM polarizations. The corner effects are neglected, and the 2-D to 3-D field conversion is done by Siegel's formula. An attempt is made to estimate the width of the coating around the edges, which would give about the same result as the plate when it is uniformly coated. The percent saving is thus estimated. Results are presented for monostatic cases, for many combinations of parameters. >
Effects of Dietary Crude Protein, Electrolyte Balance, and Photoperiod on Growth of Broiler Chickens

Abstract Three experiments were conducted with broiler chicks to study the effects of dietary electrolyte balance, dietary crude protein level, and photoperiod on performance. Increasing the electrolyte balance (Na +K −Cl) from about 200 meq/kg to 350 meq/kg or more improved gain and feed consumption of chicks fed high protein (28.6%) diets but depressed gain and feed consumption of chicks fed low protein (14.3%) diets. Neither sex nor photoperiod affected to nature or magnitude of the crude prtoein × electrolyte balance interaction, although birds housed under 16L:8D had significantly higher concentrations of plasma ammonia than did those housed under 23L:1D. Chicks fed diets containing a high vs. a low electrolyte balance had significantly higher concentrations of plasma uric acid and significantly lower kidney asparaginase activities. Electrolyte effects on kidney asparaginase activity were not affected by diet crude protein content. Results indicate that the electrolyte balance that provides for optimum growth is dependent upon dietary crude protein concentration. Further, diet electrolyte effects on metabolic acid-base homeostasis are not related to their effects on growth.
Advances in CAD for low power design

High Power consumption not only leads to short battery life for mobile devices, but also causes on-chip thermal and reliability problems. In this talk, we present some of our recent results in CAD for low power design.
Divergent landscape effects on population connectivity in two co‐occurring amphibian species

The physical and environmental attributes of landscapes often shape patterns of population connectivity by influencing dispersal and gene flow. Landscape effects on movement are typically evaluated for single species. However, inferences from multiple species are required for multi-species management strategies increasingly being applied in conservation. In this study, I compared the spatial genetic patterns of two amphibian species across the northeastern United States and estimated the influence of specific landscape features on the observed genetic structure. The spotted salamander (Ambystoma maculatum) and wood frog (Rana sylvatica) share many ecological attributes related to habitat use, phenology and site fidelity. However, I hypothesized that important differences in their movement patterns and life history would create distinct genetic patterns for each species. Using 14 microsatellite loci, I tested for differences in the level of genetic differentiation between the two species across 22 breeding ponds. The effects of eight landscape features were also estimated by evaluating 32 landscape resistance models. Spotted salamanders exhibited significantly higher genetic differentiation than wood frogs. Different landscape features were also identified as potential drivers of the genetic patterns in each species, with little overlap in model support between species. Collectively, these results provide strong evidence that these two amphibian species interact with the landscape in measurably different ways. The distinct genetic patterns observed are consistent with key differences in movement ability and life history between A. maculatum and R. sylvatica. These results highlight the importance of considering more than one species when assessing the impacts of the landscape matrix on population connectivity, even for ecologically similar species within the same habitats.
Effect of Acoustic Resonance Condition on Wake Generated Rotor Blade Gust Response

Unsteady aerodynamic blade row response is generally categorized as either subresonant or superresonant, with an acoustic resonance at the points where these regions meet. Although these far field acoustic responses are critical to obtaining correct predictions from linearized unsteady flow models, they are a subject of some controversy, both analytically and experimentally. In this paper, multistage axial flow compressor acoustic resonance conditions, including both subresonant and superresonant unsteady aerodynamic response in the immediate vicinity of an acoustic resonance, are experimentally investigated. This is accomplished by quantifying these acoustic resonance and subresonant and superresonant blade row interaction phenomena in terms of their effect on the rotor blade row periodic unsteady pressure response. The subresonant and superresonant acoustic environments are established by changing the number of vanes while maintaining the number of rotor blades, thereby altering the unsteady stator-rotor interactions and the interblade phase angle and by varying the Mach number without changing the blade row interactions. First the first stage rotor row periodic unsteady pressure response to a downstream stator-rotor interaction generated acoustic wave is studied. Then, the gust unsteady aerodynamic response of the first stage rotor row due to IGV wakes, with the IGV-instrumented first stage rotor itself configured to generate subresonant and superresonant conditions is considered. Appropriate data are correlated with predictions.Copyright © 1993 by ASME
Facilitating interdisciplinary practice through mobile service provision to the rural older adult

Reaching the older adult in the rural communities in which they reside is desirable in an effort to support aging in place. The Idaho State University (ISU) Senior HealthMobile is an innovative, interdisciplinary rural health outreach effort designed to meet the needs of the older adult and support healthy aging. Health and wellness support services are provided through mobile interdisciplinary teams involving students and faculty in nursing, physical therapy, occupational therapy, pharmacy, and dietetics, among other disciplines. Students and supervising faculty provide services in the ISU Senior HealthMobile, in the rural senior centers, and in the home, providing a unique opportunity to be a part of the life of the older adult in the rural community setting. Partnerships and collaborative linkages within the community setting support the enhancement of existing services in collaboration with the ISU Senior HealthMobile.
Reengineering and adaptation in evolutionary interactive multi-objective linear programming

The paper shows how a formal modeling framework, evolutionary systems design (ESD), for evolutionary problem definition and solution, can be used for problem adaptation and restructuring (i.e., reengineering) in optimization problems, as developed for multiobjective linear programming (MOLP). Restructuring through a heuristic controls/goals/values referral process and adaptation are discussed for interactive MOLP, and illustrated by a numerical example.
In situ interactive teaching of trustworthy robotic assistants

In this paper we discuss a method for transferring human knowledge to a robotic platform via teleoperation. The method combines unsupervised clustering and classification with interactive instruction to enable behavior capture in a transferable form. We discuss the approach in both simulation and robotic hardware platform to show the capability of the learning system. In this work we also present a definition and associated metric for trustworthiness, and relate this quantity to system performance. Improved performance and trustworthiness are motivations for our application of interactive learning, and we present results that indicate that these were indeed attained.
Quaternary deposits and landscape evolution of the central Blue Ridge of Virginia

Abstract A catastrophic storm that struck the central Virginia Blue Ridge Mountains in June 1995 delivered over 775 mm (30.5 in) of rain in 16 h. The deluge triggered more than 1000 slope failures; and stream channels and debris fans were deeply incised, exposing the stratigraphy of earlier mass movement and fluvial deposits. The synthesis of data obtained from detailed pollen studies and 39 radiometrically dated surficial deposits in the Rapidan basin gives new insights into Quaternary climatic change and landscape evolution of the central Blue Ridge Mountains. The oldest depositional landforms in the study area are fluvial terraces. Their deposits have weathering characteristics similar to both early Pleistocene and late Tertiary terrace surfaces located near the Fall Zone of Virginia. Terraces of similar ages are also present in nearby basins and suggest regional incision of streams in the area since early Pleistocene–late Tertiary time. The oldest debris-flow deposits in the study area are much older than Wisconsinan glaciation as indicated by 2.5YR colors, thick argillic horizons, and fully disintegrated granitic cobbles. Radiocarbon dating indicates that debris flow activity since 25,000 YBP has recurred, on average, at least every 2500 years. The presence of stratified slope deposits, emplaced from 27,410 through 15,800 YBP, indicates hillslope stripping and reduced vegetation cover on upland slopes during the Wisconsinan glacial maximum. Regolith generated from mechanical weathering during the Pleistocene collected in low-order stream channels and was episodically delivered to the valley floor by debris flows. Debris fans prograded onto flood plains during the late Pleistocene but have been incised by Holocene stream entrenchment. The fan incision allows Holocene debris flows to largely bypass many of the higher elevation debris fan surfaces and deposit onto the topographically lower surfaces. These episodic, high-magnitude storm events are responsible for transporting approximately half of the sediment from high gradient, low-order drainage basins to debris fans and flood plains.
Physiology in medicine: peripheral arterial disease.

Peripheral arterial disease (PAD) is an atherosclerotic condition that can provoke symptoms of leg pain (“intermittent claudication”) during exercise. Because PAD is often observed with comorbid conditions such hypertension, dyslipidemia, diabetes, cigarette smoking, and/or physical inactivity, the pathophysiology of PAD is certainly complex and involves multiple organ systems. Patients with PAD are at high risk for myocardial infarction, stroke, and all-cause mortality. For this reason, a better physiological understanding of the pathogenesis and treatment options for PAD patients is necessary and forms the basis of this Physiology in Medicine review.
Frequency tuning of CPW bowtie antenna by ferroelectric BST thin film varactors

The main objective for this research is to develop an antenna that can shift its frequency over a broadband. A coplanar waveguide (CPW) antenna was designed with the center conductor of the CPW transmission line connected to a bowtie patch. The size of the antenna is 6mm × 6 mm. The antenna is tuned with a barium strontium titanate (BST) thin film varactor which can tune the device from 5.75 GHz to 6.1937 GHz by adjusting the DC bias from 0 to 10V.
Autocorrelation descriptor improvements for QSAR: 2DA_Sign and 3DA_Sign

Quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) is a branch of computer aided drug discovery that relates chemical structures to biological activity. Two well established and related QSAR descriptors are two- and three-dimensional autocorrelation (2DA and 3DA). These descriptors encode the relative position of atoms or atom properties by calculating the separation between atom pairs in terms of number of bonds (2DA) or Euclidean distance (3DA). The sums of all values computed for a given small molecule are collected in a histogram. Atom properties can be added with a coefficient that is the product of atom properties for each pair. This procedure can lead to information loss when signed atom properties are considered such as partial charge. For example, the product of two positive charges is indistinguishable from the product of two equivalent negative charges. In this paper, we present variations of 2DA and 3DA called 2DA_Sign and 3DA_Sign that avoid information loss by splitting unique sign pairs into individual histograms. We evaluate these variations with models trained on nine datasets spanning a range of drug target classes. Both 2DA_Sign and 3DA_Sign significantly increase model performance across all datasets when compared with traditional 2DA and 3DA. Lastly, we find that limiting 3DA_Sign to maximum atom pair distances of 6 A instead of 12 A further increases model performance, suggesting that conformational flexibility may hinder performance with longer 3DA descriptors. Consistent with this finding, limiting the number of bonds in 2DA_Sign from 11 to 5 fails to improve performance.
11.3 International Trade, Joint Ventures and Related Strategies: Issues in Joint Ventures

This paper investigates the influence of some major strategic marketing determinants on the performance of international joint ventures (IJV) operating in China. The related contextual variables which may moderate the linkage between marketing factors and IJV performance are also examined. The result suggests that 1) not all the strategic marketing factors widely recognized in the market economy context have an identical impact on firm performance in China, and 2) the country-unique marketing factors are statistically significant for IJV's accounting return and market growth]
Barriers and facilitators of the transition to adulthood for foster youth with autism spectrum disorder: Perspectives of service providers in Illinois

Abstract The lack of established and well-evaluated models of coordination between child welfare agencies and other public institutions presents lingering challenges to preparing foster youth to make the transition to adulthood. This may be particularly true for foster youth with developmental disabilities who must exit child welfare systems and enter into adult service systems, if eligible. The qualitative study we present explores the barriers and facilitators of the transition to adult service systems from the perspectives of service providers. Due to the rising prevalence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in the general population, focus groups were specifically conducted to better understand the transition of foster youth with ASD. Barriers included perceptions of two separate systems and abrupt transitions; a lack of training, identification, and tracking of autism; and confusion about services and funding. Facilitators included persistence and professional relationship building, and consistent communication and information sharing. Implications for improving the transition to adult service systems are discussed.
Among Schoolchildren: AIDS, the Law, and the Public Schools

This essay addresses the debate about excluding children with AIDS from public schools. The analysis proceeds in four parts. First, consideration is given to the arguments for and against exclusion by examining the positions advanced by Lisa J. Sotto and Carolyn Kasler, whose works have defined the debate in this area. Second, the relevant case law is considered to see how the courts have dealt with the issue of exclusion under relevant statutory and constitutional principles. Third, the problem of identifying students with HIV and the claims of personal privacy are examined. Finally, the analysis concludes with suggestions for improving legal discourse concerning children and AIDS, drawing upon recent scholarship in the philosophy of science, which suggests that risk analysis is neither purely objective nor merely a social construct.
Corporate Reorganization & Professional Fees

In recent years critics have lambasted a corporate bankruptcy system that they see as nothing more than competing bankruptcy courts offer[ing] high fees to bribe the lawyers to bring them cases. Of course, big firm corporate attorneys earn lofty hourly rates in or out of bankruptcy court. And too often critics of chapter 11 make the mistake of assuming that the general agency problems inherent in all corporations can be solved by the bankruptcy system. Exactly how much it should cost to reorganize a corporate entity is a matter of surprising elusiveness. This paper provides the most extensive study to date of the professional fees and expenses awarded by U.S. bankruptcy courts in the reorganizations of American businesses. This study's database includes approximately 1,050 chapter 11 cases filed in 2004 - almost more than 1,000 more cases than the next largest American study. Among the key findings of this study are: - Most of the regulation of professional fees provided by the Bankruptcy Code is valuable primarily for its deterrence effects. Retention applications are rarely denied and requested fees are rarely reduced. This, of course, does not mean that the regulatory system is broken, but rather that much of the system is not easily viewed by outsiders. - Unlike prior studies, I find that time spent in chapter 11 seems to have very little independent effect on the costs of the case. Factors like the size of the debtor corporation, the number of professionals retained, and whether a committee is appointed play much bigger roles. - Professional fees in chapter 11 are subject to economies of scale. In particular, with every 1 percent increase in the size of a debtor, professional fees only grow by less than half a percent - holding other key factors constant. - Lost in the sound and fury about large professional expenses in large cases is the fact that almost 35 percent of the chapter 11 cases result in no payment whatsoever to the professionals. These are typically smaller cases that are often converted to chapter 7 or dismissed outright.
Response of Specific-pathogen-free Turkeys to Vaccines Derived from Marble Spleen Disease Virus and Hemorrhagic Enteritis Virus

SUMMARY. Tissue-culture-propagated marble spleen disease virus (MSDV-TC) and two preparations of spleen homogenate (MSDV-SH and MSDV-SH-TC) were compared as antihemorrhagic enteritis virus (HEV) vaccines in specific-pathogen-free turkeys. Both types of vaccines spread horizontally among turkeys, induced anti-HEV antibodies, and protected turkeys against challenge with virulent HEV. Antibody development and horizontal spread of virus occurred earlier in turkeys given MSDV-SH or MSDV-SH-TC than in those given MSDV-TC. Virulent HEV was serially passed in MDTC-RP19 cells. The 30th passage virus (HEV-P30) was nonpathogenic for turkeys but was immunogenic. Turkeys exposed to HEV-P30 had viral antigen in the spleen, developed neutralizing antibodies, and resisted virulent HEV. The principal difference between MSDV-TC and HEV-P30 vaccines was that MSDV-TC caused well-defined splenomegaly in turkeys, whereas HEV-P30 protected turkeys without causing spleen enlargement.
Development Through Security

The leitmotif of the Philippine armed forces was to accentuate the interdependence of security and development. General Biazon, while commanding Manila’s security forces, warned against military budget increases. “If we siphoned off more for the military establishment,” he said in a public forum, “then there will be more hunger. The poor will now become easy prey for the communists who will seize the opportunity to stage a revolt and grab power.”1
Psychotherapy of dysthymia.

Objective The author reviews empirical research on the psychotherapy of dysthymia. Dysthymia, a prevalent mood disorder, has been shown frequently to respond to antidepressant medication. The need for a treatment for dysthymic subjects unable or unwilling to take, or unresponsive to, medication still remains. Methods Studies were located by computerized search and the author's knowledge of the literature. All reports of studies on psychotherapy outcome for dysthymic patients, except studies of late-life chronic major depression, were included. Results Psychotherapy research on dysthymia has been confined to small, usually uncontrolled studies with varying methods and limited follow-up. Cognitive approaches have been most frequently studied; the results have not been dramatic but do suggest that some dysthymic patients respond to brief cognitive therapies. Preliminary results of an ongoing study of interpersonal psychotherapy are promising. Conclusions Given the public health importance of dysthymia and the availability of treatments, the time is ripe for clinical trials of antidysthymic psychotherapy. The author proposes the following guidelines for such trials: time-limited, manual-based psychotherapy, interpersonal focus, serial design, continuation and maintenance treatment, combined treatments, and follow-up assessments.
The Mississippi hustle: corrupting the financial principal-agency relationship at the Mississippi Department of Corrections

The financial management of justice system organizations necessitates the invoking and exercising of a fiduciary principal-agency relationship between corrections administrators and their respective stakeholders. In the context of correctional operations, this means the principal (the state and, by extension, the citizens) entrusts agency personnel (administrators) to carry out their duties in an ethical fashion to provide maximum benefit to the principals. Although it is expected that justice system administrators are above reproach, such an expectation is not always realistic. This paper examines the Mississippi Hustle criminal investigation that targeted financial corruption in the Mississippi Department of Corrections. The Mississippi Hustle incident represented an egregious violation of the financial principal-agency relationship with respect to financial fraud and contract scandal. As a result of the investigation, the former corrections commissioner and a former legislator each face decades as inmates within the prison system.
Modeling Microeconomic Systems: Lessons from Software Design

If we model microeconomic systems in terms of their information processing characteristics, we may find it useful to compare our models to those produced by the discipline devoted to the study of information processing. Computer science, and in particular its sub-field of software engineering, offers perspectives that may inform our model design both by inspiring extensions and by helping us to see where revisions may be appropriate.
Enhancing Cybersecurity Education Using POGIL (Abstract Only)

This poster presents our NSF collaborative project "Enhancing Cybersecurity Education Using POGIL". Although the POGIL (Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning) instructional approach has been used and evaluated in science and engineering disciplines, the use of POGIL in cybersecurity education is not in place due to the lack of POGIL materials in cybersecurity. To deliver key learning outcomes as well as "soft skills" in cybersecurity students, we are developing POGIL materials for teaching cybersecurity, implementing the POGIL teaching pedagogy in cybersecurity courses, and evaluating the teaching and learning effectiveness of the developed POGIL materials and teaching method. We are developing POGIL materials for fifteen topics in six areas: cryptography, access control, network security, risk management, web security, and secure coding. These POGIL materials will be implemented and evaluated in eight different courses at three universities. Through assessing the developed POGIL materials and teaching method, we seek to answer the following research question: Is using the POGIL method more effective than the traditional/lecture-based teaching method in terms of learning outcomes, learning experience, attitudes and motivation? The developed POGIL materials will contribute to the effective resources for cybersecurity education, and enhance cybersecurity education by developing student key skills as well as improving student attitudes, motivation and enjoyment in learning.
Late outcomes among adult survivors of childhood non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL): A report from the St. Jude Lifetime Cohort Study.

10064 Background: Adult survivors of childhood NHL are at risk for chronic conditions likely underestimated by patient reported outcomes. Prevalence and severity based on direct clinical assessment are lacking. Methods: Clinical, laboratory, and performance-based evaluations were obtained on 200 adult survivors of pediatric NHL at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Chronic conditions were graded per CTCAE criteria. Impaired physical function was defined as performance below the 10th percentile of normative data. Multivariable Poisson regression models were used to investigate associations [relative risk (RR), 95% confidence intervals (CI)] between patient characteristics, therapies, and clinical outcomes. Results: Survivors (66% male, 87% white) were a median age of 10 years (range 1-19) at diagnosis and 34 years (20-58) at evaluation. Forty-six (23%) received radiation to the brain, 69(35%) high dose methotrexate, and 161(81%) steroids. Most (93%) had ≥ 1 chronic condition, 77% ≥ 2 chronic conditions...
Digital Self-Harm Among Adolescents.

Abstract Purpose Despite increased media and scholarly attention to digital forms of aggression directed toward adolescents by their peers (e.g., cyberbullying), very little research has explored digital aggression directed toward oneself. "Digital self-harm" is the anonymous online posting, sending, or otherwise sharing of hurtful content about oneself. The current study examined the extent of digital self-harm among adolescents. Methods Survey data were obtained in 2016 from a nationally representative sample of 5,593 American middle and high school students (12–17 years old). Logistic regression analysis was used to identify correlates of participation in digital self-harm. Qualitative responses were also reviewed to better understand motivations for digital self-harm. Results About 6% of students have anonymously posted something online about themselves that was mean. Males were significantly more likely to report participation (7.1% compared to 5.3%). Several statistically significant correlates of involvement in digital self-harm were identified, including sexual orientation, experience with school bullying and cyberbullying, drug use, participation in various forms of adolescent deviance, and depressive symptoms. Conclusions Digital self-harm is a new problem that demands additional scholarly attention. A deeper inquiry as to the motivations behind this behavior, and how it correlates to offline self-harm and suicidal ideation, can help direct mental health professionals toward informed prevention approaches.
Big Data Processing: Scalability with Extreme Single-Node Performance

Contemporary frameworks for data analytics, such as Hadoop, Spark, and Flink seek to allow applications to scale performance flexibly by adding hardware nodes. However, we find that when the computation on each individual node is optimized, peripheral activities such as creating data partitions, messaging and synchronizing between nodes diminish the speedup obtainable from adding more hardware. We analyze workloads which distribute operations on correlated data—such as joins and aggregation found in SQL, text similarity searches, and image disparity computations. After optimizing computation on efficient, custom processors, we discover challenges in scaling the applications to hundreds of nodes on a high-bandwidth network. We then describe techniques to overcome these challenges towards prototyping a 512-node system which is able to execute SQL queries offloaded from a commercial database, and outperform SQL-on-hadoop and traditional parallel RDBMS executions by 173x and 7x respectively.
Factors Associated with Creativity in Health Educators Who have won University Teaching Awards: A Modified Qualitative Approach

Abstract This study was designed to capture the importance of factors associated with creativity in successful teaching in health education. The focus of the majority of earlier creativity studies in education, in general, has been on the students, while few, if any, studies having focused on practicing teachers at the college level. With this in mind, we conductedan open-ended interview to determine what factors were associated with creativity in health educators who had received university teaching awards. The telephone interviews were performed on 10 (five males and five females) university instructor/professors having received at least one student determined award. This study was based in part on the methodology employed in naturalistic inquiry. The challenges of teaching were met by the participants with perseverance, motivational factors were intrinsic, and supportive factors were those on the job and those associated with family members. Participants thought they used both divergent and convergent ...
Users' reactions to three personal computers.

Most of what we read about new personal computers is written by hobbyists, experts, or the public relations departments of the machines’ vendors. But what do the users really think about these machines? How would they compare the Apple Lisa or Macintosh with the IBM-PC? Do types of users differ? For example, does a secretary have a different perception than a physician or professor using the same word processor?
Digital printing cotton golf apparel for junior girls: a study of prototype development

There are 2.9 million junior golfers aged 6–17 today in the United States. Although participation continues to increase, researchers have paid little attention to investigating clothing needs for t...
Stereopsis and ARC

Abnormal retinal correspondence (ARC) is an adaptive mechanism which occurs in the presence of a manifest deviation. Gross stereopsis is thought to be one of the advantages of ARC. However, this fa...
Profiling DNA-transcription factor interactions.

Global transcription factor activity is measured by screening cell extracts with an oligonucleotide library.
Low-cost drone system for analyzing elevation

The relatively recent advancements in the design and costs associated with unmanned aerial vehicles (e.g. quadcopters) opens up new opportunities for collecting environmental data. For example, while high resolution elevation data is important for understanding the spatial distribution of risk associated with flooding, it can be costly to collect using traditional methods. The costs can be prohibitive for example for remote coastal communities with limited resources. This paper describes the preliminary design of a system for use with a quadcopter drone that is capable of collecting elevation and location data and creating a digital elevation model. The system consists of a sensor package of a microcontroller, Light Detection and Ranging sensor (for elevation), geospatial data from a Global Positioning System (for latitude and longitude), and a process for using spatial mapping software to convert the collected data to an elevation model. The paper will show the preliminary results from the sensor package and software tools, as well as analysis comparing the results to traditional methods.
Anesthesia for Office Based Cosmetic Procedures

Office based anesthesia has grown in popularity in parallel with cosmetic procedures over the past decade. This is due to newer and safer anesthetic techniques combined with minimally invasive and novel surgical methods, allowing more procedures to be completed at out of hospital settings.
A comparison of semantic-based initialization methods for genetic programming

During the initialization step, a genetic programming (GP) system traditionally creates a population of completely random programs to populate the initial population. These programs almost always perform poorly in terms of their total error---some might not even output the correct data type. In this paper, we present new methods for initialization that attempt to generate programs that are somewhat relevant to the problem being solved and/or increase the initial diversity (both error and behavioral diversity) of the population prior to the GP run. By seeding the population---and thereby eliminating worthless programs and increasing the initial diversity of the population---we hope to improve the performance of the GP system. Here, we present two novel techniques for initialization (Lexicase Seeding and Pareto Seeding) and compare them to a previous method (Enforced Diverse Populations) and traditional, non-seeded initialization. Surprisingly, we found that none of the initialization methods result in significant differences in problem-solving performance or population diversity across five program synthesis benchmark problems. We attribute this lack of difference to our use of lexicase selection, which seems to rapidly converge on similar populations regardless of initialization method.
Correlation between class attendance and grade

This study investigates the relationship between students' class attendance and their overall grades in multiple computer science classes. The correlation between attendance of the first class and the overall grade is also examined. The Pearson Correlation analysis was performed to analyze the data. The results show that a student's overall grade highly correlates with his or her class attendance; it is also more imperative for CS majors than for non-CS major to attend classes. Furthermore, students who missed the first class have lower grade averages than students who did not miss the first class.
Synapse Formation: Competition and the Role of Activity

Synaptic competition is a cellular process by which the presence of one synapse affects the stability or survival of other synapses on the same postsynaptic cell. Synapse elimination refers to synapse loss due to either a low ‘intrinsic merit’ of the synapse for survival or its failure in winning synaptic competition with other synapses on the same cell. Such competition and elimination can be driven by either neuronal/synaptic activity or other activity-independent processes. We here summarize the evidence of activity-dependent synaptic competition and elimination in various brain regions, together with potential underlying cellular mechanisms.
Student Preferences in Library Website Vocabulary

This study explores student preferences to library website vocabulary and compares the data with what librarians report on their library's website. Two questionnaires were distributed in the fall of 2009 to students (N=300) and librarians (N=527). Students were asked to identify the terms they prefer from a larger list of library website vocabulary. Librarians were asked to report the terms that were used on their library's website. Twenty-seven terms were selected for both the student and librarian questionnaires. The 27 terms were culled from library literature, library instruction classes, and reference desk interactions. Of the 300 students, 54% were freshmen, 16.3% sophomore, 10% junior, and 15.3% senior. Librarians from all types of libraries in Canada and the United States responded to the questionnaire. The data suggests that, for some terms, there is a significant difference in what students prefer and what librarians report on their library's website. The author suggests that librarians create focus groups to determine student preferences, especially on top-level pages of the library website.
Use of Monolayer Techniques in Reconstitution of Biological Activities

The use of lipid monolayers to study biological activities that take place in cellular membranes is based on the belief that the configuration of lipids is similar both in membranes and in monomolecular films at air-water interfaces.
Observability Analysis of an Adversarial Swarm’s Cooperation Strategy

In this paper we address the problem of detecting the internal cooperating strategies of an adversarial swarm. This is done by estimating a set of parameters that define a particular swarm’s cooperating strategy. Using numerical observability analysis we show that this problem can be solved by introducing an intruder that will penetrate the swarm and thus force it to modify it’s behavior.
Hepatectomy: more complex operations and improved perioperative outcomes.

Over the past several decades liver resection has become more prevalent. There are progressive improvements in survival for a variety of malignancies and liver metastases are no longer a contraindication for resection in all cancers. What has also evolved is patient safety. Anesthetic techniques, patient selection and the ability to address complications in a timely manner has mitigated the perioperative mortality that was previously associated with liver resection.
Gendered Racial Microaggressions and Depressive Symptoms Among Black Women: A Moderated Mediation Model:

In the current study, we explored the relations between gendered racial microaggressions, gendered racial identity (intersection of one’s racial and gender identities), coping, and depressive sympt...
A General Framework for Temporal Fair User Scheduling in NOMA Systems

Non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) is one of the promising radio access techniques for next generation wireless networks. Opportunistic multi-user scheduling is necessary to fully exploit multiplexing gains in NOMA systems, but compared with traditional scheduling, inter-relations between users’ throughputs induced by multi-user interference poses new challenges in the design of NOMA schedulers. A successful NOMA scheduler has to carefully balance the following three objectives: Maximizing average system utility, satisfying desired fairness constraints among the users and enabling real time, and low computational cost implementations. In this paper, scheduling for NOMA systems under temporal fairness constraints is considered. Temporal fair scheduling leads to communication systems with predictable latency as opposed to utilitarian fair schedulers for which latency can be highly variable. It is shown that under temporal fairness constraints, optimal system utility is achieved using a class of opportunistic scheduling schemes called threshold based strategies (TBS). One of the challenges in heterogeneous NOMA scenarios—where only specific users may be activated simultaneously—is to determine the set of feasible temporal shares. A variable elimination algorithm is proposed to accomplish this task. Furthermore, an (online) iterative algorithm based on the Robbins–Monro method is proposed to construct a TBS by finding the optimal thresholds for a given system utility metric. The algorithm does not require knowledge of the users’ channel statistics. Rather, at each time slot, it has access to the channel realizations in the previous time slots. Various numerical simulations of practical scenarios are provided to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed NOMA scheduling in static and mobile scenarios.
The Process of Academic Validation Within a Comprehensive College Transition Program

Postsecondary institutions often create support programs to encourage the academic success of underserved students. Comprehensive college transition programs have been posited as one approach that ...
Histopathology and selective biomarker expression in human meibomian glands.

Background/aims Meibomian gland dysfunction (MGD) is the most common form of evaporative dry eye disease, but its pathogenesis is poorly understood. This study examined the histopathological features of meibomian gland (MG) tissue from cadaver donors to identify potential pathogenic processes that underlie MGD in humans. Methods Histological analyses was performed on the MGs in the tarsal plates dissected from four cadaver donors, two young and two old adults, including a 36-year-old female (36F) and three males aged 30, 63 and 64 years (30M, 63M and 64M). Results The MGs of 36F displayed normal anatomy and structure, whereas the MGs of 30M showed severe ductal obstruction with mild distortion. The obstruction was caused by increased cytokeratin levels in association with hyperproliferation, but not hyperkeratinisation. In two older males, moderate to severe MG atrophy was noted. Cell proliferation was significantly reduced in the MG acini of the two older donors as measured by Ki67 labelling index (6.0%±3.4% and 7.9%±2.8% in 63M and 64M, respectively) when compared with that of the two younger donors (23.2%±5.5% and 16.9%±4.8% in 30M and 36F, respectively) (p Conclusion Our histopathological study, based on a small sample size, suggests potentially distinct pathogenic mechanisms in MGD. In the young male adult, hyperproliferation and aberrant differentiation of the central ductal epithelia may lead to the obstruction by overproduced cytokeratins. In contrast, in older adults, decreased cell proliferation in acinar basal epithelia could be a contributing factor leading to MG glandular atrophy.
Microfluidic modeling of bone marrow pathophysiology

Human bone-marrow-on-a-chip improves drug studies of hematopoietic cell function and identifies a neutrophil maturation defect in a genetic disorder.
Genomic Insight into Natural Inactivation of Shiga Toxin 2 Production in an Environmental Escherichia coli Strain Producing Shiga Toxin 1.

Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) consists of a group of diverse strains differing greatly in genetic make-up and pathogenicity potential. Here, we investigated production of Shiga toxi...