cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Performability analysis of clustered systems with rejuvenation under varying workload

This paper develops time-based rejuvenation policies to improve the performability measures of a cluster system. Three rejuvenation policies, namely standard rejuvenation, delayed rejuvenation and mixed rejuvenation, are designed to improve the cluster's performability under varying workload. Analytic models are built to evaluate these three policies. Since deterministic transitions are used in this paper and analytical models based on homogeneous continuous-time Markov chains (CTMC) do not allow non-exponential distributions, we utilize deterministic and stochastic Petri nets (DSPN), in which the underlying stochastic process is a Markov regenerative process (MRGP), to capture both exponential and deterministic distributions. System performability measures under these three rejuvenation policies are derived based on the DSPN models. We show that the mixed rejuvenation policy achieves the maximum performability among the three policies, which results in 12% improvement on the system throughput in the example shown in this paper. The delayed rejuvenation is better than the standard rejuvenation with respect to the optimal job blocking probability and system throughput. For longer rejuvenation-triggering intervals, the standard rejuvenation yields a better result than delayed rejuvenation, while for shorter rejuvenation-triggering intervals the delayed rejuvenation policy outperforms standard rejuvenation policy.
Left ventricular geometric patterns in the Jackson cohort of the atherosclerotic risk in communities (ARIC) study: Clinical correlates and influences on systolic and diastolic dysfunction

Background The distribution and determinants of left ventricular (LV) geometric patterns and their relation to LV function in African Americans is not well described despite higher rates of LV hypertrophy and cardiovascular mortality reported in this group. Purpose This study investigates the distribution and clinical correlates of LV geometric patterns and how these patterns relate to function in a population-based African American cohort. Methods The study population included participants in the Jackson cohort of ARIC, who underwent echocardiograms between 1993 and 1995. We defined 4 geometric patterns (normal geometry, concentric remodeling [CR], eccentric hypertrophy [EH], and concentric hypertrophy [CH]) according to LV mass index and relative wall thickness. Multiple logistic regression was used to assess the association of geometric patterns to systolic dysfunction and diastolic dysfunction, adjusting for traditional coronary risk factors. Results There were 1849 participants in the study population (mean age 59 years, 65% women). Concentric remodeling and CH were highly prevalent. Concentric hypertrophy and EH groups had the highest rates of hypertension, obesity, and diabetes mellitus. Compared to the normal geometric pattern, EH was related to systolic dysfunction (OR 24.27, CI 6.71-87.80), and CH was related to diastolic dysfunction 1.58 (1.04-2.39). Concentric remodeling was not related to systolic or diastolic dysfunction. Conclusion In this large middle-aged African American cohort, CR and CH are prevalent. Hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and obesity are associated with both CH and EH. Concentric hypertrophy is strongly associated with diastolic dysfunction; EH is strongly associated with systolic dysfunction. Concentric remodeling, however, is not related to either systolic or diastolic dysfunction.
Confinement and dynamics of laser-produced plasma expanding across a transverse magnetic field

The dynamics and confinement of laser-created plumes expanding across a transverse magnetic field have been investigated. 1.06 mm, 8 ns pulses from a neodymium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet laser were used to create an aluminum plasma which was allowed to expand across a 0.64 T magnetic field. Fast photography, emission spectroscopy, and time of flight spectroscopy were used as diagnostic tools. Changes in plume structure and dynamics, enhanced emission and ionization, and velocity enhancement were observed in the presence of the magnetic field. Photographic studies showed that the plume is not fully stopped and diffuses across the field. The temperature of the plume was found to increase due to Joule heating and adiabatic compression. The time of flight studies showed that all of the species are slowed down significantly. A multiple peak temporal distribution was observed for neutral species.
Male golden hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus) are more reactive than females to a visual predator cue

In most species of small mammals, males are exposed to higher levels of risk than females because they compete for mates, travel greater distances to find and procure mates, and/or defend a territory. This suggests that males and females might have different responses to risky situations, such as the presence of a predator. We tested responses to a visual predator cue (an owl silhouette) in male and female golden hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus). In a laboratory arena, there was no significant sex difference in the latency to enter the burrow or time spent in the burrow immediately after exposure to the owl silhouette. Males, however, were less likely to be active during the 3-min period following the animal’s exposure to the silhouette, indicating that male golden hamsters are more wary after exposure to an aerial predator cue than females. Most studies of responses to predators or predator cues have not considered sex differences, but our results show that males and females may have quite different responses to predator cues. Further work should be done to characterize and quantify sex differences in response to predators or predator cues.
Infrared Absorption Spectroscopy in Zirconia Research

Infrared absorption spectra are shown for monoclinic ZrO2 and for cubic stabilized ZrO2. Nine bands are reported in monoclinic ZrO2 in the region 800 to 200 cm−l, whereas only one broad band is observed in cubic ZrO2 over the same frequency range.
Design and analysis of efficient application-specific on-line page replacement techniques

The trend in computer performance over the last 20 years has indicated that the memory performance constitutes a bottlneck for the overall system performance. As a result, smaller, faster memories have been introduced to hide the speed differential between the CPU and memory. From the beginning of this process, an essential question has been the determination of which part of main memory should reside in the faster memory at each instant. Several on-line and off-line algorithms have been introduced, the best known and most used of which are LRU and MIN respectively. This paper introduces a new approach to page replacement in that it allows the compiler to enter the decision process. In introducing compiler help to page replacement, information available at compile time is passed on to new hardware added to the regular memory, with the overall effect of markedly decreasing overall memory access time.
Young Adults' Stereotypes of Older Adults With Their Grandparents as the Targets

Young adults' stereotypes of older adults have been well established in the literature, but the target of these stereotypes usually is an unknown older individual. Intergenerational interaction, however, is more common between people who are known to each other. Specifically, the older individuals with whom young adults most frequently interact are their grandparents. This study examines the role that closeness plays in mediating young adults' (n = 220) stereotypes of older adults. Consistently, young adults rate their closest grandparent more positively on exhibiting stereotypic behaviors and communicative ability than they do their least close grandparent. Although the grandparent's age does not influence the level of reported closeness, the level of closeness does influence perceptions of the older individual's behavior and abilities. Although closeness does mediate young adults' stereotypes of older adults, it does not preclude them from providing negative evaluations of some older individuals who are well-known to them
The Council of Psychological Advisers

Findings in behavioral science, including psychology, have influenced policies and reforms in many nations. Choice architecture can affect outcomes even if material incentives are not involved. In some contexts, default rules, simplification, and social norms have had even larger effects than significant economic incentives. Psychological research is helping to inform initiatives in savings, finance, highway safety, consumer protection, energy, climate change, obesity, education, poverty, development, crime, corruption, health, and the environment. No nation has yet created a council of psychological advisers, but the role of behavioral research in policy domains is likely to grow in the coming years, especially in light of the mounting interest in promoting ease and simplification ("navigability"); in increasing effectiveness, economic growth, and competitiveness; and in providing low-cost, choice-preserving approaches.
Use of datasets derived from time-series AVHRR imagery as surrogates for land cover maps in predicting species' distributions

We hypothesized that NDVI time-series composite imagery or clustered data derived from the NDVI time series could serve as effective surrogates for land cover data in predictive modeling of species' ecological niches and potential geographic distributions. Using two Mexican bird species, we examined our hypothesis with GARP, the Genetic Algorithm for Rule-set Prediction. Inputs included topographic and climate data, as well as the NDVI and clustered NDVI datasets. We used a land cover map previously derived from the NDVI dataset for comparison testing. Considering only topographic factors, we found that the NDVI or clustered NDVI data performed as well as or better than the land cover data. When climate data were added, the land cover data performed better than the NDVI data, but improvements were slight.
The HSOR Project: Insinuating OR into High School Mathematics Classrooms

The field of operations research faces a visibility problem that represents a serious problem in attracting the next generation of operations researchers and in building a base of consumers of operations research studies. A major goal of the initiative described here, the High School Operations Research Outreach HSOR, is to bring operations research into high school mathematics classrooms. This serves the dual purpose of increasing public awareness of the field of operations research and introducing rich, real-world problem situations to students of high school mathematics. HSOR has attempted to do so by developing a series of classroom materials set in OR contexts and by establishing a cadre of OR professionals who are willing and available to present these materials to groups of high school mathematics teachers.
Improving Incentives for Federal Land Managers: The Case for Recreation Fees

In 2004, Congress allowed federal land managers to charge recreation fees only for certain kinds of recreation. In general, while national parks and wildlife refuges can charge entry fees, managers of other federal lands can only charge for developed recreation, such as campgrounds, not dispersed recreation, such as hiking and backpacking. As a result, recreation is free on 98 percent or more of the lands managed by the Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, and Bureau of Reclamation. The 2004 law expires in 2014, giving Congress an opportunity to revisit this restriction.Congress should allow federal land agencies to charge market rates for all forms of recreation. Fees can help pay for maintenance and improvements of recreation areas, and will create incentives for both recreation users and recreation providers. Without these incentives, agency managers have little reason to cater to the needs and preferences of dispersed recreationists.
Legume Host Impact on Performance of Adult Piezodorus guildinii (Westwood) (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae)

Laboratory studies of adult Piezodorus guildinii feeding on the seeds or pods of five legumes demonstrated that this polyphagous stink bug exhibits differences in reproductive parameters, survival, longevity and body weight depending on food source. Results of these laboratory studies, coupled with previous field observations, suggest that Indigofera hirsuta and Crotalaria lanceolata serve as important wild hosts in the seasonal phenology of P. guildinii .
Susceptibility of the face fly to commercial preparations of Bacillus thuringiensis.

The effect of Bacillus thuringiensis toxins on various stages of the face fly, Musca autumnalis De Geer, was determined Supernatants of the commercial crude material added to cow feces gave LD50 values for last-instar larvae ranging from 2.06 to 9.46 parts per thousand. In comparative tests with various aged larvae the younger individuals were found more susceptible to the toxic supernatant preparation. When 12-hour-old larvae were exposed to feces collected from dairy cows fed the crude commerical preparations, sufficient toxin was present to produce 100% mortality. The results suggest that it may be possible to use such a preparation as a feed additive to control the face fly.
Dynamics of circulating microparticles in liver transplant patients.

Abstract Background & Aims. Microparticles are small membrane vesicles released from the cell plasma membrane, particularly in cell stress, apoptosis and altered cellular viability. Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a hypervascular neoplasm with high levels of apoptosis and necrosis. We investigated the levels of circulating microparticles of both tumor and endothelial origins in liver transplant patients with hepatitis C (HepC) cirrhosis with and without HCC and compared them with healthy people and patients with partial hepatectomy.Methods. Using immunolabeling of microparticles of different origin and flow cytometry-based enumeration of microparticles, the levels of circulating microparticles were studied in 8 patients with HepC and 8 patients with both HepC and HCC before and within two weeks after the transplant.Results. The initial levels of circulating microparticles were increased in patients with HepC and HCC as compared to patients with HepC alone. They were also increased in liver transplant patients as compared to patients with partial hepatectomy or healthy people. Levels of circulating microparticles were dynamically changing after the transplant, showing an initial increase with a subsequent decrease by the end of the second week after surgery. In some patients with a complicated clinical outcome, the levels of microparticles were continuously increasing after the surgery.Conclusion. The levels of circulating microparticles of endothelial and hepatic origin in liver transplant patients dynamically change after surgery and correlate with the clinical outcome. Perspectively, the levels of circulating microparticles may be used in clinical practice as a marker of the functional status of the transplanted liver.
WE-AB-206-03: Workshop

The involvement of medical physicists in diagnostic ultrasound imaging service is increasing due to QC and accreditation requirements. The goal of this ultrasound hands-on workshop is to demonstrate quality control (QC) testing in diagnostic ultrasound and to provide updates in ACR ultrasound accreditation requirements. The first half of this workshop will include two presentations reviewing diagnostic ultrasound QA/QC and ACR ultrasound accreditation requirements. The second half of the workshop will include live demonstrations of basic QC tests. An array of ultrasound testing phantoms and ultrasound scanners will be available for attendees to learn diagnostic ultrasound QC in a hands-on environment with live demonstrations and on-site instructors. The targeted attendees are medical physicists in diagnostic imaging. Learning Objectives: 1. Gain familiarity with common elements of a QA/QC program for diagnostic ultrasound imaging 2. dentify QC tools available for testing diagnostic ultrasound systems and learn how to use these tools 3. Learn ACR ultrasound accreditation requirements Jennifer Walter is an employee of American College of Radiology on Ultrasound Accreditation.
Branching and Stability for Nonlinear Gradient Operators

Publisher Summary This chapter reviews the branching and stability for given nonlinear gradient operators. The problem of determining the equilibrium states of a physical system leads in a number of cases to the problem of finding the nontrivial solutions near w = 0 of a nonlinear equation involving a real Banach space. The basic problem of determining the number of nontrivial solutions near w = 0 of equations of the same variety as the one mentioned above has led to an entire theory of branching of solutions of nonlinear equations, and although the general problem remains unsolved, there has been a considerable amount of progress in recent years. Furthermore, there have been some noteworthy papers in recent years on special topics of stability and in some problems they provide useful information on both the existence and stability of continuous solution branches. The concept of stability used throughout the paper is essentially linearized stability.
Phenotypic variation and correlations between monoploids and doubled monoploids of Solanum phureja

Ten anther-derived monoploids, twelve doubled monoploids and the heterozygous anther donor clone of Solanum phureja were compared for six vegetative, eight reproductive and three yield characters in the greenhouse. Significant high correlations were observed between the monoploids and their doubled monoploids for 14 of 17 characters. Therefore, doubled monoploids presumably express the same alleles as monoploids and the phenotypic expression of a monoploid can be used to predict accurately the phenotype of the derived doubled monoploid. Doubled monoploids flowered earlier and had significantly higher values than the monoploids for 15 of 17 characters, indicating a positive effect of increasing gene dosage from monoploid to diploid. Morphological traits can be used to distinguish plants of the two ploidy levels. Significant differences among clones were observed for all parameters within each ploidy level. The anther donor was not significantly different from the mean of doubled monoploids for 10 of 17 characters. For each of 14 characters, some doubled monoploids exceeded the anther donor. Therefore, doubled monoploids which do not express homozygote depression can be obtained.
Ferredoxin:NAD+ Oxidoreductase of Thermoanaerobacterium saccharolyticum and Its Role in Ethanol Formation

Ferredoxin:NAD + oxidoreductase (NADH-FNOR) catalyzes the transfer of electrons from reduced ferredoxin to NAD + . This enzyme has been hypothesized to be the main enzyme responsible for ferredoxin oxidization in the NADH-based ethanol pathway in Thermoanaerobacterium saccharolyticum, however, the corresponding gene has not yet been identified. Here, we identified the Tsac_1705 protein as a candidate FNOR based on the homology of its functional domains. We then confirmed its activity in vitro with a ferredoxin-based FNOR assay. To determine its role in metabolism, the tsac_1705 gene was deleted in different strains of T. saccharolyticum . In wild-type T. saccharolyticum , deletion of tsac_1705 resulted in a 75% loss of NADH-FNOR activity which indicated that Tsac_1705 is the main NADH-FNOR in T. saccharolyticum . When both NADH and NADPH-linked FNOR genes were deleted, ethanol titer decreased, and the ratio of ethanol to acetate approached unity, indicative of the absence of FNOR activity. Finally, we tested the effect of heterologous expression of Tsac_1705 in C. thermocellum and found improvements in both the titer and the yield of ethanol. Importance : Redox balance plays a crucial role in many metabolic engineering strategies. Ferredoxins are widely used as electron carriers for anaerobic microorganism and plants. This study identified the gene responsible for electron transfer from ferredoxin to NAD + , a key reaction in the ethanol production pathway of this organism and many other metabolic pathways. Identification of this gene is an important step in transferring the ethanol production ability of this organism to other organisms.
Differential effects of TM4 tryptophan mutations on inhibition of N-methyl-d-aspartate receptors by ethanol and toluene.

The voluntary use and abuse of alcohol and inhalants is a recognized health problem throughout the world. Previous studies have shown that these agents affect brain function in a variety of ways including direct inhibition of key ion channels that regulate neuronal excitability. Among these, the N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptor is particularly important given its key role in glutamatergic synaptic transmission, neuronal plasticity and learning and memory. Previous studies from this laboratory and others have identified key residues within transmembrane (TM) domains of the NMDA receptor that appear to regulate its sensitivity to alcohol and anesthetics. In this study, we extend these findings and examine the role of a TM4 residue in modulating sensitivity of recombinant NMDA receptors to ethanol and toluene. HEK293 cells were transfected with GluN1-1a and either wild-type or tryptophan-substituted GluN2(A-D) subunits and whole-cell currents were recorded using patch-clamp electrophysiology in the absence or presence of ethanol or toluene. Both ethanol (100 mM) and toluene (1 or 3 mM) reversibly inhibited glutamate-activated currents from wild-type NMDARs with GluN2B containing receptors showing heightened sensitivity to either agent. Substitution of tryptophan (W) at positions 825, 826, 823 or 850 in the TM4 domain of GluN2A, GluN2B, GluN2C or GluN2D subunits; respectively, significantly reduced the degree of inhibition by ethanol. In contrast, toluene inhibition of glutamate-activated currents in cells expressing the TM4-W mutants was not different from that of the wild-type controls. These data suggest that despite similarities in their action on NMDARs, ethanol and toluene may act at different sites to reduce ion flux through NMDA receptors.
Electron-positron colliders and other accelerator technologies

The accelerator physics and technology of hadron colliders, heavy quark factories, and linear colliders are reviewed. The status and performance of major high energy accelerators are summarized.
Increase in blood pressure with sorafenib exposure: Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) versus other solid tumors.

384 Background: Tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) such as sorafenib are widely used in the treatment of solid tumor malignancies. Incident hypertension with angiogenesis inhibitors has been well-documented in the population of patients with renal cell carcinoma (RCC) where incident hypertension on treatment is associated with improved clinical outcome. Little has been reported about increases in blood pressure with TKIs in other solid tumor malignancies. Methods: We performed a retrospective cohort study examining changes in blood pressure with sorafenib among the 101 patients treated at the University of Pennsylvania on a randomized discontinuation trial examining sorafenib in patients with advanced solid tumor malignancies. Solid tumor diagnoses were established on the basis of tumor histology. Treatment of patients on study with sorafenib was initiated at 400 mg BID. Patients were treated for at least 12 weeks and were evaluated at least every three weeks in the clinic. Blood pressure was recorded at e...
Family caregiver recruitment via social media: challenges, opportunities and lessons.

Background: Illness blogs are a way seriously ill people communicate publicly about their illness journey. As communication about serious illness increases on social media, it is important to evaluate how this affects the family caregiver. However, identifying and accessing family caregivers remains challenging, especially via social media. Purpose: The aim of this article is to report the opportunities, challenges and lessons learned from using social media to recruit family caregivers. Methods: Recruitment methods included posting study invitations on illness blogs, advertising through Facebook and placing study fliers in the community. Results: Using social media to recruit was inexpensive and provided a wide geographical reach. One important finding was discovering the importance of using language in the recruitment materials that family caregivers could identify with to help deem themselves as eligible to participate in the study.
Physical Therapy Following Phrenic Nerve Graft Surgery: Implications Far Beyond Breathing

Rehabilitation of the diaphragm following a phrenic nerve graft involves a detailed pre-/postsurgical multisystem evaluation by a physical therapist to determine the extent of the long-standing unilateral or bilateral phrenic nerve paralysis. Primary (i.e., respiratory, endurance) and secondary (i.e., posture, pain) impairments are described. A bilateral paralysis has a devastating impact on the patient’s survival, often requiring mechanical ventilation, but unilateral paralysis is also devastating due to compensatory postural control strategies which can lead to balance impairments, gait deviations, sleep disruptions, musculoskeletal restrictions/pain, incontinence, and an ongoing risk of respiratory complications. If the consequences of phrenic nerve paralysis are not fully understood, assessed, and treated, the patient’s long-term quality of life outcomes may be impaired. Research with spinal cord injury gives physical therapists guidance for the development of an appropriate treatment approach to this population, but research specific to this novel area of phrenic nerve restoration is needed.
Variability in the Use of Misdemeanor Arrests by Police Agencies From 1990 to 2013: An Application of Group-Based Trajectory Modeling:

Arrest for minor offenses has become one tool that some police departments employ to fight crime and disorder in their jurisdictions. Dubbed by some as “broken windows” or “zero tolerance” policing...
Regulation of Receptor Trafficking by ras-Like GTPases

The trafficking of proteins, such as the amyloid precursor, between the Golgi complex, the cell surface, and the endocytic compartment is regulated by a family of ras-like GTPases termed “rab” proteins. We are trying to understand the mechanism by which rab proteins regulate receptor trafficking. We study rab9 and its role in facilitating the transport of proteins between late endosomes and the trans Golgi network. Stable expression of a dominant negative mutant form of rab9 protein, rab9 S21N, strongly inhibited the transport of mannose 6-phosphate receptors from late endosomes to the trans Golgi network in cultured cells. When this pathway is blocked, other aspects of endocytosis and receptor trafficking proceed normally. In addition, transport vesicle formation appears to require incorporation of a rab protein in its GTP-bound conformation, since receptors were not trapped in nonfunctional transport vesicles in cells expressing rab9 S21N protein. This is a surprise, since rab proteins are believed to facilitate transport vesicle targeting and/or fusion. Our findings suggest that transport vesicle formation is regulated by the availability of transport factors assembled in some fashion on the surface of newly forming transport vesicles.
Serum-inducible genes.

Publisher Summary This chapter focuses on the genes for which expression is regulated by four agents namely, platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF), epidermal growth factor (EGF), insulin like growth factors (IGFs), and transforming growth factor β (TGF- β ). Such genes can be grouped into two sets. The first set consists of “progression genes” that respond to the growth factors as a secondary consequence of transit through the cell cycle. Another set consists of the “competence genes” defined by superinduction of their expression in the presence of a growth factor plus a protein synthesis inhibitor. The metabolic inhibitor studies investigated in the chapter suggest that the serum-induced synthesis of mRNA and/or protein is necessary for resting cells to progress through G 1 and enter the S phase. The earliest physiologic effect of serum on quiescent cells is the establishment of competence, an effect mediated by PDGF. One approach to the identification of proliferation-related proteins is to compare the proteins made by growth-controlled cells to those made by cells that have lost their growth control. Proliferation-related proteins have also been identified by their appearance in cells after stimulation by serum or serum growth factors. Treatment of 3T3 cells with serum leads to the synthesis of actin, collagen, and histone.
Media Repertoires and News Trust During the Early Trump Administration

Levels of news media trust have been steadily declining in the United States since the 1970s and frequent attacks against the press have characterized the first year of the Trump presidency. This s...
A general primal bounding framework for large-scale multistage stochastic programs under endogenous uncertainties

Abstract Multistage stochastic programming is an approach for modeling and solving optimization problems under uncertainty. Such problems are commonly seen in production planning and scheduling in chemical process industry. This paper considers large-scale multistage stochastic programs under a specific type of uncertainty, i.e., endogenous uncertainty, and develops a general primal-bounding framework based on extending the concepts of expected value solution and value of stochastic solution from multistage stochastic programs under exogenous uncertainties. Under traditional decision-making process with uncertainties, decision makers utilize known information to-date along with the expected results for unrealized information to take action, realize some uncertainty, and repeat this process along the planning horizon. The bounding framework introduced here fits this decision-making process. It yields a tight feasible bound and an implementable solution for multistage stochastic programs under endogenous uncertainties, which we call the absolute expected value solution (AEEV). The framework is tested on three planning problems with up to 16,384 scenarios. It yielded primal bounds within 1% of the true solutions for all tested cases, and generated these implementable solutions up to four orders of magnitude faster than solving the original multistage stochastic programs.
The Robustness of Modern Deep Learning Architectures against Single Event Upset Errors

Neural Networks have revolutionized computer vision and the field has advanced so rapidly that in less than a decade neural networks are on par with human performance at image classification tasks. Applying neural networks to robotics should drastically increase the capabilities of robots to navigate and interact with the world around them. However, robots are often used to investigate environments too dangerous for humans. Such environments include areas with high levels of radiation such as the Fukushima reactor or Jovian moons. Radiation causes single event upset (SEU) errors such as unexpected bit flips so robots must be robust to those kinds of errors. Before robots can fully utilize the advances of neural networks, the networks must be tested for their robustness against SEUs. SEUs are most likely to cause bit flips within the trained parameters of a neural network. This is because the memory that stores the trained parameters takes up the most surface area of a computer, and thus is more likely to be hit by high energy particles. Previous papers in this field have focused on older networks such as Multi-Layer Perceptrons, but Convolutional Neural Networks are the current state of the art when it comes to object classification tasks. This paper tests several modern neural network architectures for their robustness to bit flips in their weights and examines which aspects of each different architecture lead to greater robustness. The different architectures tested are VGG16, ResNet50, and InceptionV3. The experiments show that all three networks display bimodal distributions under memory errors, meaning that the networks either retain their trained classification accuracy, or drop to very low accuracies. Additionally, it only takes a small number of memory errors compared to the total size of the network for the neural network's performance to significantly degrade. When comparing the three architectures, VGG16 was the least robust against random bit flips in its trained weights while ResNet50 and InceptionV3 had similar levels of robustness against SEU-type memory errors. Some possible reasons for ResNet50 and Inception V3's robustness are their use of batch normalization or their use of shortcut connections.
Mental health symptoms and the reintegration difficulty of military couples following deployment: A longitudinal application of the relational turbulence model.

Objective Understanding the factors that predict the reintegration difficulty of military couples during the postdeployment transition has important implications for theory, research, and practice. Building on the logic of the relational turbulence model, this paper evaluates the relationship processes of reunion uncertainty and reintegration interference from a partner as mediators of the connection between people's mental health symptoms and their difficulty with reintegration after deployment. Method Dyadic longitudinal data were collected from 555 US military couples once per month for 8 consecutive months. Results Findings mapped the trajectory of reintegration difficulty and suggested reunion uncertainty and reintegration interference from a partner as mediators of the link between people's depressive and posttraumatic stress symptoms and the magnitude of their reintegration difficulty. Conclusion These results highlight relationship processes as a key domain of intervention to preserve the well-being of military couples during the postdeployment transition.
Impact of molecular testing in clinical practice in gynecologic cancers.

BACKGROUND With the growing understanding of the molecular and genetic profiles of cancers, targeted treatments are increasingly utilized in personalized cancer care. The objective of this study was to determine how these advances have translated into practice by examining how often molecular profiling of gynecological tumors led to treatment changes. METHODS We identified women with gynecological cancers at our institution who had molecular tumor testing performed from November 2014 to June 2017. Clinicopathologic data were extracted from medical records. We determined (a) if molecular profiling identified actionable targets for which therapy is available, and (b) whether the patient's treatment course changed as a result of molecular profiling. Chi-square, Wilcoxon rank-sum, and Fisher's exact tests were used with a P < 0.05 considered statistically significant. RESULTS We identified 152 patients with gynecologic cancers who underwent molecular profiling. Of the 152 patients, 116 (76.3%) had actionable mutations identified, with 41 (35.3%) patients having a treatment change. Stratified by cancer type, molecular profiling most frequently identified an actionable target in patients with endometrial cancer (73.6%). Changes in treatment occurred most frequently in patients with endometrial cancer, 22 (56.4%), and ovarian cancers, 16 (39%), as compared to patients with cervical and vulvar cancer (P = 0.02). Of those patients who received a change in treatment, 39 patients (95.1%) received an FDA-approved therapeutic agent, while two patients (4.8%) were enrolled in a clinical trial. CONCLUSION Molecular profiling in gynecologic cancers often identified at least one actionable mutation; however, only in a minority of these cases was the course of treatment changed. Further studies are needed to elucidate optimal timing for testing to best utilize actionable information.
Early Pottery and Construction at Nixtun-Ch'ich’, Petén, Guatemala: Preliminary Observations

Early occupation at Nixtun-Ch'ich’, on the western edge of Lake Peten Itza, is dated by two ceramic complexes, K'as and Chich. These represent the Late and Terminal Early Preclassic or the early and late “Pre-Mamom” periods, respectively (ca. 1300–800 BC), including a “Transitional” period incorporating Nix Middle Preclassic (Mamom) pottery. Comparisons with complexes at other sites in the region permit the dating of 10 construction loci, including 3 in the civic-ceremonial core. Low late Pre-Mamom platforms were raised and expanded in Transitional and Early Middle Preclassic times, when they were elaborated into two E-Groups and a Triadic Structure on the central axis. This building activity is interpreted in terms of cooperative or corporate labor organization and related to evolutionary game theory. The ritual foundation of such organization is evident in the site's gridded layout based on a mythical world-creation crocodile.
Simulation of Fluid Flow in Induced Fractures in Shale by the Lattice Boltzmann Method

With increasing interest in unconventional resources, understanding the flow in fractures, the gathering system for fluid production in these reservoirs, becomes an essential building block for developing effective stimulation treatment designs. Accurate determination of stress-dependent permeability of fractures requires time-intensive physical experiments on fractured core samples. Unlike previous attempts to estimate permeability through experiments, we utilize 3D Lattice Boltzmann Method simulations for increased understanding of how rock properties and generated fracture geometries influence the flow. Here, both real induced shale rock fractures and synthetic fractures are studied. Digital representations are characterized for descriptive topological parameters, then duplicated, with the upper plane translated to yield an aperture and variable degree of throw. We present several results for steady LBM flow in characterized, unpropped fractures, demonstrating our methodology. Results with aperture variation in these complex, rough-walled geometries are described with a modification to the theoretical cubic law relation for flow in a smooth slit. Moreover, a series of simulations mimicking simple variation in proppant concentration, both in full and partial monolayers, are run to better understand their effects on the permeability of propped fractured systems.
Progressive alignment with Cactus: a multiple-genome aligner for the thousand-genome era [preprint]

Abstract Cactus, a reference-free multiple genome alignment program, has been shown to be highly accurate, but the existing implementation scales poorly with increasing numbers of genomes, and struggles in regions of highly duplicated sequence. We describe progressive extensions to Cactus that enable reference-free alignment of tens to thousands of large vertebrate genomes while maintaining high alignment quality. We show that Cactus is capable of scaling to hundreds of genomes and beyond by describing results from an alignment of over 600 amniote genomes, which is to our knowledge the largest multiple vertebrate genome alignment yet created. Further, we show improvements in orthology resolution leading to downstream improvements in annotation.
Characterization of electron-beam deposited SnS films: Processing, properties, and ohmic contacts

Nanocrystalline tin sulfide (SnS) thin films were deposited by electron-beam evaporation at growth temperatures ranging from room temperature to 300 °C and characterized prior to and after annealing at 300 °C in high vacuum. X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy results indicated that SnS films deposited at 100 and 200 °C contained predominately a mixture of orthorhombic α-SnS and cubic π-SnS phases, whereas only α-SnS was detected in SnS films deposited at 300 °C. Contacts with a range of work functions were deposited onto p-type α-SnS films. All of the contacts investigated (Ti/Au, Ru/Au, Ni/Au, and Au) were ohmic as-deposited and yielded average specific contact resistance values that decreased with increasing metal work function, suggesting that the barrier height has at least a partial dependence on the work functions of the metals. Annealing at 350 °C for 5 min in Ar reduced the specific contact resistance value for Ru/Au contacts, resulting in the lowest value (1.9 × 10−3 Ω cm2) of contacts investigated to SnS thin films.Nanocrystalline tin sulfide (SnS) thin films were deposited by electron-beam evaporation at growth temperatures ranging from room temperature to 300 °C and characterized prior to and after annealing at 300 °C in high vacuum. X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy results indicated that SnS films deposited at 100 and 200 °C contained predominately a mixture of orthorhombic α-SnS and cubic π-SnS phases, whereas only α-SnS was detected in SnS films deposited at 300 °C. Contacts with a range of work functions were deposited onto p-type α-SnS films. All of the contacts investigated (Ti/Au, Ru/Au, Ni/Au, and Au) were ohmic as-deposited and yielded average specific contact resistance values that decreased with increasing metal work function, suggesting that the barrier height has at least a partial dependence on the work functions of the metals. Annealing at 350 °C for 5 min in Ar reduced the specific contact resistance value for Ru/Au contacts, resulting in the lowest value (1.9 × 10−3 Ω cm2) of contacts inve...
Engineering microbial chemical factories using metabolic models

Living organisms in analogy with chemical factories use simple molecules such as sugars to produce a variety of compounds which are necessary for sustaining life and some of which are also commercially valuable. The metabolisms of simple (such as bacteria) and higher organisms (such as plants) alike can be exploited to convert low value inputs into high value outputs. Unlike conventional chemical factories, microbial production chassis are not necessarily tuned for a single product overproduction. Despite the same end goal, metabolic and industrial engineers rely on different techniques for achieving productivity goals. Metabolic engineers cannot affect reaction rates by manipulating pressure and temperature, instead they have at their disposal a range of enzymes and transcriptional and translational processes to optimize accordingly. In this review, we first highlight how various analytical approaches used in metabolic engineering and synthetic biology are related to concepts developed in systems and control engineering. Specifically, how algorithmic concepts derived in operations research can help explain the structure and organization of metabolic networks. Finally, we consider the future directions and challenges faced by the field of metabolic network modeling and the possible contributions of concepts drawn from the classical fields of chemical and control engineering. The aim of the review is to offer a current perspective of metabolic engineering and all that it entails without requiring specialized knowledge of bioinformatics or systems biology.
Multiplexed biosensors for precision bacteria tropism in vivo

Abstract The engineering of microbes spurs biotechnological innovations, but requires control mechanisms to confine growth within defined environments for translation. Here we engineer bacterial growth tropism to sense and grow in response to specified oxygen, pH, and lactate signatures. Coupling biosensors to drive essential gene expression reveals engineered bacterial localization within upper or lower gastrointestinal tract. Multiplexing biosensors in an AND logic-gate architecture reduced bacterial off-target colonization in vivo.
Composition and photo-reactivity of organic matter from permafrost soils and surface waters in interior Alaska

Yedoma permafrost soils are especially susceptible to abrupt thaw due to their exceptional thickness and high ice content. Compared to other mineral soils, yedoma has a high organic carbon content, which has shown to be particularly biolabile. The organic carbon in these deposits needs to be characterised to provide an identification toolkit for detecting and monitoring the thaw, mobilisation and mineralisation of yedoma permafrost. This study characterised organic carbon isolates from thermokarst lakes (either receiving inputs from thaw of original yedoma or refrozen-thermokarst deposits, or lacking recent thaw) during winter and summer seasons within the Goldstream Creek watershed, a discontinuous permafrost watershed in interior Alaska, to identify the extent to which thermokarst-lake environments are impacted by degradation of yedoma permafrost. Waters from lakes of varied age and thermokarst activity, as well as active layer and undisturbed yedoma permafrost soils were isolated and characterised by functional group abundance (multiCP-MAS 13C and SPR-W5-WATERGATE 1H NMR), absorbance and fluorescence, and photobleaching ability. DOM isolated from winter and summer seasons revealed differing composition and photoreactivity, suggesting varied active layer and permafrost influence under differing ground water flow regimes. Water extractable organic matter isolates from permafrost leachates revealed variation in terms of photoreactivity and photolability, with the youngest sampled permafrost isolate being the most photoreactive and photolabile. As temperatures increase, release of permafrost organic matter is inevitable. Obtaining a holistic understanding of DOM composition and photoreactivity will allow for a better prediction of permafrost thaw impacts in the coming decades.
Energy-Efficient Autonomous Vehicle Control Using Reinforcement Learning and Interactive Traffic Simulations.

Connected and autonomous vehicles are expected to improve mobility and transportation, as well as to provide energy efficiency benefits. The integration of safety and energy efficiency aspects is challenging as there are certain tradeoffs between them, and also because the assessment of these attributes requires different time horizons. This paper illustrates the development of a controller for highway driving that, through reinforcement learning, can simultaneously address requirements of safety, comfort, performance and energy efficiency for battery electric vehicles. The training process of the decision policy exploits traffic simulations that are capable of representing the interactive behavior of vehicles in traffic based on game theory. Results indicate the potential for improved energy efficiency by adding powertrain-related states in the decision policy and by suitably defining the reward function.
Performance Analysis on Two Kinds of Ultra-wideband Signals

This paper mainly simulates two Ultra-wideband (UWB) signals and their power spectrum which are time hopping pulse position modulation (TH-PPM) and multi-band orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (MB-OFDM), and also simulates two UWB channels which are IEEE802.15.3 channel and IEEE802.15.4. And through theoretical analysis and computer simulation, we analyzed the performance of the UWB signals TH-PPM and MB-OFDM through the UWB channel environment. In the MATLAB simulation environment, indoor environment of the two cases line of sight (LOS) and not line of sight (NLOS) show that TH-PPM-UWB using RAKE receivers collect multipath energy and having some gains, and MB-OFDM-UWB is simply mixed the multipath energy. The simulation results show that the bit error rate of TH-PPM-UWB is better than MB-OFDM-UWB. In conclusion, TH-PPM-UWB scheme performs much better than MB-OFDM-UWB scheme.