cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The effect of biaxial stress on the creep properties of polymethyl methacylate

Biaxial creep tests have been performed on thin-walled tubes of polymethyl methacrylate at 116°F and 50% R.H. The tubes were loaded radially up to a specified stress state, which was then maintained for a finite time. Additional tests involved a constant stress state for a period Δt1, after which the specimen was rapidly subjected to a second stress state which was maintained for a period Δt2. The experimental apparatus and procedure are described. The results for the range of stress, temperature, and time investigated show: 1) the creep behavior can be described by the form ϵ = ϵ0 + mtn, where ϵ is the strain, ϵ0 is the time-independent portion of the strain, and m and n are constants; 2) n appears to be independent of stress state in the fourth quadrant (−σz axial stress, +σθ tangential stress), and m is a linear function (log-log) of effective stress. In the first quadrant (+σz +σθ), the values of m and n are dependent on stress state, the constant m being also dependent on effective stress. Since two measurements are made for tangential strain ϵ0, a description of the deformation can be obtained. Some results of pre-strain history and fracture are also presented.
Client well-being in drug treatment: a social ecological analysis.

A social ecological model of well-being, defined as subjective affirmation by clients regarding treatment experiences, was tested using county demographic data and responses of clients and therapeutic staff in community drug treatment programs registered in the State of Ohio. Multivariate analyses were conducted of a trilogy of variable constellations [(1) Client Background, (2) Therapeutic Proficiency, and (3) Community Development] in relation to Client Well-Being. Findings upheld the origins of well-being in social environments and supported an evaluative focus on client experience in human service organizations.
Assessment of reading rate in postsecondary students

There has been a steady increase in students with disabilities attending college and making requests for test accommodations. Most requests are for extended time, presumably due to slow reading speed. Tests of reading rate for adults have been criticized for poor psychometric adequacy, and no current norms exist regarding the expected reading rate for college students. This study examined reading rate via two methods, as well as their relationship to other reading measures. Ninety typical college students (67% female) were administered the Nelson Denny Reading Test (Reading Rate [NDRR] and Comprehension [NDC] tests), the Woodcock Johnson-III Reading Fluency (RF) and Word Attack (WA) tests, and three oral reading probes used to obtain words read correctly per minute (WRCM). On average, college students read 189 words correctly per minute based on oral reading probes and 231 wpm based on NDRR. The WRCM measure was more strongly related to RF and WA than was NDRR and was a better predictor of reading compreh...
Utilizing endocrine secretory pathways in salivary glands for systemic gene therapeutics

Mammalian salivary glands are commonly used models of exocrine secretion. However, there is substantial experimental evidence showing the physiological existence of endocrine secretory pathways in these tissues. The use of gene transfer technology in vivo has allowed the unambiguous demonstration of these endocrine pathways. We and others have exploited such findings and evaluated salivary glands as possible target tissues for systemic applications of gene therapeutics. Salivary glands present numerous advantages for this purpose, including being well encapsulated, which limits extra-glandular vector dissemination, and having the luminal membranes of almost all parenchymal cells accessible via intraoral delivery of vectors through the main excretory ducts. Existing studies suggest that clinical benefits will result from salivary gland targeted systemic gene therapeutics.
Evaluation of Special Sensor Microwave/Imager Satellite Data for Regional Soil Moisture Estimation over the Red River Basin

Regional-scale estimation of soil moisture using in situ field observations is not possible due to problems with the representativeness of the sampling and costs. Remotely sensed satellite data are helpful in this regard. Here, the simulations of 19- and 37-GHz vertical and horizontal polarization brightness temperatures and estimation of soil moistures using data from the Special Sensor Microwave/Imager (SSM/I) for 798 0.25 83 0.258 boxes in the southwestern plains region of the United States for the time period between 1 August 1987 and 31 July 1988 are presented. A coupled land-canopy‐atmosphere model is used for simulating the brightness temperatures. The land-surface hydrology is modeled using a thin-layer hydrologic model. The canopy scattering is modeled using a radiative transfer model, and the atmospheric attenuation is characterized using an empirical model. The simulated brightness temperatures are compared with those observed by the SSM/I sensor aboard the Defense Metereological Satellite Program satellite. The observed brightness temperatures are used to derive the soil moistures using the canopy radiative transfer and atmospheric attenuation model. The discrepancies between the SSM/I-based estimates and the simulated soil moisture are discussed. The mean monthly soil moistures estimated using the 19-GHz SSM/I brightness temperature data are interpreted along with the mean monthly leaf area index and accumulated rainfall. The soil moistures estimated using the 19-GHz SSM/I data are used in conjunction with the hydrologic model to estimate cumulative monthly evaporation. The results of the simulations hold promise for the utilization of microwave brightness temperatures in hydrologic modeling for soil moisture estimation.
Mothers' Roles: A Comparison Between Mothers of Adolescents with Severe Disabilities and Mothers of Vocational Students

The purpose of this qualitative study was to better understand the roles mothers play in shaping the future for their adolescents. A total of 40 mothers of adolescents completing high school were i...
Preference for Flexibility in a Savage Framework

We study preferences over Savage acts that map states to opportunity sets and satisfy the Savage axioms. Preferences over opportunity sets may exhibit a preference for flexibility due to an implicit uncertainty about future preferences reflecting anticipated unforeseen contingencies. The main result of this paper characterizes maximization of the expected indirect utility in terms of an ‘‘Indirect Stochastic Dominance’’ axiom that expresses a preference for ‘‘more opportunities in expectation.’’ The key technical tool of the paper, a version of Mobius inversion, has been imported ¨ from the theory of nonadditive belief functions; it allows an alternative representation Ž. using Choquet integration, and yields a simple proof of Kreps’ 1979 classic result.
Cognitive rehabilitation of mildly impaired Alzheimer disease patients on cholinesterase inhibitors

Objective The authors evaluated the efficacy of a new cognitive rehabilitation program on memory and functional performance of mildly impaired Alzheimer disease (AD) patients receiving a cholinesterase inhibitor. Methods Twenty-five participants in the Cognitive Rehabilitation (CR) condition participated in two 45-minute sessions twice per week for 24 total sessions. CR training included face–name association tasks, object recall training, functional tasks (e.g., making change, paying bills), orientation to time and place, visuo-motor speed of processing, and the use of a memory notebook. Nineteen participants in the Mental Stimulation (MS) condition had equivalent therapist contact and number of sessions, which consisted of interactive computer games involving memory, concentration, and problem-solving skills. Results Compared with the MS condition, participants in CR demonstrated improved performance on tasks that were similar to those used in training. Gains in recall of face–name associations, orientation, cognitive processing speed, and specific functional tasks were present post-intervention and at a 3-month follow-up. Conclusion A systematic program of cognitive rehabilitation can result in maintained improvement in performance on specific cognitive and functional tasks in mildly impaired AD patients.
Comment on bounds on time-correlation functions via the infinite-order maclaurin expansion

Abstract The method recently proposed by Alien and Diestler for obtaining bounds to time-autocorrelation functions is not (as claimed by the authors) equivalent to the method of Platz and Gordon, nor does it provide bounds at all times. It is instead equivalent to the method of Cukier and Wheeler based on gaussian quadratures. The quadratures are preferable to the approximate summation of the Maclaurin series.
Behavioral Response of Formosan Subterranean Termites (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae) to Soil with High Clay Content

Although our previous study showed that clay caused aggregation and particle transport behavior of the Formosan subterranean termite, Coptotermes formosanus, it is not known whether clay is preferred by C. formosanus as a substrate to live in and for bio-structure construction. In the present study, first a 24 h two-choice test was conducted to test the preference of termites to sand versus clay, both with 70 % water saturation. Significantly more termites aggregated on clay from 10 min after release on, and significantly longer tunnels were observed under clay blocks compared to sand. Two-choice tests with a 2-weeks duration were then conducted at three water saturation levels. Results showed that at 70 % saturation, a significantly higher percentage of termites aggregated in clay as compared to sand, and significantly more clay particles were deposited for shelter tube construction. At 30 and 50 % saturation however, no difference in termite aggregation was observed between clay and sand, and no shelter tubes were constructed. Our study shows that only clay with high moisture is preferred by C. formosanus. The water retention ability and physical properties of clay favor bio-structure construction.
An examination of compassion fatigue risk in certified child life specialists

ABSTRACTCertified child life specialists (CCLSs) provide psychosocial interventions for children and families to manage potentially traumatic experiences in health care settings. Research on related professions indicates engaging in therapeutic relationships in high stress environments may place workers at risk for compassion fatigue. Results of an online survey using the Professional Quality of Life (ProQOL-5), completed by 154 CCLSs, showed that compassion fatigue risk in CCLSs was comparable to other helping professions. This risk was lower with peer support to debrief after patient fatality, and higher when working in intensive care and hematology/oncology units. Findings suggest need for compassion fatigue prevention, early identification, and support resources for CCLSs.
Help wanted. Nurse or health educator

Although health education may be considered a component of nursing, trained professionals exist whose sole focus is health education. For optimal results, these health education specialists, not nurses, are the ones hospitals and healthcare organizations should seek out when staffing their departments of health education.
Academic Education for Business: Its Development and the Contribution of Ignaz Jastrow (1856–1937): In Commemoration of the Hundredth Anniversary of Jastrow's Birth

A study of the career of Ignaz Jastrow, guiding spirit of the Berlin Handelshochschule , invites attention to the broader subject of academic education for business. There was a close relationship between the educational philosophy embodied in the founding of the Berlin school in 1906 and in that of the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration in 1908. This relationship was not accidental, and establishment of these two institutions constituted a decisive point in a long history, beginning in the eighteenth century. Over the years, the basic difficulty had been that of endeavoring to raise professional training for business above the secondary school level. In those instances during the nineteenth century where university-level training was attempted, the result was overemphasis on the general background of business. In 1900, despite the many promising experiments in European countries and America, a sound foundation for high-level business training was still lacking. Jastrow's Handelshochschule was the first institution that focused on the real world of business and at the same time was truly academic in nature. This same combination was also effected at Harvard, where the basic objectives were implemented by reformed teaching techniques and by a continuing program of research upon business subjects.
Oriented immobilization of proteins on hydroxyapatite surface using bifunctional bisphosphonates as linkers.

Oriented immobilization of proteins is an important step in creating protein-based functional materials. In this study, a method was developed to orient proteins on hydroxyapatite (HA) surfaces, a widely used bone implant material, to improve protein bioactivity by employing enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) and β-lactamase as model proteins. These proteins have a serine or threonine at their N-terminus that was oxidized with periodate to obtain a single aldehyde group at the same location, which can be used for the site-specific immobilization of the protein. The HA surface was modified with bifunctional hydrazine bisphosphonates (HBPs) of various length and lipophilicity. The number of functional groups on the HBP-modified HA surface, determined by a 2,4,6-trinitrobenzenesulfonic acid (TNBS) assay, was found to be 2.8 × 10–5 mol/mg of HA and unaffected by the length of HBPs. The oxidized proteins were immobilized on the HBP-modified HA surface in an oriented manner through formation of a hydrazo...
Impact of global initiatives on drinking water access in Africa

In a quest to achieve a sustainable supply of drinking water, most countries in Sub-Saharan Africa have adopted water supply models designed to meet targets set by continually changing global water initiatives (GWI). Consequently, strategies to deliver these GWI concomitantly changed after dominating water policy implementation at a particular time. The review observes that these changes often overlooked contextual setting and undermined smooth continuity from one initiative to another. The poor link between initiatives, therefore, allowed the factors responsible for poor access to persist. To that end, the International Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation Decade initiative (1981–1990) did not meet the target of ‘water for all’. Similarly, the International Water for Life Decade (2005–2015) failed to reduce by 50% the number of people without access as anticipated.
Recurrent urinary tract infection.

Self-assessment case studies illustrating prudent selection of antimicrobial agents in recurrent urinary tract infection, urinary frequency in a diabetic, and urinary tract infection without significant bacteriuria
Co:MgF 2 laser ablation of tissue: effect of wavelength on ablation threshold and thermal damage

The wavelength dependence of the ablation threshold of a variety of tissues has been studied using a tunable pulsed Co:MgF2 laser in order to determine how closely it tracks the optical absorption length of water. The Co:MgF2 laser was optically pumped by a Nd:YAG laser emitting at 1.338 μm. Typical output energies were 70 μJ in a train of 2-JAS pulses approximately 100 μs long. The Co:MgF2 laser was tuned between 1.81 and 2.14 μm, a wavelength region in which the absorption length varies by a decade.
Aerosol Modelling Within the Eurad Model System: Developments and Applications

In order to fullfill their scientific tasks state-of-the-art air quality models should be capable of predicting particulate matter in addition to the gas-phase concentrations. A suitable aerosol model for the application in complex regional transport models has to provide sufficient information on the chemical composition as well as on the size distribution of the particles. Furthermore it has to be coupled to a photochemical model in order to be able to represent the interactions between the gas-phase and the particle-phase.
A Transient Response Error in Microwave Power Meters Using Thermistor Detectors

Broadband coaxial thermistor mounts are commonly used in automated precision microwave measurement systems such as six-port networks. To reduce the effect of temperature drift and to decrease the total measurement time, it is desirable to measure the dc bias voltage on the thermistor mount very quickly after turning the rf on or off. However, investigation has revealed that a coaxial mount may take much longer to settle to a stable dc bias voltage than the thermistor element time constant or the associated power meter servo bandwidth would indicate. If the bias voltage is measured before this transient ends, the error in the calculated rf power can be very large; as much as 1.4% has been observed. This paper describes these transients and gives measured durations and maximum error for a number of different bolometer mounts.
Minority Admissions and Support

In the last few years we have seen universItIes address themselves with varying degrees of success to what Fred E. Crossland defined in a Ford Foundation study as the six barriers to minority access in higher education: 1) standardized tests; 2) poor preparation; 3) financial problems; 4) distance from institutions; 5) lack of innovation; and 6) racial obstacles (3). In 1968, it was estimated that 50 percent of the higher education institutions in the United Staes had special programs for the economically and educationally disadvantaged but that most of these programs were little more than token efforts (15). In 1971, Crossland reported in his study that some three to four dozen public and private, predominantly white institutions in leadership positions had made commitments to substantially increasing minority enrollment. He defines substantial q>mmitment as efforts to have a freshman class that includes 10 percent or more minority students (3).
Multi-receiver GPS-based direct time estimation for PMUs

Modern power distribution systems are incorporating Phasor Measurement Units (PMUs) to measure the instantaneous voltage and current phasors at different nodes in the power grid. These PMU devices depend on GPS for precise time and synchronization. However, GPS L1 C/A signals are vulnerable because of its low power and unencrypted signal structure. Therefore, there is a need for the development of robust time transfer techniques to ensure power grid stability. We propose a novel multi-receiver direct time estimation (MRDTE) algorithm by utilizing the measurements from multiple receivers triggered by a common clock. We first implement a novel signal processing technique known as the Direct Time Estimation (DTE) that directly correlates the received GPS signal with the corresponding signal replica for each of the pre-generated set of clock states. The most optimal set of clock candidates is then estimated based on the principle of maximum likelihood estimation. By leveraging upon the known geographical diversity of multiple receiver positions, we employ a overall Kalman Filter to obtain a robust corrected clock bias and clock drift at any instant. We demonstrate the increased resilience of our MRDTE algorithm against malicious timing attacks that include jamming and meaconing through outdoor field experiments.
Nonprocedural Symptomatic Infarction and In-Stent Restenosis After Intracranial Angioplasty and Stenting in the SAMMPRIS Trial (Stenting and Aggressive Medical Management for the Prevention of Recurrent Stroke in Intracranial Stenosis)

Background and Purpose—The purpose of this study was to investigate the frequency of symptomatic in-stent restenosis (ISR) and its contribution to nonprocedural symptomatic infarction in the SAMMPR...
A practical petrophysical model for a source rock play: The Mancos Shale

AbstractRecently, the focus in source rock exploration has moved from gas-rich to liquid-rich plays and warrants revisiting “bypassed” hydrocarbon charged source rocks, which were deemed uneconomic when first drilled. In North America’s oil fields, there are thousands of wells with different vintages of nuclear and electrical logs, yet these wells generally lack any advanced logs beyond the traditional triple combo. We have developed a workflow that uses a considerable amount of laboratory measurements made on crushed rock to upscale a petrophysical model based on a triple combo logging suite only. The model divides the field (laterally) in oil window and gas window fairways and (vertically) in petrophysical units. The remaining hydrocarbon generation potential is based on geochemical measurements, such as thermal maturity and total organic carbon content (TOC), from core and cuttings in the area. The petrophysical units reflect major geologic intervals with similar porosity and clay content. The workflow...
Howardula dominicki n. sp. infesting the tobacco flea bettle in North Carolina.

Howardula dominicki n. sp. is described from specimens collected from the tobacco flea beetle, Epitrix hirtipennis (Melsheimer), at Oxford, North Carolina , and is distinguished from other members of the genus . Parasitism by H. dominicki sterilized female flea beetles and often led to the death of larvae.
Establishing and Maintaining a Therapeutic Environment in a Residential Rehabilitation Center for the Blind

The functions of a residential rehabilitation center for the blind are outlined in this article, including its role as a therapeutic treatment center. The establishment and maintenance of a therape...
Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer with Chest Wall Involvement: Integrated Treatment or Surgery Alone?

Background The aim of this study was to identify prognostic factors in patients affected by non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with chest wall (CW) involvement, analyzing different strategies of treatment and surgical approaches. Methods Records of 59 patients affected by NSCLC with CW involvement underwent surgery were retrospectively reviewed, from January 2000 to March 2013. Results Induction therapy was administered to 18 (30.5%) patients while adjuvant treatment to 36 (61.0%). In 36 (61%) patients, lung resection was associated only with a parietal pleural resection while in 23 (39%) with CW en-bloc resection. Overall 5-year survival was 34%. Prognostic factors were evaluated in the 51 (86.4%) completely resected (R0) patients. Five-year survival was 60% in patients undergoing induction therapy followed by surgery and 24% in those who underwent surgery as first treatment ( p = 0.11). Five-year survival was better in the neoadjuvant group than that in the surgery group in IIB (T3N0) p-stage (100 vs 28%, p = 0.03), while in the IIIA (T3N1–2,T4N0) p-stage it was of 25 vs 0%, respectively ( p = 0.53). No 5-year survival difference was found in case of parietal pleural resection versus CW en-bloc resection ( p = 0.27) and in case of only parietal pleural involvement versus soft tissue ( p = 0.78). In case of incomplete resection (R1), patients undergoing adjuvant radiotherapy had better 2-year survival than patients untreated: 60% vs 0% ( p = 0.025). Conclusions Type of surgical resection and the deep of infiltration of disease do not influence survival in this subset of patients. Integrated treatments seem to be suitable: neoadjuvant therapies ensure a better survival rate than surgery alone in IIB and IIIA patients, instead adjuvant radiotherapy proves a fundamental option in incomplete resections.
The application of Mechanical Diagnosis and Therapy to the ankle-foot complex: a case series

AbstractBackgroundPain at the ankle-foot complex is a common musculoskeletal condition that can lead to dysfunction. Mechanical Diagnosis and Therapy (MDT) is an orthopedic classification and treat...
Survival of Root-Associated Bacteria in the Rhizosphere

Inoculation studies with root-associated bacteria usually are based on the premise that adding the exotic strain will increase nitrogen fixation in the rhizosphere. This usually does not occur however, except in gnotobiotic conditions, although plant growth often is stimulated by bacterially produced hormones, and perhaps other mechanisms. Inoculation alone does not substantially change numbers of rhizosphere nitrogen fixers, except briefly.
Purification of a survival factor for spinal neurons from mouse salivary gland.

A variety of factors influence neuronal survival and differentiation in culture systems. Since neurons are post-mitotic with only rare exceptions, neurons are not acted upon by mitogens. The factors which have been described to date divide naturally into three categories: factors which influence survival in culture, factors which influence substrate attachment and neurite outgrowth, and factors which influence biochemical differentiation[1]. The biological role in vivo of only one, NGF (nerve growth factor), has received experimental support[2].
Additive Groups of Existentially Closed Rings

This is a report on work in progress on the structure of existentially closed rings and of their underlying groups. For simplicity of exposition we shall confine ourselves here to the ‘local case’, i.e., the case of Qp algebras, for a fixed prime p ; but most of the results have analogs for the general case of rings i.e., Z-algebras.
Amplitude-distribution analysis of acoustic emission: A simplified method of amplitude-distribution analysis based on cumulative counts and events is presented and a new model for amplitude distribution is proposed

Amplitude distribution of acoustic-emission events generated during fracture of materials contains the potential information about the fracture mechanisms. A methodology is developed for the analysis of acousticemission burst signals. Based on this, the amplitude distributions can be characterized from the cumulative counts and events data alone. This simplifies the equipment as well as the data analysis. A model for amplitude distribution is proposed here, which can potentially identify two mechanisms operating simultaneously. It is also shown analytically that cumulative counts (N) are linearly related to summation of amplitudes of events and thatN can be considered a measure of the total energy of acoustic emission only if the amplitude distribution does not change significantly.
Quantitative Analysis in Myocardial SPECT Imaging

A wide range of cardiac parameters can be quantitatively measured using automated and commercially available algorithms applied to myocardial SPECT images. Numerous published validation studies have shown that those quantitative measurements are accurate and reproducible, and provide incremental diagnostic and prognostic value compared to visual assessment alone. Quantitative analysis currently represents one of the key advantages of nuclear cardiology vis-a-vis competing imaging modalities, and will likely further contribute to its growth in the near future.
Brain Waves: Is Synchrony a Sign of Higher Function? Is the EEG Basically Rhythmic?

Higher centers and higher animals seem to show more EEG synchrony than brainstem or nonmammalian forebrain. Yet sleeping and seizure states are thought to be excessively synchronized. In place of synchrony would some measure of extent and variety of forms of cooperativity correlate better with higher function? Despite more than 50 years of research, we still have little idea how much synchrony there is in the EEG, how that varies among states of the brain, parts of the brain and major groups of animals or how any other form of cooperativity is distributed among the diverse cellular and subcellular generators in a given volume. In most animals most of the time no obvious rhythms are widespread in the forebrain.
Considering Antiracism in Student Teacher Placement

Student teaching represents the culmination of a preservice music educator’s preparation. In student teaching, notions of the transformative potential of music education may be reinforced or subver...
Mono-reduced Corannulene: To Couple and Not to Couple in One Crystal.

One-electron reduction of corannulene, C20 H10 , with Li metal in diglyme resulted in crystallization of [{Li+ (diglyme)2 }4 (C20 H10.- )2 (C20 H10 -C20 H10 )2- ] (1), as revealed by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. This hybrid product contains two corannulene monoanion-radicals along with a dianionic dimer, crystallized with four Li+ ions wrapped by diglyme molecules. The dimeric (C20 H10 -C20 H10 )2- anion provides the first crystallographically confirmed example of spontaneous radical dimerization for C20 H10.- . The C-C bond length between the two C20 H10.- bowls of 1.588(5) A is consistent with the single σ-bond character of the linker. The trans-disposition of two bowls in the centrosymmetric (C20 H10 -C20 H10 )2- dimer is observed with the torsion angle around the central C-C bond of 180°. Comprehensive theoretical analysis of formation/decomposition processes of the dimeric dianion has been carried out in order to evaluate the nature of bonding and energetics of the C20 H10.- coupling. It is found that such σ-bonded dimers are thermodynamically unstable due to large preparation energy and repulsive Pauli component of the bonding, but kinetically persistent due to a high energy barrier provided by the existing spin-crossing point.
Accurate and stable timekeeping

Atomic clocks reached a record-breaking uncertainty of less than 10−18 and the time needed to compare clocks is now less than an hour. These results push towards a possible redefinition of the second from a microwave to an optical standard. Atomic clocks reached a record-breaking uncertainty of less than 10−18 and the time needed to compare clocks is now less than an hour. These results push towards a possible redefinition of the second from a microwave to an optical standard.
Equivariant Multi-View Networks

Several popular approaches to 3D vision tasks process multiple views of the input independently with deep neural networks pre-trained on natural images, where view permutation invariance is achieved through a single round of pooling over all views. We argue that this operation discards important information and leads to subpar global descriptors. In this paper, we propose a group convolutional approach to multiple view aggregation where convolutions are performed over a discrete subgroup of the rotation group, enabling, thus, joint reasoning over all views in an equivariant (instead of invariant) fashion, up to the very last layer. We further develop this idea to operate on smaller discrete homogeneous spaces of the rotation group, where a polar view representation is used to maintain equivariance with only a fraction of the number of input views. We set the new state of the art in several large scale 3D shape retrieval tasks, and show additional applications to panoramic scene classification.
Night-based hyperspectral imaging to study association of horticultural crop leaf reflectance and nutrient status

Abstract In the literature of hyperspectral remote sensing to assess nutrient status in crops, there is a general lack of studies conducted under greenhouse conditions. This may be attributed to technical issues associated with inconsistent lighting conditions during daytime data acquisitions due to shadows and spectral scattering inside greenhouse structures. In this proof-of-concept study, we developed a novel night-based hyperspectral remote sensing system with attached halogen lighting to study leaf reflectance of bok choy [Brassica rapa L. var Chinensis] and spinach [Spinacia oleracea L. ‘Correnta”] grown under high, medium and low fertilization regimes. The study objectives were to: 1) identify spectral regions in which average leaf reflectance values could be used accurately to characterize crop responses to overall fertilizer regimes, and 2) characterize consistency across crops of associations between crop leaf reflectance and levels of individual macronutrient elements. Our findings were: 1) leaf reflectance could be used to differentiate low versus medium/high fertilization regimes with 75% (bok choy) and 80% (spinach) accuracy, and 2) the following spectral regions: 700–709 nm, 780–787 nm and 817–821 nm were associated with N, K, Mg and Ca levels in bok choy and spinach. Based on comprehensive sensitivity analysis, we demonstrated that classification accuracy was highly similar when 50–80% of the crop reflectance data were used as training data, indicating robustness of the proposed linear discriminant classification models. We believe the proposed sensitivity analysis has broad relevance as a method to thoroughly examine the robustness of reflectance-based algorithms that are used to classify agricultural products.
Successful gene therapy requires targeting the vast majority of cancer cells.

Suicide gene therapy using gene-directed enzyme prodrug therapy (GDEPT) is based on delivering a gene-encoded enzyme to cells that converts a nontoxic prodrug into its toxic metabolite. The bystand...
Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopic Analyses of the Influence of the Surface Nanocrystallization on the Passivation of Carbon Steel in the Pore Solution

AbstractThis research aimed to apply different models on electrochemical impedance spectroscopy to study the influence of grain refinement and straining obtained from surface mechanical attrition t...
Using a Training-Wheels Games and Graphics Library from Day One with Beginning C++

C++ is a powerful and popular language, but its lack of support for graphics and WIMP interaction makes it less alluring to beginners, degrading student outcomes. Existing graphics libraries are too difficult for day-one beginners, but the SSDL wrapper of the popular SDL2 library makes programming with graphics and games as easy as ordinary C++ programming, and provides seamless training-wheels prep for moving on to console I/O. Sample programs showing the improvements over other libraries are presented, and sample CS1 student projects are discussed.
Lifelong Personalization via Gaussian Process Modeling for Long-Term HRI.

Across a wide variety of domains, artificial agents that can adapt and personalize to users have potential to improve and transform how social services are provided. Because of the need for personalized interaction data to drive this process, long-term (or longitudinal) interactions between users and agents, which unfold over a series of distinct interaction sessions, have attracted substantial research interest. In recognition of the expanded scope and structure of a long-term interaction, researchers are also adjusting the personalization models and algorithms used, orienting toward “continual learning” methods, which do not assume a stationary modeling target and explicitly account for the temporal context of training data. In parallel, researchers have also studied the effect of “multitask personalization,” an approach in which an agent interacts with users over multiple different tasks contexts throughout the course of a long-term interaction and learns personalized models of a user that are transferrable across these tasks. In this paper, we unite these two paradigms under the framework of “Lifelong Personalization,” analyzing the effect of multitask personalization applied to dynamic, non-stationary targets. We extend the multi-task personalization approach to the more complex and realistic scenario of modeling dynamic learners over time, focusing in particular on interactive scenarios in which the modeling agent plays an active role in teaching the student whose knowledge the agent is simultaneously attempting to model. Inspired by the way in which agents use active learning to select new training data based on domain context, we augment a Gaussian Process-based multitask personalization model with a mechanism to actively and continually manage its own training data, allowing a modeling agent to remove or reduce the weight of observed data from its training set, based on interactive context cues. We evaluate this method in a series of simulation experiments comparing different approaches to continual and multitask learning on simulated student data. We expect this method to substantially improve learning in Gaussian Process models in dynamic domains, establishing Gaussian Processes as another flexible modeling tool for Long-term Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) Studies.
How Through Economics Rabbinic Judaism States its Theory of the Social Order

[Aristotle] will be seen as attacking the problem of man’s livelihood with a radicalism of which no later writer on the subject was capable — none has ever penetrated deeper into the material organization of man’s life. In effect, he posed, in all its breadth, the question of the place occupied by the economy in society. (Polanyi 1957, 66)
Detecting Alarm Sounds

Alarms such as phone rings, smoke alarms and sirens are an important component of the acoustic world, designed to convey urgent information in an efficient and unambiguous manner. We are investigating automatic recognition of this class of sounds both because of the practical applications for the hearing impaired, and also because alarm sounds are deliberately constructed to be easily heard, making them a promising target for detection in adverse circumstances. We compare two different approaches to alarm detection, one based on techniques and representations borrowed from speech recognition, and the other more specifically designed to exploit the structure of alarm sounds and minimize the influence of background interference. In this preliminary work, both approaches achieve similarly poor error rates but with different patterns in response to alarm type and background noise.
Linking innate and adaptive immunity.

Identification of precursor dendritic cells as the natural interferon-producing cells reveals their role in connecting two branches of the immune system (page 919).
On the Effect of Queues Sizes and Channel Scheduling Policies in the Segment Router

In this paper, we consider the effect of queue size and channel allocation policy on the performance of the Segment router [10]. The design decisions of the Segment router are motivated by the need to improve the network performance when the traffic consists of messages with widely different lengths. The Segment router provides separate buffer pools and implements different queueing policies for short and long messages. Furthermore it time-multiplexes the physical channels of the network fairly among the classes, possibly giving them different quantums of service.
The meninges is a source of retinoic acid for the late-developing hindbrain

One general function for retinoic acid (RA) is pattern organization in the CNS. This regulatory factor has an essential role in spinal cord motor neuron and early posterior hindbrain development. In the anterior CNS, however, there is only a limited number of foci of RA synthesis, and less attention has been placed on regions such as the anterior hindbrain where RA synthesizing enzymes are absent. This study shows that a rich source of RA lies around the hindbrain from the RA synthetic enzyme retinaldehyde dehydrogenase-2 (RALDH2) present in the surrounding meninges and mesenchyme by embryonic day 13. RALDH2 is not distributed uniformly throughout the meninges but is restricted to territories over the developing hindbrain, suggesting that RA signaling may be localized to those regions. Further regulation of RA signaling is provided by the presence of a RA sink in the form of the CYP26B1 RA catabolic enzyme expressed in deeper regions of the brain. As a guide to the neural anatomy of hindbrain RA signaling, we used a mouse transgenic for a lacZ reporter gene driven by a RA response element (RAREhsplacZ) to identify regions of RA signaling. This reporter mouse provides evidence that RA signaling in the hindbrain after embryonic day 13 occurs in the regions of the cerebellum and precerebellar system adjacent to sources of RA, including the inferior olive and the pontine nuclei.
Properties of penicillinase from Bacillus cereus 569.

Abstract Penicillinase from Bacillus cereus 569 was purified and examined for homogeneity by sedimentation analysis, amino-terminal analysis, and vertical acrylamide gel electrophoresis. The enzyme preparation was shown to contain three distinct species of extracellular penicillinase which could be separated easily by gel electrophoresis. Kinetic studies failed to reveal any significant differences in the three species of enzyme. The evidence provided suggests that all three species are composed of a single polypeptide chain of approximately 31,000 molecular weight. The amino acid composition of a mixture of the three species was determined. These data, plus additional experiments, confirmed a lack of cysteine in penicillinase isolated from B. cereus 569. Optical rotatory dispersion data obtained with penicillinase indicate that possibly 30% of the amino acid residues exist in the α helical configuration. Similarly, data obtained with penicillinase reveal that the majority of this α helix is destroyed in the presence of 7.5 m urea or 5.8 m guanidine hydrochloride. These experiments, in conjunction with measurements which show at least a 500-fold reduction in enzyme activity in the presence of the denaturants, indicate that penicillinase from B. cereus 569 is denatured when treated with high molar concentrations of urea or guanidine hydrochloride. Removal of the denaturants results in full restoration of activity and rotatory dispersion very similar to those obtained for the native enzyme. These data, colleclectively, prove that penicillinase from B. cereus 569 can readily undergo reversible denaturation.
Late Cretaceous and early Paleogene nutrient and paleoproductivity records from Blake Nose, western North Atlantic Ocean

[1] We evaluate phosphorus (P) and biogenic barium (bio-Ba) as nutrient burial and export productivity indicators for the Late Cretaceous and early Paleogene, combining these with calcium carbonate (CaCO3), organic carbon (C), and bulk CaCO3 C isotopes (δ13C). Sample ages span 36–71 Ma (∼1 sample/0.5 m.y.) for a depth transect of sites in the western North Atlantic (Blake Nose, Ocean Drilling Program Leg 171B, Sites 1052, 1051, and 1050). We use a multitracer approach including redox conditions to investigate export productivity surrounding the global Paleocene δ13C maximum (∼57 Ma). Reducing conditions render most of the bio-Ba record not useful for export productivity interpretations. P and organic C records indicate that regional nutrient and organic C burial were high at ∼61 and ∼69 Ma, and low during the Paleocene δ13C maximum, a time of proposed global high relative organic C burial. Observed organic C burial changes at Blake Nose cannot explain this C isotope excursion.
Adaptive control for autonomous underwater vehicles

We describe a novel integration of Planning with Probabilistic State Estimation and Execution. The resulting system is a unified representational and computational framework based on declarative models and constraint-based temporal plans. The work is motivated by the need to explore the oceans more cost-effectively through the use of Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUV), requiring them to be goal-directed, perceptive, adaptive and robust in the context of dynamic and uncertain conditions. The novelty of our approach is in integrating deliberation and reaction over different temporal and functional scopes within a single model, and in breaking new ground in oceanography by allowing for precise sampling within a feature of interest using an autonomous robot. The system is general-purpose and adaptable to other ocean going and terrestrial platforms.
On the reaction CH2NH2 ++HCN/HNC→NH2CH2CNH+

Abstract We have studied the reaction of protonated methyleneimine with HCN/HNC at the B3LYP level of theory. The only low energy pathway in this system arises from HNC + CH 2 NH 2 + . This limit is 15.5 kcal/mol above HCN + CH 2 NH 2 + . Both HCN and HNC exist in the interstellar medium (ISM) and by implication in the icy grain mantles. The features of this pathway are formation of an electrostatic minimum, followed by a slight barrier leading to an NH2CH2CNH+ minimum. This pathway has no barriers above the reactants energy. Acid hydrolysis of NH2CH2CNH+ leads to glycine (NH2CH2COOH). This work demonstrates a plausible pathway converting methyleneimine to NH2CH2CN.
From Active to Proactive Learning Methods

In many machine learning tasks, unlabled data abounds, but expert-generated labels are scarce. Consider the process of learning to build a classier for the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (http://www.sdss.org/) so that each astronomical observation may be assigned its class (e.g. “pinwheel galaxy”, “globular galaxy”, “quasar”, “colliding galaxies”, “nebula”, etc.). The SDSS contains 230 million astronomical objects, among which professional Astronomers have classified manually less than one tenth of 1 percent. Consider classifying web pages into subject-matter based taxonomies, such as the Yahoo taxomy or a Dewy library catalog system. Whereas there are many billions of web pages, less than .001% have reliable topic or subject categories.
Single-step multiphonon emission model of spin-dependent exciton formation in organic semiconductors

The maximum efficiency in organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) depends on the ratio, $r=k_S/k_T$, where $k_S$ ($k_T$) is the singlet (triplet) exciton formation rate. Several recent experiments found that r increases with increasing oligomer length from a value $r \approx 1$ in monomers and short oligomers. Here, we model exciton formation as a multi-phonon emission process. Our model is based on two assertions: (i) More phonons are emitted in triplet formation than in singlet formation. (ii) The Huang-Rhys parameter for this phonon emission is smaller in long oligomers than in short ones. We justify these assertions based on recent experimental and theoretical data.
Quando três gerações adoecem simultaneamente

Introduction: Disease may be a cause or consequence of loss of family homeostasis. The general practitioner plays a special role in identifying family risk factors and recognizing resources and coping strategies during illness. This may be difficult when several family members are ill simultaneously. Case description: A. is a 37 year-old, Caucasian female, belonging to a nuclear family, in phase IV of the Duvall cycle. In May 2012, after the birth of her second child, she experienced sweating, weakness and weight loss. Four months later, she experienced evening fever and cough. She presented to the Family Health Unit in November and was referred for diagnostic tests. She was then referred to the Hematology Service of a local hospital. In December the diagnosis of non-Hodgkin lymphoma was made. A. was hospitalized several times for chemotherapy and her daughters remained in the care of her husband. The husband performed many required tasks and assumed all parental responsibility, minimizing the effects of the absence of the mother. In January, A.’s mother, was diagnosed with colorectal cancer and was admitted for surgery in the same hospital. Referral to the same hospital allowed visits between mother and daughter. On February, the eldest daughter aged 6 years had ENT surgery and the 9 month-old daughter had difficulty sitting. In June, A. completed her chemotherapy and the 13-month old daughter still had delayed motor and language development. Comment: The health care team, in order to maintain family function and minimize the impact of several diseases on the family, sought to mobilize and manage existing resources and empower different family members in developing new skills.