cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The effects of array shape perturbation on beamforming and passive ranging

The problem of beam formation from a towed line array whose shape has been distorted is considered. Emphasis is placed on the beam broadening and range estimation effects of array shape perturbations and how the resulting losses can be regained if the actual element positions are known. Specific illustrations are provided for various levels of shape distortion. For example, a 15-m bow in a 232.5-m-long array broadens the beamwidth by a factor of 3 at 50 Hz. As another example, a 6-m bow in an 800-m-long array leads to a 20-pereent range underestimation at 10 km for a 100-500-Hz broadband source.
Draft Genome Sequence of Mortierella alpina Isolate CDC-B6842.

ABSTRACT We report the draft genome sequence of Mortierella alpina isolate CDC-B6842. M. alpina is a nonpathogenic member of the Mucoromycotina subphylum of fungi that is an important model for understanding the molecular mechanisms of lipid production and metabolism.
Plasma renin activity and aldosterone excretion rate in normal subjects. I. Effect of ethinyl estradiol and medroxyprogesterone acetate.

ABSTRACT Ethinyl estradiol (E.E.) was given 0.5 rag daily for 3 weeks to 13 normal subjects. Plasma renin activity (PRA) was measured before and during the first and third week of E.E. with the subjects under 3 combinations of sodium intake and body posture. Aldosterone excretion rate (AER) was measured in association with the PRA under normal and low Na intake. There was a slight but statistically insignificant increase in PRA during the first week of E.E. administration. However, there was a significant (p 0.02 or lower) increase in PRA values under all 3 combinations of sodium intake and posture and a significant increase in AER under both normal and low Na intake during the third week of E.E. administration. E.E. manufactured 6–7 yr before use caused a greater effect on PRA values than did E.E. manufactured within a year before use. Medroxyprogesterone acetate (M.P.A.) in doses of 20 mg daily for 3 weeks caused no apparent change in PRA. It did cause a significant decrease in urinary AER in the third ...
Pathways to Legalization: Undocumented Mexican Immigrants in the US/Mexico Borderlands, 1942–1956

In the 1940s, curbing undocumented Mexican immigrant entry into the United States became a US government priority because of an alleged immigration surge, which was blamed for the unemployment of an estimated 252,000 US domestic agricultural laborers. Publicly committed to asserting its control of undocumented Mexican immigrant entry, the US government used Operation Wetback, a binational INS border-enforcement operation, to strike a delicate balance between satisfying US growers’ unending demands for surplus Mexican immigrant labor and responding to the jobs lost by US domestic agricultural laborers. Yet Operation Wetback would also unintentionally and unexpectedly fuel a distinctly transnational pathway to legalization, marriage, and extended family formation for some Mexican immigrants.On July 12, 1951, US president Harry S. Truman’s signing of Public Law 78 initiated such a pathway for an estimated 125,000 undocumented Mexican immigrant laborers throughout the United States. This law was an extension the Bracero Program, a labor agreement between the Mexican and US governments that authorized the temporary contracting of braceros (male Mexican contract laborers) for labor in agricultural production and railroad maintenance. It was formative to undocumented Mexican immigrant laborers’ transnational pursuit of decisively personal goals in both Mexico and the United States.Section 501 of this law, which allowed employers to sponsor certain undocumented laborers, became a transnational pathway toward formalizing extended family relationships between braceros and Mexican American women. This article seeks to begin a discussion on how Operation Wetback unwittingly inspired a distinctly transnational approach to personal extended family relationships in Mexico and the United States among individuals of Mexican descent and varying legal statuses, a social matrix that remains relatively unexplored.
Donate Different: External and Internal Influences on Emotion-Based Donation Decisions

Emotions can influence charity donation decisions in ways that people and policy makers might prefer they did not. For example, our studies demonstrate that people who are exposed to a sequence of emotionally described humanitarian crises, donate more resources to crises that just happen to arouse immediate emotions - an “immediacy bias” that can lead to higher donations toward objectively less deadly crises. Two broad categories of interventions can mitigate influences of emotion on charitable donation decisions. Externally oriented interventions refer to cues, incentives, or decision structures imposed on people. For example, people who are exposed to a sequence of emotionally evocative descriptions of human suffering and who make charitable allocations after exposure to each cause are less inclined to exhibit an immediacy bias compared with people who make allocations after exposure to the entire sequence. Internally oriented interventions, in contrast, encourage mindful decision strategies aimed at reducing the immediacy bias in donation decisions. For example, inviting people to reflect on how much they think emotional and mortality information should influence allocation decisions decreases the influence of emotion and increases the influence of mortality information in donation decisions, particularly when people believe that mortality information should be given greater weight relative to emotional considerations. The distinction between externally versus internally oriented interventions has both theoretical implications for understanding how people monitor and correct emotional influences on their own decisions and practical implications for increasing the efficiency of charitable donations.
Cultures of Commemoration: The Politics of War, Memory, and History in the Mariana Islands. By Keith L. Camacho

Honolulu, Hawai'i: University of Hawai'i Press, 2011. 280 pp. hardcover, $52; softcover, $25
Information Spillovers and Semicollaborative Networks in Insurer Fraud Detection

IT-related spillovers occur via data- and information-related transmission paths, so these types of spillovers are best studied through process-level measures. The medical claims fraud detection is a prototypical data- and information-intensive process in insurance companies. This paper examines the impact of IT-related spillovers on fraud detection outcome for insurers and patient-care quality for hospitals. We model IT-related spillovers between state-level subsidiaries of insurers, between subsidiaries of an insurer parent company, and between insurers and hospitals. We then examine the impact of spillover benefits and spillover IT pools on future IT-related investments, specifically, the impacts of IT-related spillover benefits and spillover pools of state-level subsidiaries of insurers on subsequent IT investments of insurers and hospitals. The empirical analysis is conducted using 2011-2013 data for insurers and hospitals, and state-level data on pharmacies and ambulatory providers.
Saccharomyces fungemia in a patient with AIDS.

Saccharomyces cerevisiae is a yeast that is more commonly known as brewer’s yeast. Commercial uses include beer and wine production, health food supplementation, and, more recently, hepatitis B vaccine production by recombinant DNA techniques. Occasionally, S cerevisiae has been isolated from clinical specimens and rarely has been a cause of serious infection. Case reports are few, and S cerevisiae has frequently been isolated in association with more common pathogenic organisms. We describe a case of S cerevisiae septicemia in association with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS).
Peroxisomal beta-oxidation is a significant pathway for catabolism of fatty acids in a marine teleost

Hepatic beta-oxidation is characterized in a marine teleost, Myoxocephalus octodecimspinosus, to determine mitochondrial and peroxisomal substrate selectivity as well as metabolic partitioning. Substrate selectivity is broad for peroxisomal beta-oxidation. Acyl CoA oxidase activities, with all unsaturated substrates measured, are at least 35% of activity with palmitoyl CoA (16:0), a saturated substrate. Mitochondrial selectivities are more pronounced. Carnitine palmitoyltransferase activity with a monounsaturate, palmitoleoyl CoA (16:1), is nearly 40% greater than activity with palmitoyl CoA, whereas activities with two polyunsaturates are < 10% of activity with the saturate. The presence of polyunsaturated acyl CoA esters inhibits up to 70% the oxidation of palmitoyl CoA by intact peroxisomes. Acyl CoA hydrolase activity is localized to peroxisomal fractions prepared by density-gradient centrifugation. Hydrolytic activity in these fractions is nearly twofold the activity of beta-oxidation. Estimates for metabolic partitioning suggest that at least 50% of hepatic beta-oxidation may be initiated by the peroxisomal compartment.
Shopping Frequency, Fresh Produce Consumption, and Food Retail Environment

As households shop less frequently, food decay makes perishable food consumption more costly. Therefore, I hypothesize that shopping frequency is an important factor of household food choice. I test this hypothesis using an instrumental variables approach on a system of equations using household panel data and conclude that fresh produce consumption and shopping frequency are jointly chosen. Positive causal impacts are found in both directions. However, the causal impact of shopping frequency on fresh produce consumption is of modest magnitude. Therefore, policy initiatives that improve access to food retailers with the intention of increasing healthful food consumption — by inducing households to shop more frequently at store formats that carry fruits and vegetables — may be ineffective even if the policy is successful at increasing household shopping frequency to those stores.
Side-channel attacks on mobile and wearable systems

This paper describes a variety of side-channel attacks on mobile and wearable computing systems, exposing vulnerabilities in their system and software architectures. Specifically addressed are malware approaches that passively leverage sensors on-board the systems to monitor user information for sensitive information retrieval. Some potential countermeasures at the system and user interface level are provided.
Mitochondrial Mineralization in Human Myocardium

The purpose of this study was to determine the precise localization of intracellular myocardial mineralization after vascular surgery in two patients. By light microscopy the calcification was represented by discrete basophilic granules. Alizarin red S and von Kossa preparations confirmed the presence of calcium salts. Myocardial tissue from the paraffin blocks and formalin-fixed autopsy tissue were examined by means of the electron microscope; the principal site of mineralization was within mitochondria. The crystalline appearance of the intramitochondrial deposits suggested the presence of hydroxyapatite. The exact mechanism involved in this deposition is not known.
Morphology Control and Monolayer Patterning with CF2 Groups: An STM Study

Difluoromethylene (CF2) groups introduce large dipole moments (2 D) into aliphatic chains with minimal perturbation of chain geometry and shape. Proper placements of CF2 and other dipolar groups wi...
Combining the State of the State Address with the Governor's Budget Message in New York

This essay reviews the history behind the Governor of New York's decision to combine the State of the State address with the Governor's annual budget message.
Vasomotor dynamics associated with cardiac operations: I. Venous tone and the effects of vasodilators

Vasomotor dynamics were studied in 52 patients undergoing direct coronary revascularization or mitral valve replacement utilizing cardiopulmonary bypass. Emphasis was placed on the study of venous tone. Operation resulted in a general vasoconstrictive response with increased arterial resistance and reduced venous capacitance. These changes were magnified in patients who underwent mitral valve replacement for mitral valve stenosis related or partially related to reduced cardiac performance before and after operation. Nine patients became hypertensive following coronary artery bypass and were treated with nitroprusside; eight patients were given nitroglycerin to reduce venous tone and prevent hypertension. A comparison of these two vasodilators, with their somewhat different actions on the vascular bed, reveals that afterload reduction and increase of cardiac output were equivalent with both. However, nitroglycerin had the effect of increasing venous capacitance, while nitroprusside had little effect on the venous circulation. In addition, nitroglycerin was especially effective in reducing venous tone and left ventricular preload following mitral valve replacement. Relative merits of pharmacologic reduction of venous tone as a part of overall relief of increased vascular resistance following cardiac operation should be considered when attempting to obtain an optimal hemodynamic state.
Long-term sediment transport and delivery of the largest distributary of the Mississippi River, the Atchafalaya, USA

River engineering in the Mississippi-Atchafalaya River system and changing land use practices in the Upper Mississippi River Basin have reduced sediment loads and modified sediment distribution to the continental shelf of the northern Gulf of Mexico. Concurrently, the Louisiana Gulf coast has been subject to the highest rate of relative sea-level rise of any region in the United States. This study investigated suspended sediment transport and delivery from the Atchafalaya River, a 187-km-long river-swamp system that carries about 30% of the Mississippi River's water into the Gulf of Mexico. The study modelled long-term (1975―2004) riverine sediment fluxes, assessed land area changes in the Atchafalaya Bay, and analysed the relationship between riverine sediment supply and the delta fan process. The study showed a sediment inflow of 6.4 x 10 7 tonnes year -1 and a sediment outflow of 5.8 x 10 7 tonnes year -1 in the Atchafalaya. Seasonally, sediment loads were highest in the spring and lowest in the late summer, corresponding to the river's hydrologic conditions. For the past 30 years, the Atchafalaya retained 9% of the inflow sediment, which is considerably lower than the double-digit percentage rates of deposition reported for the period from the 1930s to the 1960s. Satellite image analyses found rapid land accretion in the Atchafalaya Bay during the past two decades. Much of the newly created land area was quickly vegetated, stabilizing the small delta lobes against sediment resuspension.
Definition of Family

Definitions of family typically differ considerably among researchers and the general public alike. Indeed, most family scholars have been unable to come to a consensus on a definition today. Views on family decline versus resilience largely shape debates about how family would best be defined. One common myth is that the nuclear family has existed across all historical periods and cultural contexts but many scholars now maintain that this familial form is not universal. Although some family scholars advocate for a working definition of family for research and policy purposes, the conceptualizations now offered are typically broader in nature than traditional definitions of family. Definitions of family adopted by researchers and the general public alike have increasingly become more inclusive over time. Keywords: African American families; chosen families; defining family; family; family change; family decline; family diversity; family resilience; gay families
Resistance to Influence

This chapter analyses several questions at the heart of research on resistance to influence. It deals with the question of attitude strength. Like attitude importance, public commitment to an attitude is likely to strengthen the attitude and make the attitude more resistant to influence. Often, this resistance to influence is beneficial. The cognitive features of strong attitudes also increase their resistance to change. Attitudes about abortion, for example, are often connected to attitudes about religion, morality, freedom, personal liberty, women’s rights, and so on. Historically, researchers examining the relationship between attitude strength and resistance to influence have focused on whether greater attitude strength causes resistance. Rich Petty and his colleagues have begun to examine the relationship in the other direction – whether resistance causes greater attitude strength. The chapter also presents some closing thoughts on the key concepts discussed in the preceding chapters of this book.
GENETIC RECOMBINATION OF BACTERIAL PLASMID DNAS IN VIVO AND IN VITRO

ABSTRACT An in vitro recombination system which catalyzes the intramolecular recombination of a tetrameric plasmid DNA substrate has been developed. The reaction requires the RecA protein and either the RecBC protein or the RecF protein. Plasmid recombination has also been shown to be highly stimulated by a new type of recombination hotspot which functions as a cis-acting element in the recombination reaction.
Acquired Heart Disease Superimposed on Congenital Heart Disease.

A 50-year-old man with a murmur since birth developed systemic arterial hypertension as an adult. He came to the hospital because of dyspnea. He had a pulmonic valve ejection click and a murmur of pulmonic stenosis. His echocardiogram showed biventricular hypertrophy, a flat ventricular septum, a D-shaped left ventricle, systolic doming of the pulmonic valve, and Doppler evidence of a 70 mm Hg peak systolic pressure gradient across the pulmonic valve and a peak right ventricular systolic pressure of 100 mm Hg. His electrocardiograms showed no evidence of the right ventricular and right atrial enlargement so evident on echocardiogram, presumably because it was obscured by the marked changes of left ventricular hypertrophy. Three years later, when he was admitted for sepsis and worsening heart failure with anasarca, the voltage changes of left ventricular hypertrophy had virtually disappeared, likely due to the large amount of fluid between the heart and the electrodes.
Considerations for Engineered Resilience from Examples of Resilient Systems

Everyday commercial, civil, and defense enterprises are faced with disruptive events that have the potential to degrade or altogether impede business as usual. In an increasingly interconnected and interdependent world, where systems/system-of-systems provide functionality enabling operational capabilities, complexity is commonplace; and the ability to anticipate and therefore manage all potential disruptions becomes untenable. Recognizing this dilemma, organizations are trying to understand and infuse the properties of resiliency in their culture, processes, and assets. Resilience is a widely used term and in general is understood as the ability to operate through some adverse condition. Accordingly, engineered resilience, the notion of designing resilience into a system from the outset, is a frequent subject of analysis and research in the systems engineering and acquisition community. This paper explores the question of what it means to purposefully engineer resilient systems by examining systems that displayed resilience, thus continuing to provide a capability even through disruptions. The examples – an acquisition system and an operational system – are analyzed with respect to various resiliency concepts. This includes applying several resiliency definitions to the example systems and identifying metrics for measuring resilience which introduces the notion of drift, timeliness, and process as important resiliency factors. Finally, observations related to engineering resilient systems are offered.
Successors to the Great Victory: Afghan Veterans in Post-Soviet Belarus

This chapter explores the shifting evolution and public negotiation of the meaning of Belarusian war memory, through a study of two post-Soviet memorials in Belarus: the Island of Tears, a memorial to the Soviet war in Afghanistan (1979–1989), officially opened in central Minsk in 1996, and the Stalin Line, a memorial to the Great Patriotic War (1941–1945), opened on the western outskirts of Minsk in 2006. This analysis traces the multiple ways in which these two memorials connect and reconstitute the memories of these two wars in new and sometimes unexpected ways, both transforming existing post-Soviet narrative elements and combining them with newly invented visions of the past as a means of updating the Soviet legacy to fit the current context.
Changes in Inflammation but Not in T-Cell Activation Precede Non-AIDS-Defining Events in a Case-Control Study of Patients on Long-term Antiretroviral Therapy.

Background We examined changes in soluble inflammatory cytokines and T-cell activation after antiretroviral therapy (ART) initiation in an AIDS Clinical Trials Group (ACTG) nested case-control study. Methods Cases were 143 human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected adults who developed a non-AIDS event; 315 controls remained event-free. Specimens were tested pre-ART, year 1 post-ART, and at the visit preceding the event. Conditional logistic regression evaluated the associations of biomarker changes with non-AIDS events. Results Inflammatory and most activation biomarkers declined from pre-ART to year 1 for cases and controls. Subsequently, inflammatory biomarkers remained mostly stable in controls but not cases. Cellular activation markers generally declined for both cases and controls between year 1 and the pre-event sampling. Controls with greater pre-ART RNA levels or lower CD4+ levels had higher biomarker levels while also experiencing greater biomarker declines in the first year of ART. Changes in biomarkers to year 1 showed no significant associations with non-AIDS events. Cases, however, had significantly greater increases in all plasma biomarkers (but not cellular activation) from year 1 to the visit preceding the event. Conclusions Inflammation increases prior to non-AIDS events in treated HIV-infected adults. These biomarker changes may reflect subclinical disease processes or other alterations in the inflammatory environment that causally contribute to disease. Clinical trials registration NCT00001137.
Phenomenology and Ontology of Language and Expression: Merleau-Ponty on Speaking and Spoken Speech

This paper clarifies Merleau-Ponty’s distinction between speaking and spoken speech, and the relation between the two, in his Phenomenology of Perception. Against a common interpretation, I argue on exegetical and philosophical grounds that the distinction should not be understood as one between two kinds of speech, but rather between two internally related dimensions present in all speech. This suggests an interdependence between speaking and spoken aspects of speech, and some commentators have critiqued Merleau-Ponty for claiming a priority of speaking over spoken speech. However, there is a sense in which Merleau-Ponty is right to emphasize the priority, namely, in terms of the ontological priority of the speaking subject with respect to language understood as a constituted cultural ideality. The latter only maintains its ontological status insofar as it is taken up by a language community. I favorably contrast Merleau-Ponty’s views on this question to those of the late Heidegger and de Saussure, and suggest potential applications of this clarified position for contemporary discussions in philosophy of language.
Emerging Adults and Illegal Drugs/Substance Use

Substance abuse is common in emerging adulthood. Drug use in emerging adulthood is often explained by identity exploration, stress/anxiety management, and mental health issues. Patterns of illegal drug use are examined, and short and long-term consequences of substance use discussed, including health, education, and legal issues.
Bayesian Second-Order Factor Model for Maturity Assessment of CIM Technologies and Practices at Highway Agencies

AbstractThe work processes for highway infrastructure projects are undergoing significant transformations because of the advent of digital technologies for project delivery and asset management. Ci...
Treatment of Motor and Sensory Detrusor Instability by Electrical Stimulation

Abstract A new application of electrical stimulation to inhibit detrusor activity has been used in 15patients with a variety of neural lesions. The results were astonishingly good and the device was well tolerated. In patientstreated successfully for detrusor instability an absence of urgency occurred as a by-product of electrical stimulation. Therefore, stimulation was used to treat uncomfortable bladder urgency without detrusor instability and was successful in the majority of patients.
The State of DNA Modification within and Flanking Maize Transposable Elements

Modification of the Mu1-like transposable elements, primarily or exclusively 5-methylcytosine in the sequences 5′-CG-3′ and 5′-CNG-3′, is strongly correlated with the loss of Mutator activity. Chromosomal copies of Mu1-like elements and the maize retrotransposon Bs1 are fully digested by 5-methylcytosine-sensitive restriction enzymes in DNA from plants in which element transposition has been detected. In some cases, Mutator activity may be lost through a process not associated with Mu element modification. Under other circumstances, particularly inbreeding for the Mutator trait, Mu element modification and loss of Mutator activity are concurrent. When Mu element modification occurs, HinfI and MluI sites in and near the Mu1 terminal inverted repeats are often modified first. Modification at these HinfI sites is not seen in some lines that had lost Mutator activity one or more generations earlier, and are fully modified at sites within the Mu element. The Mu1-internal NotI and EcoRII sites are always and exclusively modified in any Mutator-derived line that has lost activity through a modification-associated process. Extensive modification within a Mu element does not lead to detected modification in flanking sequences.
QUANTUM STATISTICAL FOUNDATIONS FOR STRUCTURAL INFORMATION THEORY AND COMMUNICATION THEORY

Publisher Summary This chapter describes quantum statistical foundations for structural information theory and communication theory. If a closed macroscopic system generates a signal that for any macroscopic subsystem all macroscopic frequencies approximate very closely to their mean value, then the closed system is said to have generated a signal in statistical equilibrium. Statistical independence is also assumed, which means that a signal generated from one subsystem has no effect on a signal or signals generated from another subsystem. The concept of density matrix can then be applied to signal generation. The knowledge of the density matrix permits the calculation of the mean value of any frequency of the system and also the generation of the different values of these frequencies. The transition from a complete to an incomplete quantum mechanical description of the subsystem can, in a certain sense, be regarded as averaging over its different Ψ signals. Statistical mechanics and quantum mechanics are parent to communication theory and structural information theory respectively, and they are related by quantum statistics.
Sex and stride length impact leg stiffness and ground reaction forces when running with body borne load.

Abstract This study quantified leg stiffness and vGRF measures for males and females using different stride lengths to run with four body borne loads (20, 25, 30, and 35 kg). Thirty-six participants (20 males and 16 females) ran at 4.0 m/s using either: their preferred stride length (PSL), or strides 15% longer (LSL) and shorter (SSL) than PSL. Leg stiffness and vGRF measures, including peak vGRF, impact peak and loading rate, were submitted to a RM ANOVA to test the main effect and interactions of load, stride length, and sex. Leg stiffness was greater with the 30 kg (p = 0.016) and 35 kg (p
Use, Safety, and Efficacy of Single-Patient Use of the US Food and Drug Administration Expanded Access Program.

This study assesses the outcomes of single-patient use of the US Food and Drug Administration Expanded Access program.
Development of Ultrafast Separations Using Negative Pulse Partial Modulation To Enable New Directions in Gas Chromatography.

Partial modulation via a pulse flow valve operated in the negative pulse mode is developed for high-speed one-dimensional gas chromatography (1D-GC), comprehensive two-dimensional (2D) gas chromatography (GC × GC), and comprehensive three-dimensional gas chromatography (GC3). The pulse flow valve readily provides very short modulation periods, PM, demonstrated herein at 100, 200, and 300 ms, and holds significant promise to increase the scope and applicability of GC instrumentation. The negative pulse mode creates an extremely narrow, local analyte concentration pulse. The reproducibility of the negative pulse mode is validated in a 1D-GC mode, where a pseudosteady-state analyte stream is modulated, and 8 analytes are baseline resolved (resolution, Rs ≥ 1.5) in a 200 ms window, providing a peak capacity, nc, of 14 at unit resolution (Rs = 1.0). Additionally, the pulse width, pw, of the pulse flow valve “injection” relationship to peak width-at-base, wb, resolution between peaks and detection sensitivity a...
A geographic identifier assignment algorithm with Bayesian variable selection to identify neighborhood factors associated with emergency department visit disparities for asthma

Ecologic health studies often rely on outcomes from health service utilization data that are limited by relatively coarse spatial resolutions and missing geographic information, particularly neighborhood level identifiers. When fine-scale geographic data are missing, the ramifications and strategies for addressing them are not well researched or developed. This study illustrates a novel spatio-temporal framework that combines a geographic identifier assignment (i.e., geographic imputation) algorithm with predictive Bayesian variable selection to identify neighborhood factors associated with disparities in emergency department (ED) visits for asthma. ED visit records with missing fine-scale spatial identifiers (~ 20%) were geocoded using information from known, coarser, misaligned spatial units using an innovative geographic identifier assignment algorithm. We then employed systematic variable selection in a spatio-temporal Bayesian hierarchical model (BHM) predictive framework within the NIMBLE package in R. Our novel methodology is illustrated in an ecologic case study aimed at identifying neighborhood-level predictors of asthma ED visits in South Carolina, United States, from 1999 to 2015. The health outcome was annual ED visit counts in small areas (i.e., census tracts) with primary diagnoses of asthma (ICD9 codes 493.XX) among children ages 5 to 19 years. We maintained 96% of ED visit records for this analysis. When the algorithm used areal proportions as probabilities for assignment, which addressed differential missingness of census tract identifiers in rural areas, variable selection consistently identified significant neighborhood-level predictors of asthma ED visit risk including pharmacy proximity, average household size, and carbon monoxide interactions. Contrasted with common solutions of removing geographically incomplete records or scaling up analyses, our methodology identified critical differences in parameters estimated, predictors selected, and inferences. We posit that the differences were attributable to improved data resolution, resulting in greater power and less bias. Importantly, without this methodology, we would have inaccurately identified predictors of risk for asthma ED visits, particularly in rural areas. Our approach innovatively addressed several issues in ecologic health studies, including missing small-area geographic information, multiple correlated neighborhood covariates, and multiscale unmeasured confounding factors. Our methodology could be widely applied to other small-area studies, useful to a range of researchers throughout the world.
Chapter 7 – Mating Systems

Publisher Summary This chapter focuses on mating systems to see how these strategies play out to create the mating unions that are their product. Polygyny is the most common mating system in non-humans. In polygyny–a system in which one of the males of a population have more than one mate, while others have one. The biggest, strongest, and most aggressive males are the most successful in these one on- one battles, resulting in selection for both physical and behavioral secondary sex characteristics. This intense intrasexual selection in males, but not females, leads to substantial sexual dimorphism, with males exhibiting larger body size and, in some species, weaponry. In monogamous mating system, males commit their energy and resources to one female and her offspring only when the costs of desertion are too high or when the benefits of desertion are too low. Mated females are less likely than mated males to attempt to prevent extrapair matings by their partner, as females cannot be cuckolded. But in species in which males contribute to parenting, females are vigilant to the possibility that their mate may invest significantly in his other offspring rather than in hers and that he might even desert her and her offspring for another mate. In some species females do not have any choice to copulate. The term “forced copulation” implies more than just lack of mate choice. Forced copulation is, perhaps, a variant of the sneaker strategy, the only way for some individuals to “make the best of a bad job.”
Hypothyroidism in restless legs syndrome

The diurnal nature of restless legs syndrome (RLS) and its response to dopamine hint that hormones are central in RLS pathophysiology. Hypothyroidism has been linked to RLS, but studies are limited. This study's objective is to determine whether RLS is more prevalent in persons with hypothyroidism and whether hypothyroidism is more prevalent in RLS sufferers. Persons with hypothyroidism and controls were recruited through an on-line registry of potential research participants. RLS was assessed using the Cambridge-Hopkins questionnaire. RLS persons and controls were recruited through RLS Foundation and on-line registry advertisements and assessed for hypothyroidism by self-report. The International RLS Study Group Severity Scale assessed RLS severity; 266 hypothyroid subjects and 321 controls were comparable in age (52.3 ± 13.4 versus 53.9 ± 11.7 years; p = .14) and gender (91.7% versus 91.3% women; p = .85), as were 354 RLS and 313 controls (59.1 ± 13.2 versus 58.2 ± 13.6 years; p = .41; 80.8% versus 78.3% women; p = .42). Hypothyroid participants versus controls had a significantly higher prevalence of RLS (14.3% versus 8.1%; p = .02). RLS participants versus controls had a significantly higher prevalence of hypothyroidism (22.3% versus. 13.8%; p = .005). RLS severity was similar in persons with and without hypothyroidism. Among 73 persons with RLS and hypothyroidism, 14 previously were hyperthyroid versus 0 of 37 persons with hypothyroidism alone (p = .004). RLS prevalence is increased in individuals with hypothyroidism; hypothyroidism prevalence is increased in individuals with RLS. Persons with hypothyroidism and RLS are significantly more likely than those with hypothyroidism alone to have had hyperthyroidism prior to hypothyroidism. Associations between RLS and thyroid disease may shed light on complex biological mechanisms underlying RLS.
Knowledge diffusion in the network of international business travel

We use aggregated and anonymized information based on international expenditures through corporate payment cards to map the network of global business travel. We combine this network with information on the industrial composition and export baskets of national economies. The business travel network helps to predict which economic activities will grow in a country, which new activities will develop and which old activities will be abandoned. In statistical terms, business travel has the most substantial impact among a range of bilateral relationships between countries, such as trade, foreign direct investments and migration. Moreover, our analysis suggests that this impact is causal: business travel from countries specializing in a specific industry causes growth in that economic activity in the destination country. Our interpretation of this is that business travel helps to diffuse knowledge, and we use our estimates to assess which countries contribute or benefit the most from the diffusion of knowledge through global business travel. Coscia et al. use a large dataset of business travel to show that, before they become competitive in new industries, countries receive visitors from places where that industry already thrives.
Board liability for cyberattacks: The effects of a prior attack and implementing the AICPA’s cybersecurity framework

Abstract A significant litigation trend is the rise in lawsuits filed against boards of directors following cybersecurity incidents. We perform an experiment to examine factors we predict will influence directors’ litigation risk. We examine whether jurors are more likely to hold directors liable when a company previously experienced an immaterial cyberattack, and whether subsequently implementing the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants’ cybersecurity risk management reporting and assurance framework (the “Framework”) can mitigate the effects of a prior attack. Consistent with counterfactual reasoning theory, we find jurors are more likely to hold directors liable for a cyberattack when a company previously experienced an attack. Importantly, we also find that directors can reduce this liability risk after a prior cyberattack by subsequently implementing the Framework, especially when they obtain external assurance. Our results have important implications for research, boards, regulators and public policymakers, audit firms, and attorneys who handle cybersecurity-related cases.
Determining molecular archetype composition and expression from bulk tissues with unsupervised deconvolution

Complex tissues are composite ecological systems whose components interact with each other to create a unique physiological or pathophysiological state distinct from that found in other tissue microenvironments. To explore this ground yet dynamic state, molecular profiling of bulk tissues and mathematical deconvolution can be jointly used to characterize heterogeneity as an aggregate of molecularly distinct tissue or cell subtypes. We first introduce an efficient and fully unsupervised deconvolution method, namely the Convex Analysis of Mixtures - CAM3.0, that may aid biologists to confirm existing or generate novel scientific hypotheses about complex tissues in many biomedical contexts. We then evaluate the CAM3.0 functional pipelines using both simulations and benchmark data. We also report diverse case studies on bulk tissues with unknown number, proportion and expression patterns of the molecular archetypes. Importantly, these preliminary results support the concept that expression patterns of molecular archetypes often reflect the interactive not individual contributions of many known or novel cell types, and unsupervised deconvolution would be more powerful in uncovering novel multicellular or subcellular archetypes.
For the M. Hargittai issue

For chemistry there is little better than a reliable structure. It delimits speculation—is that AY3 molecule planar with threefold symmetry, or is it T or Y shaped? A good structure does not stop there. It begins a conversation, for with it in hand we can begin to think of reaction mechanisms—what amino acid could swing into place to deliver a proton to a molecule bound just this way in an active site of an enzyme? Magdi Hargittai has for 40 years provided us with reliable structures of fleeting, metastable molecules. These are so much harder to subject to trustworthy structural analysis than molecules peacefully resident in a crystal. And she has consistently given us the one thing more valuable than a reliable structure. This is the understanding of the ‘‘why’’—why a molecule is nonlinear, when a Jahn–Teller distortion will be static and when dynamic, the workings of the Renner effect, and of large amplitude vibrations. For calculation itself is far from understanding. But the computer’s rain of numbers can be shaped into comprehension in the mind (and words, and pictures, and equations!) of an intelligent scientist, one attuned to both chemistry and physics, one sensitive to how what happens in one molecule is connected to all molecules. Magdi Hargittai is such a scientist par excellence, who determines good structures and strives for accompanying understanding. It is not easily done, yet in every paper she writes, one can feel this pull to the ‘‘why.’’ It is a pleasure to join her friends in the tribute to her care and wisdom that this issue represents.
Health literacy and cognitive performance in older adults.

Objectives Specific cognitive abilities may explain the association of health literacy with health status. We studied the relationship between health literacy and memory and verbal fluency in older adults.
Plasma and Brain Ammonia and Amino Acids in Rats Measured after Feeding 75% Casein or 28% Egg White

Male rats were trained to consume their daily food intake in 3 h. When rats were fed 6% casein for 14 d and were then fed either the 6 or 75% casein diet for 1 d, the plasma and brain ammonia concentrations of rats fed 75% casein were higher (P less than 0.05) at 23 h after test meal initiation compared to those of rats fed 6% casein. When rats were fed 6% casein for 13 d and then fed the same 6% casein diet with or without an additional 15% ammonium acetate for an additional 7 d before feeding 75% casein for 1 d, the plasma ammonia concentration of each group was not different, but plasma and brain amino acid concentrations were lower in rats prefed 15% ammonium acetate before the 75% casein diet. When rats were fed 6.8% egg white for 9 d and then fed 27.9% egg white for an additional 7 d, food intake of rats fed the 27.9% egg white diet was lower (P less than 0.05, paired t-test) for 4 d compared with that during the 3-d pretest period. When rats were meal-fed the 6.8% egg white diet for 13 d and then fed either the same 6.8% egg white diet or the 27.9% egg white diet for 1 d, plasma ammonia and plasma and brain amino acid concentrations were higher at 5 h after test meal initiation (P less than 0.05) in rats fed 27.9% egg white compared to those of rats fed 6.8% egg white. At 23 h after test meal initiation, plasma ammonia, plasma amino acid and most brain amino acid concentrations were lower than they were at 5 h after test meal initiation in rats fed 27.9% egg white.
The role of asperity indentation and ploughing in rock friction—II: Influence of relative hardness and normal load

Abstract The frictional characteristics of rock forming minerals depend on the relative hardness of the asperity and substrate (flat) upon which it slides; an asperity with a scratch hardness less than a polished flat has a lower static coefficient of friction ( μ s ) on that flat than an asperity with a scratch hardness greater than the same flat. Frictional wear associated with the slip of asperities consists of: (1) ploughing by plastic deformation; (2) ploughing by brittle fracture; (3) fracture of the asperity. Stick-slip correlates with ploughing by brittle fracture. Using Griffith's criteria for propagation of flaws, Hertz's analysis for ring cracking and Hamilton and Goodman's analysis for partial ring cracking under an asperity the normal load necessary for crack propagation and thus the onset of stick-slip may be predicted. The propagation of cracks during ploughing by brittle fracture is one mechanism of time-dependent friction.
The Changing Face of International Dispute Resolution: An Analysis of Factors Driving Trends in Investor-State Dispute Resolution and the WTO Dispute Resolution Mechanism

This paper provides a landscape analysis of international arbitration trends, and places special attention on the proliferation of investor-state dispute resolution (hereinafter “ISDR”) in free trade agreements (hereinafter “FTAs”) and, more widely, in international investment agreements (hereinafter “IIA”). The dispute settlement provisions of the proposed and pending Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (hereinafter “TPP”) help provide context for these developments. This paper sources opinions and data from a number works, with a special attention to those capturing statistics on how ISDR changes the dynamic of international trade disputes and FTA negotiation. Over the past decade, FTA’s have increasingly segregated dispute resolution responsibility away from centralized World Trade Organization (hereinafter “WTO”) processes. Passage of an ISDR provision in the TPP would substantially further this trend by binding eleven more countries to ISDR requirements similar to those in sister agreements, including NAFTA, the Energy Charter Treaty and the Argentina-United States Bilateral Investment Treaty (hereinafter “BIT”). However, recent national sovereignty and public interest concerns over ISDR may mean a tapering off of this trend and a return to the WTO Dispute Settlement Mechanism (hereinafter “DSM”) and preference for judicial review by national courts. An analysis of whether ISDR infringes on national sovereignty and the public interest is provided to help frame and guide this discussion.
Thymus-derived lymphocyte differentiation and lymphocytic leukemias. I. Evidence for the existence of functionally different subpopulations of thymus-derived cells in leukemic AKR mice

Abstract The effects of transplanting thymic (LTC), splenic (LSC), and lymph node (LLNC) lymphocytes derived from overtly leukemic AKR mice into preleukemic syngeneic animals were studied. Each of these thymus-derived (T cell) populations produced a different and distinct pathology in recipient mice. Animals receiving LTC exhibited thymoma and enlargement of peripheral lymphoid tissues. Gross organomegaly was also noted in mice given LSC, but thymic atrophy was uniformly observed. The thymus appeared normal in mice receiving LLNC, but marked enlargement of peripheral lymphoid tissues again were observed. The differences noted in disease pathologies correlated with the “homing” patterns of the subpopulations investigated. These findings suggest that subpopulations of T cells exist in mice with a thymus-derived neoplastic disorder.
The Flow of International Water Law: The International Law Commission's Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses

While geopolitical tension over natural resources has long been dominated by struggle over the world's petroleum resources, a more complex and potentially devastating resource issue lies quietly in waiting. With rapidly increasing population rates, expanding resource and industrial development, and dwindling water supplies on national and regional levels, water is fast replacing oil as the world's most valuable resource. Its scarcity and quality-related problems are already having a profound impact on the ability of nations to care for their populations,1 as well as to assure that adequate water supplies will exist to meet future economic and environmental needs.2 This increasing importance of water in geopolitical affairs is also escalating the potential for conflict over water resources among nations. The United States Department of State estimates that there are presently at least ten places in the world where war could erupt over dwindling transboundary water resources. The majority of these sites are in