cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Multidimensional Stochastic Process Model and its Applications to Analysis of Longitudinal Data with Genetic Information

Stochastic Process Model has many applications in analysis of longitudinal biodemographic data. In general, such data contain various physiological variables (sometimes known as covariates or physiological indices). Longitudinal data can also contain genetic information available for all or a part of participants. Taking advantage from both genetic and non-genetic information can provide future insights into a broad range of processes describing aging-related changes in the organism. In this work, we implemented a multi-dimensional Genetic Stochastic Process Model (GenSPM) in newly developed software tool, an R-package stpm (available from CRAN: https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/stpm), which allows researchers performing such kind of analysis.
Embryology of the Male External Genitalia

Abnormal embryological development can lead to various anomalies of the male external genitalia. Hypospadias is the result of incomplete masculine development of the genitalia. If the mesenchyme fails to form any of the structures around the urethra, a fibrous band will form, causing chordee. The developmental defect causing exstrophy and epispadias is associated with formation of the cloacal membrane.
Roads and rural development in Sub-Saharan Africa

This paper assesses the relation between access to markets and cultivated land in Sub-Saharan Africa. Making use of a geo-referenced panel over three decades (1970-2005) during which the road network was significantly improved, the analysis finds a modest but significant positive association between increased market accessibility and local cropland expansion. It also finds that cropland expansion, in turn, is associated with a small but significant increase in local gross domestic product. These results are suggestive of agricultural activities that develop at the extensive margin, which are mostly to serve local demand, but are not indicative of commercial agriculture that serves external markets.
Laser-induced damage in dielectrics with nanosecond-to-subpicosecond pulses

The application of chirped-pulse amplification to short-pulse lasers has led to a dramatic increase in the number of high-power subpicosecond laser systems. Accordingly, knowing the short-pulse damage thresholds of optical components and scaling the damage thresholds with pulse width have become increasingly important.
Spectral discrimination in color blind animals via chromatic aberration and pupil shape

We present a mechanism by which organisms with only a single photoreceptor, which have a monochromatic view of the world, can achieve color discrimination. An off-axis pupil and the principle of chromatic aberration (where different wavelengths come to focus at different distances behind a lens) can combine to provide “color-blind” animals with a way to distinguish colors. As a specific example, we constructed a computer model of the visual system of cephalopods (octopus, squid, and cuttlefish) that have a single unfiltered photoreceptor type. We compute a quantitative image quality budget for this visual system and show how chromatic blurring dominates the visual acuity in these animals in shallow water. We quantitatively show, through numerical simulations, how chromatic aberration can be exploited to obtain spectral information, especially through nonaxial pupils that are characteristic of coleoid cephalopods. We have also assessed the inherent ambiguity between range and color that is a consequence of the chromatic variation of best focus with wavelength. This proposed mechanism is consistent with the extensive suite of visual/behavioral and physiological data that has been obtained from cephalopod studies and offers a possible solution to the apparent paradox of vivid chromatic behaviors in color blind animals. Moreover, this proposed mechanism has potential applicability in organisms with limited photoreceptor complements, such as spiders and dolphins.
Multizone Age-of-Air Analysis

AbstractAge-of-air is a technique for evaluating ventilation that has been actively used for over 20 years. Age-of-air quantifies the time it takes for an elemental volume of outdoor air to reach a particular location or zone within the indoor environment. Age-of-air is often also used to quantify the ventilation effectiveness with respect to indoor air quality. In a purely single zone situation this use of age-of-air is straightforward, but application of age-of-air techniques in the general multizone environment has not been fully developed. This article looks at expanding those single-zone techniques to the more complicated environment of multizone buildings and in doing so develops further the general concept of age-of-air. The results of this analysis show that the nominal age-of-air, as often used, cannot be directly used for determining ventilation effectiveness unless specific assumptions are made regarding source distributions.The results herein will allow improved accuracy of age-of-air calculat...
Variable Packet-Error Coding

We consider a problem in which a source is encoded into $N$ packets, an unknown number of which are subject to adversarial errors en route to the decoder. We seek code designs for which the decoder is guaranteed to be able to reproduce the source subject to a certain distortion constraint when there are no packets errors, subject to a less stringent distortion constraint when there is one error, and so on. Focusing on the special case of the erasure distortion measure, we introduce a code design based on the polytope codes of Kosut et al. . The resulting designs are also applied to a separate problem in distributed storage.
Segment-scale, force-level theory of mesoscopic dynamic localization and entropic elasticity in entangled chain polymer liquids

We develop a segment-scale, force-based theory for the breakdown of the unentangled Rouse model and subsequent emergence of isotropic mesoscopic localization and entropic elasticity in chain polymer liquids in the absence of ergodicity-restoring anisotropic reptation or activated hopping motion. The theory is formulated in terms of a conformational N-dynamic-order-parameter generalized Langevin equation approach. It is implemented using a universal field-theoretic Gaussian thread model of polymer structure and closed at the level of the chain dynamic second moment matrix. The physical idea is that the isotropic Rouse model fails due to the dynamical emergence, with increasing chain length, of time-persistent intermolecular contacts determined by the combined influence of local uncrossability, long range polymer connectivity, and a self-consistent treatment of chain motion and the dynamic forces that hinder it. For long chain melts, the mesoscopic localization length (identified as the tube diameter) and emergent entropic elasticity predictions are in near quantitative agreement with experiment. Moreover, the onset chain length scales with the semi-dilute crossover concentration with a realistic numerical prefactor. Distinctive novel predictions are made for various off-diagonal correlation functions that quantify the full spatial structure of the dynamically localized polymer conformation. As the local excluded volume constraint and/or intrachain bonding spring are softened to allow chain crossability, the tube diameter is predicted to swell until it reaches the radius-of-gyration at which point mesoscopic localization vanishes in a discontinuous manner. A dynamic phase diagram for such a delocalization transition is constructed, which is qualitatively consistent with simulations and the classical concept of a critical entanglement degree of polymerization.
Grain supply chain network design and logistics planning for reducing post-harvest loss

In this paper we present a mathematical model for reducing post-harvest loss (PHL) in grain supply chain networks. The proposed model determines the optimal logistics for grain transportation and infrastructure investment by identifying the optimal locations for new pre-processing facilities and by optimising roadway/railway capacity expansion. The objective is to minimise the total system cost, including both infrastructure investment and economic cost from PHL. In this paper we incorporated both quality and quantity PHL during the transportation, transhipment, and pre-processing stages in the supply chain and considers different PHL rates for processed and unprocessed grains. Finally, we conducted a numerical analysis on a real-world network in the State of Illinois and a series of sensitivity analyses to provide insights into the optimal system design under different scenarios.
Assessing the Attitudes and Clinical Practices of Ohio Dentists Treating Patients with Dental Anxiety.

Dental anxiety (DA) negatively affects patients’ oral and overall health. This study explored attitudes and clinical practices of licensed Ohio general dentists who treat patients with DA. Methods: An anonymous self-administered mail survey was sent to 500 general dentists licensed and practicing in Ohio. Responses to 21 pre-coded questions were analyzed. Frequencies were examined; cross-tabs, Chi-Square, and Fischer’s Exact Test were calculated for statements according to dentists’ gender. Alpha was set at p = 0.05. Results: Nearly all respondents treated anxious patients; males were more likely to find it challenging than females. Dentists were most familiar with distraction, although half found nitrous oxide to be an effective tool. Female dentists were more likely than males to be familiar with anxiolytics and find them effective. Conclusion: Overall, Ohio general dentists are most familiar with using distraction and nitrous oxide during appointments for anxious patients. Gender differences exist in attitudes towards anxiolytic use for patients with DA. Practice Implications: By identifying techniques that are comfortable for patient and practitioner, oral health disparities associated with DA may be reduced.
Organizational Strategy and the Outcomes of Fiscal Retrenchment in Major Cities in the United States

This study examines if organizational strategy—specifically strategy formulation and strategic stance—influences the outcomes of fiscal retrenchment in city governments. Fiscal retrenchment is defi...
Inflation Illusion, Expertise and Commercial Real Estate

Data from the National Council of Real Estate Investment Fiduciaries (NCREIF) provide a unique setting to examine the inflation illusion hypothesis. NCREIF provides appraisal-based and transaction-based return series allowing comparison of market participants with specific valuation expertise to general market participants. Results using the appraisal-based indices indicate that the mispricing term is not statistically significantly related to expected inflation, which suggests that commercial valuers do not suffer from inflation illusion. Interestingly, results based on the investor oriented transaction-based indices show that the mispricing term is inversely related to expected inflation and that mispricing plays an important role in determining the long-term discount rate. These results are robust across different empirical specifications, inflation data and subsamples by property type. The comprehensive findings suggest that the inflation illusion effect in direct investment in real estate differs from securitized markets. This study further adds to the general literature regarding the impact of inflation illusion on asset markets by showing that experienced participants may not suffer from inflation illusion which suggests that 1) novice participants may be driving its appearance and 2) experience and training mitigate this bias.
The Supersymmetric Effective Field Theory of Inflation

We construct the Supersymmetric Effective Field Theory of Inflation, that is the most general theory of inflationary fluctuations when time-translations and supersymmetry are spontaneously broken. The non-linear realization of these invariances allows us to define a complete SUGRA multiplet containing the graviton, the gravitino, the Goldstone of time translations and the Goldstino, with no auxiliary fields. Going to a unitary gauge where only the graviton and the gravitino are present, we write the most general Lagrangian built out of the fluctuations of these fields, invariant under time-dependent spatial diffeomorphisms, but softly-breaking time diffeomorphisms and gauged SUSY. With a suitable Stuckelberg transformation, we introduce the Goldstone boson of time translation and the Goldstino of SUSY. No additional dynamical light field is needed. In the high energy limit, larger than the inflationary Hubble scale for the Goldstino, these fields decouple from the graviton and the gravitino, greatly simplifying the analysis in this regime. We study the phenomenology of this Lagrangian. The Goldstino can have a non-relativistic dispersion relation. Gravitino and Goldstino affect the primordial curvature perturbations at loop level. The UV modes running in the loops generate three-point functions which are degenerate with the ones coming from operators already present in the absence of supersymmetry. Their size is potentially as large as corresponding to f NL equil., orthog. ∼ 1 or, for particular operators, even ≫ 1. The non-degenerate contribution from modes of order H is estimated to be very small.
NaSrMn2F7, NaCaFe2F7, and NaSrFe2F7: novel single crystal pyrochlore antiferromagnets.

The crystal structures and magnetic properties of three previously unreported A2B2F7 pyrochlore materials, NaSrMn2F7, NaCaFe2F7, and NaSrFe2F7 are presented. In these compounds, either S = 2Fe2+ or S = 5/2Mn2+ is on the B site, while nonmagnetic Na and Ca (Na and Sr) are disordered on the A site. The materials, which were grown as crystals via the floating zone method, display high effective magnetic moments and large Curie-Weiss thetas. Despite these characteristics, no ordering transition is detected. However, freezing of the magnetic spins, characterized by peaks in the susceptibility or specific heat, is observed at very low temperatures. The empirical frustration index, f = -θ CW/T f, for the materials are 36 (NaSrMn2F7), 27 (NaSrFe2F7), and 19 (NaCaFe2F7). AC susceptibility, DC susceptibility, and heat capacity measurements are used to characterize the observed spin glass behavior. The results suggest that the compounds are frustrated pyrochlore antiferromagnets with weak bond disorder. The magnetic phenomena that these fluoride pyrochlores exhibit, in addition to their availability as relatively large single crystals, make them promising candidates for the study of geometric magnetic frustration.
Bridging the imaging gap in nanobiology with three-dimensional electron microscopy

Summary form only given. Emerging methods in three-dimensional biological electron microscopy provide powerful tools and great promise to bridge a critical gap in imaging in the biomedical size spectrum. This gap comprises a size range of great interest in biology and medicine that includes cellular protein machines, giant protein and nucleic acid assemblies, small subcellular organelles and small bacteria. In our laboratory at the National Cancer Institute, NIH, we are using a variety of approaches that utilize electron microscopic imaging to discover and analyze biological complexity within the size gap with linear dimensions of about 50-1000 nm. A key mission of our laboratory is to quantitatively describe the spatial and temporal architecture of key molecular machines that fall into this "nano gap". Areas of current interest include: (i) the development and application of novel technologies for three-dimensional electron microscopy of specimens ranging in size from small molecules to tissues, including automated approaches to analyze the molecular structure and sub-cellular location of a variety of nanoparticles, (ii) determination of the dynamic spatial and temporal architectures of cellular structures and molecular machines involved in fundamental process such as energy transduction, cell division and chemotaxis, and (iii) determination of molecular mechanisms underlying the neutralization and cellular entry of HIV
Fiscal Stimulus in a Monetary Union: Evidence from Eurozone Regions

This paper contributes to the open economy local fiscal multiplier literature by estimating regional output and employment responses to federal expenditure shocks in the European Union. In particular, similarly to the literature on foreign aid and growth, I use shocks to the supply of federal transfers (European Commission commitments) of structural fund spending by subnational region as instruments for annual realized expenditure in a panel from 2000–2013. I find a large, contemporaneous multiplier of 1.8 which translates into a medium-run multiplier of 4.1 three years after the shock. Furthermore, using a novel dataset on bilateral trade between EU regions, I find evidence of demand-driven spillovers up to 2 years after a shock.
Lyapunov exponents for random perturbations of some area-preserving maps including the standard map

We consider a large class of 2D area-preserving diffeomorphisms that are not uniformly hyperbolic but have strong hyperbolicity properties on large regions of their phase spaces. A prime example is the Standard map. Lower bounds for Lyapunov exponents of such systems are very hard to estimate, due to the potential switching of "stable" and "unstable" directions. This paper shows that with the addition of (very) small random perturbations, one obtains with relative ease Lyapunov exponents reflecting the geometry of the deterministic maps.
EPSPS Gene Copy Number and Whole-Plant Glyphosate Resistance Level in Kochia scoparia

Glyphosate-resistant (GR) Kochia scoparia has evolved in dryland chemical fallow systems throughout North America and the mechanism of resistance involves 5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase (EPSPS) gene duplication. Agricultural fields in four states were surveyed for K. scoparia in 2013 and tested for glyphosate-resistance level and EPSPS gene copy number. Glyphosate resistance was confirmed in K. scoparia populations collected from sugarbeet fields in Colorado, Wyoming, and Nebraska, and Montana. Glyphosate resistance was also confirmed in K. scoparia accessions collected from wheat-fallow fields in Montana. All GR samples had increased EPSPS gene copy number, with median population values up to 11 from sugarbeet fields and up to 13 in Montana wheat-fallow fields. The results indicate that glyphosate susceptibility can be accurately diagnosed using EPSPS gene copy number.
Iron isotopic fractionation during continental weathering

Abstract The effect of continental weathering on the iron isotope compositions of natural materials is investigated. Unweathered igneous rocks, pelagic clay, and dust fall within the range δ 56 Fe=0±0.3‰. Rivers with large suspended loads also have δ 56 Fe values near zero. Dilute streams have δ 56 Fe values that trend towards lower δ 56 Fe (∼−1) suggesting that dissolved riverine iron is isotopically light relative to igneous rocks. Bulk soil and soil leaches display systematically different δ 56 Fe profiles, indicating that isotopically distinct Fe pools are generated during pedogenesis. Nannofossil ooze, which contains Fe scavenged from the ocean water column, has δ 56 Fe≈0, but is consistent with seawater dissolved Fe having negative δ 56 Fe. It is inferred that continental weathering under modern oxidizing Earth surface conditions preferentially releases dissolved Fe with negative δ 56 Fe, which is transported in rivers to the ocean. A preliminary analysis of the marine Fe budget suggests that riverine Fe has a substantial role in determining the δ 56 Fe of both the modern and ancient oceans, but other inputs, particularly that from diagenesis of marine sediments, may also be important. Since the chemical pathways of Fe processing during weathering are dependent on oxidation state and biological activity, Fe isotopes may prove useful for detecting changes in these parameters in the geologic past.
Stable Commutator Length in Free Products of Cyclic Groups

We give an algorithm to compute stable commutator length in free products of cyclic groups that is polynomial time in the length of the input, the number of factors, and the orders of the finite factors. We also describe some experimental and theoretical applications of this algorithm.
TOTAL KNEE ARTHROPLASTY PATELLOFEMORAL IMBALANCE IN A BALANCED KNEE

Background Total knee arthroplasty (TKA) surgical techniques attempt to achieve equal flexion and extension gaps to produce a well-balanced knee. Anterior knee pain, which is not addressed by flexion-extension balancing, is one of the more common complaints for TKA patients. The variation in patellofemoral balance resulting from the techniques to achieve equal flexion and extension gaps has not been widely studied. Purpose of study The purpose of the study is to determine the effects on cruciate retaining (CR) TKA patellofemoral balance when equal flexion and extension gaps are maintained while changing femur implant size and/or adjusting the femur and tibia implant proximal -distal and femur anterior-posterior positions. Methods A computational analysis was performed simulating knee flexion of two CR TKA designs (JOURNEY II CR and LEGION HFCR; Smith & Nephew) using previously validated software (LifeMOD/KneeSim; LifeModeler). Deviations from the ideal implant position were simulated by adjusting tibiofemoral proximal-distal position and femur anterior-posterior position and size (Table 1). Positioning the femur more proximal was accompanied by equal anterior femur and proximal tibia shifts to maintain equal flexion and extension gaps. The forces in the medial and lateral retinaculum were collected and summed at every 15° knee flexion up to 135° to determine the total patellofemoral retinaculum load which was analyzed versus proximal-distal implant position, implant size, implant design, and knee flexion using an ANOVA in Minitab 16 (Minitab). Results Patellofemoral retinaculum load was significantly affected by proximal-distal implant position, implant size, and knee flexion angle (p 0.2). Interactions with knee flexion angle were significant for both proximal-distal implant position (p<.001) and implant size (p=.003) indicating that their effects change with knee flexion (Figures 1 and 2). For 15°–30° knee flexion, more proximal tibiofemoral positions corresponding to a more anterior femur increased patellofemoral retinaculum load. Implant position had little effect at 45° knee flexion. For 60°–135° knee flexion, more proximal implant positions decreased patellofemoral retinaculum load. Increased femoral size caused increased patellofemoral retinaculum load with a larger effect for 15–45° knee flexion. Conclusions Our results indicate that patellofemoral balance should be considered when selecting implant size and position for flexion-extension balancing. The more common adjustment of positioning implants more proximal decreases patellofemoral retinaculum load in flexion, but the anterior femoral shift to balance the flexion space overstuffs the patella near extension. Downsizing the femoral implant is an option to mitigate increased patellofemoral retinaculum load when shifting the femoral anterior. For figures/tables, please contact authors directly.
Statistical (and Racial) Discrimination, “Ban the Box”, and Crime Rates

This article studies interactions between criminal behavior and employment dynamics in a setting where employees belong to one of two groups. Employers can statistically discriminate based on group membership as well as criminal records. It first shows that “self-fulfilling expectations” cannot exist when there are diminishing returns to deterrence from increasing expected sanctions. This eliminates the possibility of multiple equilibria within groups, and suggests that statistical discrimination by employers can only be motivated by differences across groups’ criminal tendencies. This type of statistical discrimination typically leads to an increase in crime, and the article identifies sufficient conditions for this result. This suggests that societies in which group membership is salient (e.g. due to racial heterogeneity) are, ceteris paribus, likely to have higher crime rates. Attempting to fix the negative impacts of statistical discrimination through policies that reduce the visibility of criminal records (e.g. ban the box) increases crime further. Moreover, such policies cause greater negative effects for law abiding members of the higher-criminal-tendency group, which is consistent with the unintended consequences associated with ban the box campaigns discussed in the empirical literature.
Ordering Chaos: The Performance Consequences of Budgetary Changes:

Literature on punctuated equilibrium theory has aimed to explain the causes of policy punctuations. What remain unknown are the consequences of those punctuations (and other size changes) for organ...
Transonic shock-induced dynamics of a flexible wing with a thick airfoil

Transonic shock-boundary-layer oscillations occur on rigid models over a small range of Mach numbers on thick circular-arc airfoils. Extensive tests and analyses of this phenomena have been made in the past, but essentially all of them were for rigid models. A simple flexible wing model with an 18% circular-arc airfoil was constructed and tested in the Langley transonic dynamics tunnel to investigate the dynamic characteristics that a wing might have under these conditions. In the region of shock-boundar y-layer oscillations, buffeting of the first bending mode was obtained. This mode was well-separated in frequency from the shock-boundary-layer oscillations. A limit-cycle oscillation was also measured in a "third bending-like" mode, involving wing vertical bending and splitter plate motion, which was in the frequency range of the shock-boundary-layer oscillations. Several model configurations were tested, and a few potential fixes were investigated. Nomenclature BM = model wing-root bending moment c = wing chord k = reduced frequency based on semichord, coc/2V q = dynamic pressure S = wing area V = freestream velocity a) = frequency of oscillation, rad/s
AVOIDING PATELLA PROBLEMS IN TKA: DO'S AND DON'TS

Functional restoration of patella kinematics is an essential component of TKA, whether the patella is replaced or not. This goal is accomplished by a multifactorial approach: establish proper component position and alignment, especially rotation, avoid IR of the femoral and ER of the tibial components, maintain correct joint line position, and achieve symmetrical soft tissue balance Most modern TKA designs have an anatomic trochlear groove shape to enable midline tracking. Patella implants are better designed as well with three equilateral lugs for fixation and either dome or anatomic shape. The apex of the patella component should be aligned with the apex of the patella raphe which is more medial than lateral. This method leaves an island of exposed lateral patella facet which is managed with the “lateral slat technique” to be described. It is essentially an intraosseous lateral release. The early mobilisation of modern TKA patients demands watertight closure to prevent soft tissue attenuation and late tracking issues. When confronted with a patient with a laterally dislocated patella, implementation of the “lateral slat technique” should be done at the approach to obtain midline tracking. Such patients require a median parapatellar (MPP) approach and may need distal-lateral vastus medialis advancement (Insall Procedure). Adherence to the principles iterated herein will produce a happy patient with good patello-femoral kinematics and function.
The Role of Domain-General Cognitive Abilities and Decimal Labels in At-Risk Fourth-Grade Students' Decimal Magnitude Understanding.

Abstract The purpose of the study was to determine whether individual differences in at-risk 4th graders' language comprehension, nonverbal reasoning, concept formation, working memory, and use of decimal labels (i.e., place value, point, incorrect place value, incorrect fraction, or whole number) are related to their decimal magnitude understanding. Students (n = 127) completed 6 cognitive assessments, a decimal labeling assessment, and 3 measures of decimal magnitude understanding (i.e., comparing decimals to the fraction 1 2 benchmark task, estimating where decimals belong on a 0–1 number line, and identifying fraction and decimal equivalencies). Each of the domain-general cognitive abilities predicted students' decimal magnitude understanding. Using place value labels was positively correlated with students' decimal magnitude understanding, whereas using whole-number labels was negatively correlated with students' decimal magnitude understanding. Language comprehension, nonverbal reasoning, and concept formation were positively correlated with students' use of place value labels. By contrast, language comprehension and nonverbal reasoning were negatively correlated with students' use of whole number labels. Implications for the development of decimal magnitude understanding and design of effective instruction for at-risk students are discussed.
The Grad–Shafranov Reconstruction of Toroidal Magnetic Flux Ropes: Method Development and Benchmark Studies

We develop an approach of the Grad–Shafranov (GS) reconstruction for toroidal structures in space plasmas, based on in situ spacecraft measurements. The underlying theory is the GS equation that describes two-dimensional magnetohydrostatic equilibrium, as widely applied in fusion plasmas. The geometry is such that the arbitrary cross-section of the torus has rotational symmetry about the rotation axis, $Z$ , with a major radius, $r_{0}$ . The magnetic field configuration is thus determined by a scalar flux function, $\Psi$ , and a functional $F$ that is a single-variable function of $\Psi$ . The algorithm is implemented through a two-step approach: i) a trial-and-error process by minimizing the residue of the functional $F(\Psi)$ to determine an optimal $Z$ -axis orientation, and ii) for the chosen $Z$ , a $\chi^{2}$ minimization process resulting in a range of $r_{0}$ . Benchmark studies of known analytic solutions to the toroidal GS equation with noise additions are presented to illustrate the two-step procedure and to demonstrate the performance of the numerical GS solver, separately. For the cases presented, the errors in $Z$ and $r_{0}$ are $9^{\circ}$ and 22%, respectively, and the relative percent error in the numerical GS solutions is smaller than 10%. We also make public the computer codes for these implementations and benchmark studies.
Deliberative inequality : a text-as-data study of Tamil Nadu's village assemblies

The resurgence of deliberative institutions in the developing world has prompted a renewed interest in the dynamics of citizen engagement. Using text-as-data methods on an original corpus of village assembly transcripts from rural Tamil Nadu, India, this paper opens the "black box" of deliberation to examine the gendered and status-based patterns of influence. Drawing on normative theories of deliberation, this analysis identifies a set of clear empirical standards for ?good? deliberation, based on an individual's ability both to speak and be heard, and uses natural language processing methods to generate these measures. The study first shows that these assemblies are not mere "talking shop" for state officials to bluster and read banal announcements, but rather, provide opportunities for citizens to challenge their elected officials, demand transparency, and provide information about authentic local development needs. Second, the study finds that across multiple measures of deliberative influence, women are at a disadvantage relative to men; women are less likely to speak, set the agenda, and receive a relevant response from state officials. Finally, the paper shows that although quotas for women on village councils have little impact on the likelihood that they speak, they do improve the likelihood that female citizens are heard.
Redesigning QR Code Ecosystem with Improved Mobile Security.

The QR codes have gained wide popularity in mobile marketing and advertising campaigns. However, the hidden security threat on the involved information system might endanger QR codes' success, and this issue has not been adequately addressed. In this paper we propose to examine the life cycle of a redesigned QR code ecosystem to identify the possible security risks. On top of this examination, we further propose standard changes to enhance security through a digital signature mechanism.
Scintigraphic Localization of Adrenal Lesions in Primary Aldosteronism

Dexamethasone suppression adrenal cortical scintiscanning was performed in 87 patients with primary aldosteronism. Fifty patients had adrenal cortical adenomas and 37 had bilateral adrenal hyperplasia. The diagnosis of adrenal cortical adenoma was confirmed by surgery in 49 of 50, and bilateral adrenal hyperplasia was confirmed by adrenal vein aldosterone sampling in 33 and at operation in four. Dexamethasone suppression adrenal scintigraphy correctly identified the lesion(s) in 82 of the 87 patients. There were three false-negative and two false-positive adrenal cortical scintiscanning results. Computed tomography was performed in 33 patients and correctly identified 14 of 23 patients with adrenal cortical adenomas and two of 10 patients with bilateral adrenal hyperplasia and bilateral enlarged adrenals, whereas the remaining eight were considered to have normal findings. These data indicate that, when properly performed, adrenal cortical scintigraphy is an accurate and efficacious modality for the localization of adrenal cortical adenomas and in the differentiation of adrenal cortical adenoma from bilateral adrenal hyperplasia in primary aldosteronism.
Cultural Competency Training in Emergency Medicine.

Abstract Background The Emergency Department is widely regarded as the epicenter of medical care for diverse and largely disparate types of patients. Physicians must be aware of the cultural diversity of their patient population to appropriately address their medical needs. A better understanding of residency preparedness in cultural competency can lead to better training opportunities and patient care. Objective The objective of this study was to assess residency and faculty exposure to formal cultural competency programs and assess future needs for diversity education. Methods A short survey was sent to all 168 Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education program directors through the Council of Emergency Medicine Residency Directors listserv. The survey included drop-down options in addition to open-ended input. Descriptive and bivariate analyses were used to analyze data. Results The response rate was 43.5% (73/168). Of the 68.5% (50/73) of residency programs that include cultural competency education, 90% (45/50) utilized structured didactics. Of these programs, 86.0% (43/50) included race and ethnicity education, whereas only 40.0% (20/50) included education on patients with limited English proficiency. Resident comfort with cultural competency was unmeasured by most programs (83.6%: 61/73). Of all respondents, 93.2% (68/73) were interested in a universal open-source cultural competency curriculum. Conclusions The majority of the programs in our sample have formal resident didactics on cultural competency. Some faculty members also receive cultural competency training. There are gaps, however, in types of cultural competency training, and many programs have expressed interest in a universal open-source tool to improve cultural competency for Emergency Medicine residents.
Short-Term and Long-Term Function of Cadaveric Kidneys From Pediatric Donors in Recipients Treated With Cyclosporine

Short and long-term renal function of 67 cyclosporine-prednisone (CsA-Pred)-treated recipients of pediatric cadaveric donor kidneys followed for up to 68 months (mean 16 months) were compared with 67 recipients of adult kidneys (group 3), who were demographically matched for recipient age, sex, race, cause of disease, HLA compatibility, ABO blood type, and retransplant status. Thirty-seven of the pediatric kidneys came from donors less than or equal to 10 years old (group 1) and 30 from donors 11-16 years old (group 2). Group 1 displayed impaired short-term graft function: a significantly higher mean value of the nadir serum creatinine (SCr; 2.35 versus 1.63 mg/dl), a lower maximal creatinine clearance during the first 30 days (50.3 versus 65.7 ng/dl/1.73 m2), and a longer time to achieve the nadir creatinine (22.1 versus 17.2 days). Group 1 transplants also had a higher mean nadir creatinine at 3 months and a lower mean creatinine clearance (CCl) at 3 and 6 months. By 12 months the values in the group 1 pediatric kidneys were similar to those using the group 3 adult grafts. Therefore, CsA therapy did not preclude compensatory graft function. Group 2 grafts showed intermediate short-term function relative to groups 1 and 3. Mean SCr and CCl showed progressive improvement over time, significantly better than adult kidneys at two years. Graft loss was significantly greater at two years in pediatric compared with adult grafts, but significantly better than our historical controls using azathioprine-prednisone immunosuppression.
Plasma Norepinephrine, Epinephrine, and Dopamine Levels in End-Stage Renal Disease: Effect of Hemodialysis

• The effect of hemodialysis on plasma norepinephrine (NE), epinephrine, and dopamine levels was studied in 11 patients undergoing maintenance hemodialysis. The results showed that the baseline plasma concentrations of NE and dopamine were significantly elevated in patients with end-stage renal disease undergoing maintenance hemodialysis. Intradialysis weight loss and fall in the serum glucose concentration during dialysis correlated with changes in plasma epinephrine and NE concentrations. Single-pass dialysis resulted in a marked reduction in the plasma NE concentration, indicating significant removal by dialysis. These observations should be taken into consideration when interpreting plasma catecholamine data obtained in the course of investigation of hypertensive patients with end-stage renal disease. ( Arch Intern Med 1985;145:1013-1015)
An Outlier Theory of Cancer Curability. Tumor Cell Differentiation as a Therapeutic Goal

Combinations of cytotoxic agents that cure a substantial percentage of patients with several childhood and adult malignancies are much less efficacious for the majority of solid tumors. Standard approaches for curability that rely solely on the concept of cytotoxicity may not be applicable for most epithelial and mesenchymal solid malignancies. Differentiation may play a more important role in cancer cure than heretofore suspected. Clinical and experimental evidence supports further investigation into models of inducing tumor cell differentiation. The question of why such models could predict for curative modalities of treatment is discussed.
Contribution of osmotic transport on oil recovery from rock matrix in unconventional reservoirs

Abstract The fluid transport mechanisms in fracture and rock matrix play a critical role in economic viability of hydrocarbon recovery from unconventional reservoirs. Several transport mechanisms, including advection, diffusion, and convection, have varying degrees of contribution to hydrocarbon recovery depending on the transport properties of the formation. The contribution of the concentration gradient driven diffusion, or osmotic transport on hydrocarbon recovery has been numerically investigated in this study. The main objective of this study is to determine when the osmotic transport plays an important role on the mass exchange between the fractures and the rock matrix. In this study, a model for the mass transport between the rock matrix and the fractures has been formulated and validated with the experimental data. The numerical results showed that osmosis is an important force imbibing water into low permeability rock matrix and enhancing the effectiveness of low salinity waterflooding on oil recovery. The imbibition of water into oil-wetted shale matrix is mainly driven by the osmotic transport and wettability alteration. The contribution of the osmotic transport on oil recovery continues a long period of time, typically in a few years. This contribution increases if the membrane efficiency is high and the matrix block size is small. However, shale membrane efficiency is typically less than 10% considerably reducing the oil recovery factor by osmosis to less than 5%. Higher membrane efficiency and lower diffusion coefficient of dissolved ions increase the contribution of osmosis on the oil recovery from shale matrix.
Of Borders and Best Interests: Examining the Experiences of Undocumented Immigrants in U.S. Family Courts

This article examines the largely overlooked but decisive role that immigration status frequently plays in family law matters. A systemic review of family court decisions reveals that judges and advocates in the family court setting are all too eager to attach exaggerated legal significance to immigration status with little explanation and no analysis. The article explains how demographic changes in the composition of families and shifts in the nation's immigration laws indicate that the frequency and complexity of immigration status issues in family court will grow. The article then develops a classification of the approaches that family courts adopt when presented with immigration status issues. Identifying and analyzing several key issues that arise within each classification serves to highlight flaws in current family court practices.
Preparing technical communication students for workplace practitioner research

Practitioner research in technical communication differs from general or academic research. Technical communication students need to develop abilities to conduct research into subject matter, audience, and communication approaches within workplace contexts to meet situated needs. This article explores differences between the two realms of research and discusses implications for teaching practitioner research abilities. It closes with examples of and ideas for teaching practitioner research abilities to technical communication students. Such courses can provide students with crucial abilities and knowledge to guide decisions during the creation of technical communication products.
What does fault tolerant deep learning need from MPI

Deep Learning (DL) algorithms have become the de facto Machine Learning (ML) algorithm for large scale data analysis. DL algorithms are computationally expensive -- even distributed DL implementations which use MPI require days of training (model learning) time on commonly studied datasets. Long running DL applications become susceptible to faults -- requiring development of a fault tolerant system infrastructure, in addition to fault tolerant DL algorithms. This raises an important question: What is needed from MPI for designing fault tolerant DL implementations? In this paper, we address this problem for permanent faults. We motivate the need for a fault tolerant MPI specification by an in-depth consideration of recent innovations in DL algorithms and their properties, which drive the need for specific fault tolerance features. We present an in-depth discussion on the suitability of different parallelism types (model, data and hybrid); a need (or lack thereof) for check-pointing of any critical data structures; and most importantly, consideration for several fault tolerance proposals (user-level fault mitigation (ULFM), Reinit) in MPI and their applicability to fault tolerant DL implementations. We leverage a distributed memory implementation of Caffe, currently available under the Machine Learning Toolkit for Extreme Scale (MaTEx). We implement our approaches by extending MaTEx-Caffe for using ULFM-based implementation. Our evaluation using the ImageNet dataset and AlexNet, and GoogLeNet neural network topologies demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed fault tolerant DL implementation using OpenMPI based ULFM.
How Surrogates Decide: A Secondary Data Analysis of Decision-Making Principles Used by the Surrogates of Hospitalized Older Adults

Many hospitalized adults do not have the capacity to make their own health care decisions and thus require a surrogate decision-maker. While the ethical standard suggests that decisions should focus on a patient’s preferences, our study explores the principles that surrogates consider most important when making decisions for older hospitalized patients. We sought to determine how frequently surrogate decision-makers prioritized patient preferences in decision-making and what factors may predict their doing so. We performed a secondary data analysis of a study conducted at three local hospitals that surveyed surrogate decision-makers for hospitalized patients 65 years of age and older. Surrogates rated the importance of 16 decision-making principles and selected the one that was most important. We divided the surrogates into two groups: those who prioritized patient preferences and those who prioritized patient well-being. We analyzed the two groups for differences in knowledge of patient preferences, presence of advance directives, and psychological outcomes. A total of 362 surrogates rated an average of six principles as being extremely important in decision-making; 77.8% of surrogates selected a patient well-being principle as the most important, whereas only 21.1% selected a patient preferences principle. Advance directives were more common to the patient preferences group than the patient well-being group (61.3% vs. 44.9%; 95% CI: 1.01–3.18; p = 0.04), whereas having conversations with the patient about their health care preferences was not a significant predictor of surrogate group identity (81.3% vs. 67.4%; 95% CI: 0.39–1.14; p = 0.14). We found no differences between the two groups regarding surrogate anxiety, depression, or decisional conflict. While surrogates considered many factors, they focused more often on patient well-being than on patient preferences, in contravention of our current ethical framework. Surrogates more commonly prioritized patient preferences if they had advance directives available to them.
A detailed analysis scheme to interpret multiple photon emissions micrograph for improved diagnostic resolution on open defects

Photon Emission Microscopy is the most widely used mainstream defect isolation technique in failure analysis labs. It is easy to perform and has a fast turnaround time for results. However, interpreting a photon emission micrograph to postulate the suspected defect site accurately is challenging when there are multiple abnormal hotspots and driving nets involved. This is commonly encountered in dynamic emission micrographs that are caused by open defects in digital logic. This paper presents a methodology incorporating layout-aware trace analysis and post schematic extraction with test bench analysis to enhance the diagnostic resolution on the suspected defective net(s).