cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
SUPPLY CHAIN METRICS.

Most discussions and articles about supply chain metrics are, in actuality, about internal logistics performance measures. The lack of a widely accepted definition for supply chain management and the complexity associated with overlapping supply chains make the development of supply chain metrics difficult. Despite these problems, managers continue to pursue supply chain metrics as a means to increase their “line of sight” over areas they do not directly control, but have a direct impact on their company's performance. We provide a framework for developing supply chain metrics that translates performance into shareholder value. The framework focuses on managing the interfacing customer relationship management and supplier relationship management processes at each link in the supply chain. The translation of process improvements into supplier and customer profitability provides a method for developing metrics that identify opportunities for improved profitability and align objectives across all of the firms in the supply chain.
Direct information on the cutting room floor

Norman's assigning of the constructivist percept-percept coupling approach and the ecological affordances approach to the ventral and dorsal visual systems, respectively, makes a more workable metatheory than each taken separately, but brings both under closer inspection.
Grid-distributed visualizations using connectionless protocols

The NERSC and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory visualization group has developed the Visapult tool to attack grand challenge problems. Visapult is a distributed, parallel, volume rendering application that leverages parallel computation and high-performance networking resources that are on the same scale as the supercomputers generating the data. We've improved Visapult's effectiveness using aggressive network tuning and network protocol modifications. In particular, we used a new connectionless user datagram protocol (UDP) to improve network efficiency from a 25 to 88 percent line rate increase for multigigabit networks. This connectionless protocol also dramatically reduces the latency of network event delivery, improving the responsiveness of wide area distributed interactive graphics applications as compared to transmission control protocol (TCP) streams. We believe that this UDP protocol, as well as transport encodings and algorithms that can tolerate loss gracefully, will become a fundamental component of future grid visualization architectures.
Precision in Accounting Information, Financial Leverage and the Value of Equity

: Using an equity valuation model characterized by periodic imperfect accounting information, we examine how financial leverage affects a firm's accounting quality choice (i.e., precision). We find that the existence of financial leverage motivates firms with average to good performance to prepare accounting information with a high degree of precision. However, we conclude that when a firm is performing poorly it has an incentive to reduce accounting precision in order to lower the likelihood of both a debt covenant violation and the detection of accounting bias.
Understanding Employee Turnover in the Public Sector: Insights from Research on Teacher Mobility

Employee turnover is a key area for public administration research, but one about which there is much still to be learned. Insights from an extensive body of research on employee turnover in a specific area of the public sector—public education—contributes to the understanding of employee mobility in public organizations more generally. The authors present a conceptual framework for understanding employee turnover that is grounded in economic theories of labor supply and demand, which have formed the foundation of many studies of teacher turnover. The main findings of this body of work are documented, noting connections to the literature on public employee turnover, lessons that can be learned, and potential new areas for empirical inquiry for scholars of turnover in the public sector.
Selective labeling of proteins by using protein farnesyltransferase.

The challenging task of identifying and studying protein function has been greatly aided by labeling proteins with reporter groups. Here, we present a strategy that utilizes an enzyme that labels a four-residue sequence appended onto the C terminus of a protein, with an alkyne-containing substrate. By using a bio-orthogonal cycloaddition reaction, a fluorophore that carried an azide moiety was then covalently coupled to the alkyne appended on the protein. FRET was used to calculate a Forster (R) distance of 40 A between the eGFP chromophore and the newly appended Texas Red fluorophore. This experimental value is in good agreement with the predicted R value determined by using molecular modeling. The small recognition tag, the high specificity of the enzyme, and the orthogonal nature of the derivatization reaction will make this approach highly useful in protein chemistry.
Practical computation of optimal schedules in multihop wireless networks

Interference and collisions greatly limit the throughput of mesh networks that use contention-based MAC protocols such as IEEE 802.11. Significantly higher throughput is achievable if transmissions are scheduled. However, traditional methods to compute optimal schedules are computationally in tractable (unless co-channel interference is neglected). This paper presents a practical technique to compute optimal schedules. The resulting algorithm searches for a low-dimensional optimization problem that has the same solution as the full problem. Such a low-dimensional problem is shown to always exist. The resulting algorithm converges arithmetically fast or geometrically fast, de pending on whether the objective is to maximize the proportional fair throughput or to maximize the minimum throughput, where the minimum is over all flows in the network. At each iteration of the algorithm, a graph-theoretic optimization known as the maximum weighted independent set (MWIS) problem must be solved. While the general MWIS problem is NP-hard in the worst case, we find that the MWIS can be solved efficiently. Specifically, computational experiments on over 17000 topologies indicate that the ratio of the time to solve the MWIS and the mean degree of the conflict graph grows polynomially with the number of nodes.
Just-in-time traceability for mechatronics systems

Effective traceability can be very costly and difficult to achieve in mechatronics systems due to their overall size and complexity. Such systems are often specified and designed in terms of software, electrical, mechanical, and thermodynamic elements, and associated models are represented and stored in various formats and locations. Traceability is of critical concern in such systems, which must often demonstrably comply to a wide range of regulatory codes. To address this problem we present an enterprise level architectural solution for establishing organization wide traceability across a variety of model types. While our approach is applicable to any enterprise level tracing environment, we focus on the mechatronics problem and illustrate our solution with a prototype tool that delivers semi-automated traceability between the regulatory codes, requirements, and systems models of a mechatronics system.
Large-Scale Profiling of Rab GTPase Trafficking Networks: The Membrome

Rab GTPases and SNARE fusion proteins direct cargo trafficking through the exocytic and endocytic pathways of eukaryotic cells. We have used steady state mRNA expression profiling and computational hierarchical clustering methods to generate a global overview of the distribution of Rabs, SNAREs, and coat machinery components, as well as their respective adaptors, effectors, and regulators in 79 human and 61 mouse nonredundant tissues. We now show that this systems biology approach can be used to define building blocks for membrane trafficking based on Rab-centric protein activity hubs. These Rab-regulated hubs provide a framework for an integrated coding system, the membrome network, which regulates the dynamics of the specialized membrane architecture of differentiated cells. The distribution of Rab-regulated hubs illustrates a number of facets that guides the overall organization of subcellular compartments of cells and tissues through the activity of dynamic protein interaction networks. An interactive website for exploring datasets comprising components of the Rab-regulated hubs that define the membrome of different cell and organ systems in both human and mouse is available at http://www.membrome.org/.
Finite element modeling of atherosclerotic plaque

2-D mathematical models of the coronary walls have been developed based on actual plaque morphology from a multi-center study of coronary disease (Pathological Determinants of Atherosclerosis in Youths, PDAY). The probability of lipid maps were used to define a typical lesion's physical dimensions for four age ranges. Under physiological loading from intra-arterial pressure, the resulting intramural stress distributions were quantified as a function of patient age. The area of highest stress in the 15-19 year group was shifted from the healthy wall opposite the lesion to the area where the normal intima is adjacent to the plaque cap and increased with age. The age related development of atherosclerosis leads to a predictable increase in localized wall stress, which may predispose a plaque to rupture. >
ROLE OF OXIDATIVE/NITROSATIVE STRESS IN PULMONARY DISEASE PATHOGENESIS

Nitrogen mustard (NM) is a vesicant that induces acute lung injury which progresses to fibrosis; this is associated with oxidative stress and inflammation. The role of nitric oxide generated via iNOS and TNFa in NM disease pathogenesis was analyzed. Progressive histopathologic changes in the lung and upregulated cleaved caspase-3 (Casp-3), a marker of apoptosis, were observed in rats treated with NM (0.125 mg/kg, i.t.). This correlated with increased BAL cell and protein content, indicating alveolar-epithelial barrier dysfunction. NM also upregulated cyclooxygenase (COX)-2 and heme oxygenase (HO)-1 in lung macrophages, as well as YM-1, a marker of oxidative stress. Treatment of rats with anti-TNFα antibody (15 mg/kg, i.v., 1x), 1400W (50 mg/kg, i.p., 1x/d), or a combination of anti-TNFα + 1400W 30 min after NM reduced lung injury and inflammation. NM-induced expression of COX-2, HO-1, YM-1 and Casp-3 was also reduced. Although the combination of anti-TNFα + 1400W was more effective in down regulating expression of Casp-3, COX-2, HO-1 and YM-1 at 3 d than either agent alone, fibrotic changes at 7 d were only inhibited by anti-TNFα antibody. These data demonstrate that inhibiting TNFα and/or iNOS represents an important approach to mitigating lung injury induced by vesicants.
Systematics of the Genus Idioderma Van Duzee (Homoptera: Membracidae) and Biology of I. virescens Van Duzee

The genus Idioderma is reviewed; I. virescens Van Duzee from Florida and I. picta Osbom from Cuba are considered valid species. I. varia Van Duzee, a junior synonym of I, virescens, represents a dark-color morph. Adults of I. virescens and I. varia are redescribed; their genitalia are described and illustrated. Immature stages of I. virescens are described, and the distribution of this species is discussed. The native host plant of I. virescens upon which it oviposits and the immature stages develop, is saw palmetto, Seronoa repens (Bartram). Pygmy date palm, Phoenix roebelenii O'Brien, is an introduced ornamental on which I. virescens can also reproduce. Saw palmetto is distributed throughout Florida and along the coastal plains from South Carolina to Louisiana, yet no established populations of the treehopper have been found outside Florida. All stages of I. virescens can be found throughout the year, but the peak population of nymphs coincides with the peak bloom of saw palmetto. When the host plant is reproductively dormant, I. virescens adults disperse and have been collected on several other species of palms. I. virescens has four to five generations per season in central Florida, with the highest nymphal populations occurring from March to August. Nymphs aggregate and are often tended by ants which collect honeydew from the nymphs and protect them. Different color morphs are present in both males and nymphal populations of I. virescens . The darker color morphs seem to increase the cryptic coloration of individuals to saw palmetto inflorescence which can become covered with sooty mold fungi. No dark color morphs were found in females of I. virescens .
Bulk properties from finite-cluster calculations

Geometries of linear hydrogen fluoride clusters with 1–10 unit cells are optimized at the HF/6-31G** level. MP2/6-31G** energies at the HF/6-31G** optimized geometries are calculated for clusters with 1–6 unit cells. Application of Pade approximants to the electronic properties of finite clusters results in the following estimated bulk properties: dipole moment per unit cell: 2.66±0.01 [D], bond lengths: 0.913±0.001/1.686±0.001 [A], stabilization energy per unit cell relative to the HF molecule: −7.44±0.01 [kcal/mol] (HF), −8.66±0.02 [kcal/mol] (MP2). The extrapolated atomic charges based on the generalized atomic polar tensors (GAPT) are 0.61±0.01 as compared to the value of 0.42 for the monomer.
Attempting smoking behavior and its influencing factors among senior migrant pupils in primary schools in Beijing City

Objective To preliminarily investigate the current status of senior migrant pupils' attempt of smoking in primary schools in Beijing City,to analyze the factors influencing the formation of the behavior and to define the high-risk group attempting smoking so as to provide evidence and guidance for further perfecting the health education mechanism regarding smoking control in migrant pupils in Beijing City and to provide effective health education service support for the related high-risk group.Methods The self-administered questionnaire was designed on the basis of a large number of references. With stratified cluster sampling method,516 migrant pupils were selected from Grades 4,5 and 6 of 6 primary schools whose students were mainly migrant children. All pupils were surveyed on the spot by filling out the questionnaire under the guidance of professionals of the project. Results A total of 514 valid questionnaires were retrieved. 59. 92% of the respondents were from public schools and 40.08% were from schools for migrant workers' children. The average age of the migrant pupils was( 11. 48 ± 1. 125) years old,of which 53. 31% were male and 46. 69% were female. The surveyed results showed that the smoking attempt rate of the migrant pupils was 6. 61%,and the average age of first attempt of smoking was 8. 41 years old. Passive smoking was common in the migrant pupils. The results of statistical analysis showed that age,sex,whether having a smoking family member and the type of school were the factors influencing the migrant pupils' attempt of smoking. Conclusions Age,sex,whether having a smoking family member and the type of school significantly influence the migrant pupils' attempt of smoking,and it is crucial for smoking control to emphasize on migrant pupils of private schools while implementing the targeted health education and propaganda.
Patterns of migration and adoption of choices by agents in communities

We study the migration and behavior adoption patterns of agents situated in geographically distributed communities. We consider agents with two types of states or opinions, binary and continuous. Agents either probabilistically adopt the predominant state in their community or migrate to another community more supportive of their state. We observe an interesting range of emerging population patterns based on different migration and adoption biases.
Agents of Exchange: The Emergence of Consumer Decision Support Systems (CDSS) in an Electronic Marketplace

This paper examines the marketing implications of an emerging electronic marketplace, with particular emphasis on the increasingly complex and time constrained end-consumer node. Propositions are advanced towards a new paradigm for conceptualizing emerging transactional technology interfaces, defined here as consumer decision support systems and intelligent shopping agents, which optimize consumers' cyberspace exchanges.
Effect of varying recording cable weight and flexibility on activity and sleep in mice.

Study Objectives: Sleep in mice has typically been determined from electroencephalograms and electromyograms recorded via cables in tethered animals. However, the relatively small physical size of mice can produce concerns in recording with cables that may not be seen in larger animals. To examine the influence of implantation and tethering on mice, we recorded activity and sleep in 2 strains while they were attached to 3 cable configurations that varied in weight and flexibility. Design: Activity was recorded prior to surgery and after surgery without tethering. Afterward, the mice were habituated to 3 cable configurations (light [L]: 1.5 g; medium [M]: 2.2 g; heavy [H]: 3.0 g), and activity and sleep were recorded for 2 consecutive days under each configuration. Setting: N/A Patients or Participants: Studies were conducted in 2 mouse strains that differ significantly in levels of spontaneous activity (more-active strain: BALB/cJ [C]; less-active strain: DBA/2J [D2]). Interventions: N/A Measurements and Results: Significant postsurgery reductions in activity in nontethered mice were found only in the more-active C strain. Activity in both strains was reduced in a graded manner as cable weight increased and flexibility decreased. In contrast, changes in sleep were not graded across cables, and changes in rapid eye movement sleep showed more variability. In addition, the effects of varying cables were not consistent across strains. Conclusions: The differential impact that variations in the weight and flexibility of recording cables can have on the amount and patterns of sleep is an important consideration in conducting and interpreting sleep studies in mice.
Validation of Reference Genes for Oral Cancer Detection Panels in a Prospective Blinded Cohort.

Background Reference genes are needed as internal controls to determine relative expression for clinical application of gene expression panels. Candidate constitutively expressed genes must be validated as suitable reference genes in each body fluid and disease entity. Prior studies have predominantly validated oral squamous cell carcinoma associated messenger RNAs (mRNAs) based on quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) quantification cycle (Cq) values without adjustment for housekeeping genes. Methods One hundred sixty eight patients had saliva collected before clinically driven biopsy of oral lesions suspicious for cancer. Seven potential housekeeping mRNAs and six pre-specified oral cancer associated mRNAs were measured with qPCR by personnel blinded to tissue diagnosis. Housekeeping gene stability was determined with the NormFinder program in a training set of 12 randomly selected cancer and 24 control patients. Genes with stability indices <0.02 were then tested in the validation set consisting of the remaining cancer and control patients and were further validated by the geNorm program. Cancer gene delta Cqs were compared in case and control patients after subtracting the geometric mean of the reference gene raw Cqs. Results B2M and UBC had stability indices >0.02 in the training set and were not further tested. MT-ATP6, RPL30, RPL37A, RPLP0 and RPS17 all had stability indices <0.02 in the training set and in the verification set. The geNorm M values were all ≤1.10. All six pre-specified cancer genes (IL8, IL1, SAT, OAZ1, DUSP1 and S100P) were up-regulated in cancer versus control patients with from nearly twofold to over threefold higher levels (p<0.01 for all based on delta Cq values). Conclusions Five reference genes are validated for use in oral cancer salivary gene expression panels. Six pre-specified oral carcinoma associated genes are demonstrated to be highly significantly up-regulated in cancer patients based on delta Cq values. These cancer and reference genes are suitable for inclusion in gene expression panels for research and clinical applications. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01587573
BEHAVIORISM, LANGUAGE AND MEANING

Le behaviorisme comme reponse a une psychologie basee sur la conceptualisation de l'introspection a travers le "sens commun". L'A. se propose d'elucider le programme methodologique du behaviorisme et ses motivations (les insuffisances du modele qu'il remplace). La reponse du behaviorisme verbal aux questions du langage et de son apprentissage, du rapport avec l'expression orale, la conscience et la signification.
Beyond Obedience and Abandonment: Toward a Theory of Dissent in Catholic Education

trates the pernicious phenomenon of self-preferential pseudo-neutrality that he calls ‘biased fairness’ (p. 83). He thus falls short of a truly integrative witness that would allow him to appreciate the various competing moral perspectives in their full depth. This lack of altitude deprives Greene of a superordinate moral point of view comprehensive enough to fulfill his goal of a universal moral philosophy. Instead he is able to discern only an intercommunal least common denominator, a pragmatist utilitarian idiom in which human existence is likened to a game of happiness maximization and the relationships between communities are conceived as a quid pro quo exchange aimed at optimizing each side’s utility account. The problem with such a solution is that communities would recognize it as a narrower meaning than that which is already available from their own heritage. Wisdom traditions around the world know the futility of framing life as a calculated pursuit of happiness maximization. From the inescapability of suffering they have learned that the meaning of life is not the increase of happiness, but the growth of meaning. For this reason communities will only willingly accept a shared metamorality if it allows them to expand meaning, not if it obliges them to trade meaning for pragmatic ends. For it is not pragmatism that gives unity to human moral consciousness, but the universal desire for the expansion of meaning. Requiring meaning to be traded off—rather than providing a way for it to grow—is the mark of a non-integrative moral solution. Although Greene aspires to a ‘meta-morality’ that can ‘encompass’ tribal moralities (p. 161), his book does not consider morality developmentally. This might explain its lack of depth in imagining the potential of moral thinking to generate a context in which the truths of diverse human communities might be integrated. What I would offer here, if I were asked, is the idea that morality is the expression of an evolving self-awareness. Morality expresses consciousness; consciousness grows; and growth points toward something ultimate. That thing is not maximal happiness. It is wholeness. Hence growth, not pragmatism, is the source of the integration Greene desires.
Measuring the effects of object movement on the coherence bandwidth of indoor wireless channels at 2.6 GHz

In this paper, the effects of objects movement on the coherence bandwidth of indoor wireless channels at 2.6 GHz are measured and modeled. The coherence bandwidth is derived via frequency sweeping measurements. The objects movement is controlled by industrial robotic arms that moves the objects across predefined paths with different velocities. The study shows that the object movement pattern, velocity and distance from the transmitter controls the coherence bandwidth behavior through time. The study shows that moving objects, placed within close proximity to the transmitter, across a straight path with slight arcing, causes the coherence bandwidth to follow a sinusoidal time varying function. The radial frequency of the function follows a two term exponential model that depends on the velocity of the object. When the objects are placed at a further distance from the transmitter, it is noticed that the accuracy of the model drops and a deterministic behavior for the coherence bandwidth can only be observed at slow velocities. As the velocity and the distance from the transmitter are increased the coherence bandwidth starts following a normal distribution. The study shows that the mean and the standard deviation of the normal distribution also follow a sinusoidal function that depends on the velocity.
Analysis of tars formed during co-pyrolysis of coal and biomass at high temperature in carbon dioxide atmosphere

Abstract The analysis of tars from the high temperature (1573 K–1773 K) co-pyrolysis of coal (Pittsburgh #8) and biomass (Switchgrass and White Pine) in CO2 has been carried out. The analysis shows that naphthalene content is the maximum in all the tar samples irrespective of biomass and coal blend proportion. Samples with high percentages of coal as well as experiments conducted at 1773 K showed the highest concentration of aromatic compounds. The largest aromatic compound found had five benzene rings (benzo(e)pyrene). Aliphatic hydrocarbons as well as oxygenated hydrocarbons were mostly found in samples containing high percentages of biomass or in experiments conducted at 1573 K. About 100 compounds have been identified in the tars of which 25% account for 90% of the mass of tar. The study indicates that the atomic N/C and S/C ratio increases whereas H/C ratio decreases with pyrolysis temperature. The rate of variation of H/C ratio reduces as the temperature increases. The biomass content in the fuel feed seems to have an impact on the H/C ratio of the tars only at lower temperatures. That is, at lower temperatures, the higher the biomass content of the fuel, the higher the H/C ratio of the resulting tars. These observations also apply to the O/C ratio of the tar. For both switchgrass and pine sawdust, the biomass content of the fuel seems to have no influence on the nitrogen content of the tars. The distribution of sulfur in the tar is inversely proportional to the biomass percentage in the fuel. The higher the biomass content of the fuel, the lower the atomic S/C of the tars.
Small molecule chelators reveal that iron starvation inhibits late stages of bacterial cytokinesis

Bacterial cell division requires identification of the division site, assembly of the division machinery, and constriction of the cell envelope. These processes are regulated in response to several cellular and environmental signals. Here, we use small molecule iron chelators to characterize the surprising connections between bacterial iron homeostasis and cell division. We demonstrate that iron starvation downregulates the transcription of genes encoding proteins involved in cell division, reduces protein biosynthesis, and prevents correct positioning of the division machinery at the division site. These combined events arrest the constriction of the mother and daughter cells during late stages of cytokinesis in a manner distinct from known mechanisms of inhibiting cell division. Overexpression of genes encoding cell division proteins or iron transporters partially suppresses the biological activity of iron chelators and restores growth and division. We propose a model demonstrating the effect of iron av...
Intermediates in the thermal unfolding of ribonuclease A

Ribonuclease A (RNase A) is a small, single domain α/β protein (13.6 kDa). At acidic and neutral pH, ECD and FTIR studies at constant frequency (1632 cm-1), show that the thermal denaturation is a two state process. Other techniques like NMR, and calorimetry bring evidence for unfolding intermediates.
INFLUENCE OF ELECTRODE PRETREATMENT ON THE PITTING SUSCEPTIBILITY OF NI

The pitting susceptibility of nickel electrodes prepassivated in pH 4.0 Na 2 SO 4 is determined by measuring the induction time, τ ind , for pitting at a constant potential in 0.08 M Cl − . For constant pretreatment conditions, τ ind varies exponentially with potential so that l/τ ind α exp V. Reproducibility of induction times is quite good and this permits a careful study of the influence of prior electrochemical treatment on the pitting susceptibility of nickel. The resistance to pitting increases with increasing time and potential of prepassivation in Cl − -free solution, i.e. with increasing perfection of the passive oxide film. Pretreatment in the transpassive region leads to an increase in pitting susceptibility, in agreement with the increased defectiveness of the prior oxide. The results suggest that a potential dependent modification of the oxide film occurs prior to pitting in the 0.08 M Cl − solution and that this modification governs the induction time. The rate of this modification, which is a measure of the pitting susceptibility, is highly dependent on the prior state of the oxide film. A simple Cl- incorporation into the oxide lattice does not appear to be the mechanism of oxide modification since prior incorporation of Cl − actually increases the pitting resistance.
Phi Rho Pi

Phi Rho Pi, the only forensic honorary devoted to two-year junior and community colleges, was established in 1927 by Sylvia Mariner. For Sylvia, a community college forensics coach, and her husband "Cap" C.E. Mariner, a retired army captain, this organization became their family. Sylvia viewed all the competitors and coaches in Phi Rho Pi as her children and attended the national tournament every year until her death. At the 1971 National Tournament, a perpetual sweepstakes trophy was established named the Sylvia Mariner Sweepstakes Champion. This trophy is awarded to the college accumulating the most points at previous national tournaments and including the current nationals. It is the highest award any college can receive. As Sylvia told the 1971 participants, "Phi Rho Pi has been my whole life" (The Persuader, 1971, p. 20). The Mariner's service, love and financial endowments to the organization have allowed it to remain the organization it is today. Membership in Phi Rho Pi is open to any two-year college with a forensics program. Students also join as individual members. In 1943, Dr. P. Merville Larson, the outgoing President of Phi Rho Pi explained the principles which govern Phi Rho Pi as follows: [1]Phi Rho Pi is organized for the development of the finest educational standards; [2]Phi Rho Pi is supported by membership fees and other moneys derived directly or indirectly from student members and as such owes those students the obligation of the greatest service possible; [3]Every member, whether student or sponsor, is entitled to a share in the government and responsibilities of the society; [4]Phi Rho Pi has the responsibility for making known the Junior College speech position to every agency or person in any way affected (The Persuader, 1970). These guiding principles continue to reflect the philosophy of the organization today. Phi Rho Pi is governed by a President, Vice-President for Association, Vice-President for Tournament, Secretary, Treasurer, and a Comptroller. Their are nine Phi Rho Pi regions and each region elects a regional governor. The annual business meeting takes place at the national tournament. Each school has two votes, a coach vote and a student vote. Each year, Phi Rho Pi hosts a national tournament open to all member schools. While the national tournament has no qualification requirements, many programs establish their own. The tournament is the largest national tournament offering all eleven individual events, interpreters theatre, team debate (both CEDA and NDT), and Lincoln-Douglas debate (on the CEDA and NDT topics). In 1996, the organization voted to add parliamentary debate to the 1997 tournament. On an average, the national tournament draws 75 schools and 475 competitors. Each competitor may compete in up to five events and designate four to count toward individual and school sweepstakes. …
Heuristics-Based Replication Schemas for Fast Information Retrieval over the Internet.

Internet today, has transformed into a global information hub. The increase in its usage and magnitude have sparkled various research problems. Because of the diverse user population, along with the frequency of access requests, the need for data replication in order; to decrease latency and communication cost, to optimize bandwidth, to effectively utilize the storage space, and to add reliability to the system has emerged to the surface along with object caching. In this paper we address the fine-grained replication of data among a set of Internet sites and develop its cost model. We solve this problem by proposing data placement algorithms. Four of our proposed techniques are based on the A-star state space searching algorithm. The optimal A-star based technique is complemented by three sub-optimal heuristics, and two natural (greedy based) selection algorithms: Local and Global Min-Min. These algorithms are effective in various environments providing vendors and users with the choice of algorithms that guarantee fast or optimal or both types of solutions.
The role of religion and spirituality in mitigating the impact of community violence, interpersonal violence, and intrapsychic violence

This volume of articles includes scholarship representing a range of countries, religious traditions, and practice contexts. The first four articles address the role of religion or spirituality in ...
A Meta-Analysis of Self-Regulated Strategy Development Reading Interventions to Improve the Reading Comprehension of Students With Disabilities

AbstractThe purpose of the current meta-analysis was to investigate the effectiveness of self-regulated strategy development (SRSD) reading interventions for students with disabilities in school se...
An analog of glibenclamide selectively enhances autophagic degradation of misfolded α1-antitrypsin Z

The classical form of α1-antitrypsin deficiency (ATD) is characterized by intracellular accumulation of the misfolded variant α1-antitrypsin Z (ATZ) and severe liver disease in some of the affected individuals. In this study, we investigated the possibility of discovering novel therapeutic agents that would reduce ATZ accumulation by interrogating a C. elegans model of ATD with high-content genome-wide RNAi screening and computational systems pharmacology strategies. The RNAi screening was utilized to identify genes that modify the intracellular accumulation of ATZ and a novel computational pipeline was developed to make high confidence predictions on repurposable drugs. This approach identified glibenclamide (GLB), a sulfonylurea drug that has been used broadly in clinical medicine as an oral hypoglycemic agent. Here we show that GLB promotes autophagic degradation of misfolded ATZ in mammalian cell line models of ATD. Furthermore, an analog of GLB reduces hepatic ATZ accumulation and hepatic fibrosis in a mouse model in vivo without affecting blood glucose or insulin levels. These results provide support for a drug discovery strategy using simple organisms as human disease models combined with genetic and computational screening methods. They also show that GLB and/or at least one of its analogs can be immediately tested to arrest the progression of human ATD liver disease.
Understanding Mathematical Induction by Writing Analogies

Mathematical induction has some notoriety as a difficult mathematical proof technique, especially for beginning students. In this note, I describe a writing assignment in which students are asked to develop, describe in detail, critique, defend, and finally extend their own analogies for mathematical induction. By putting the work of explanation into the students' hands, this assignment requires them to engage in detail with the necessary parts of an inductive proof. Students select their subject for the analogy, allowing them to connect abstract mathematics to their lived experiences. The process of peer review helps students recognize and remedy several of the most common errors in writing an inductive proof. All of this takes place in the context of a creative assignment, outside the work of writing formal inductive proofs.
Engagement Intent: Role Theory Perspectives for Balancing Individual and Firm-Level Engagement Outcomes:

The topic of employee engagement has received tremendous attention. With this large body of work has come numerous definitions, varied measurement systems and diverse employee-based interventions d...
Vilamb: Low Overhead Asynchronous Redundancy for Direct Access NVM

Vilamb provides efficient asynchronous systemredundancy for direct access (DAX) non-volatile memory (NVM) storage. Production storage deployments often use system-redundancy in form of page checksums and cross-page parity. State-of-the-art solutions for maintaining system-redundancy for DAX NVM either incur a high performance overhead or require specialized hardware. The Vilamb user-space library maintains system-redundancy with low overhead by delaying and amortizing the system-redundancy updates over multiple data writes. As a result, Vilamb provides 3--5x the throughput of the state-of-the-art software solution at high operation rates. For applications that need system-redundancy with high performance, and can tolerate some delaying of data redundancy, Vilamb provides a tunable knob between performance and quicker redundancy. Even with the delayed coverage, Vilamb increases the mean time to data loss due to firmware-induced corruptions by up to two orders of magnitude in comparison to maintaining no system-redundancy.
T-bet+ Memory B Cells Stay in Place.

Memory B cells (MBCs) expressing the transcription factor T-bet have been described in normal and dysregulated immune responses. In this issue of Immunity, Johnson et al. report that T-bet+ MBCs, formed in response to a primary influenza infection, contribute to protective antibody titers and persist mainly in the spleen with restricted trafficking between tissues.
Neural Network Predicts Need for Red Blood Cell Transfusion for Patients with Acute Gastrointestinal Bleeding Admitted to the Intensive Care Unit

Background and Aims Acute gastrointestinal bleeding is the most common gastrointestinal cause for hospitalization. For high risk patients requiring intensive care unit stay, predicting transfusion needs through dynamic risk assessment may help personalize resuscitation. Methods A patient cohort presenting with acute gastrointestinal bleeding (N = 2,524) was identified from the Medical Information Mart for Intensive Care III (MIMIC-III) critical care database, separated into training (N = 2,032) and validation (N = 492) sets. 74 demographic, clinical, and laboratory test features were extracted and consolidated into 4-hour time intervals over the first 24 hours from admission. The outcome measure was the transfusion of packed red blood cells during each 4-hour time interval. A long short-term memory (LSTM) model, a type of Recurrent Neural Network (RNN) that processes and learns the best information storage plan, was compared to the Glasgow-Blatchford Score (GBS) for the first 24 hours from admission. Results The LSTM model performed better than GBS in predicting packed red blood cell transfusion overall (AUROC 0.81 vs 0.63;P<0.001) and at each 4-hour interval (P<0.01). Sensitivity analysis also demonstrated superiority over GBS for patients directly admitted from the ED to ICU (0.82 vs 0.63;P<0.001), with upper GIB (0.84 vs 0.68;P<0.001), with lower GIB (0.77 vs 0.58;P<0.001), and with unspecified GIB (0.85 vs 0.64;P<0.001). Conclusions A LSTM model can be used to predict the need for transfusion of packed red blood cells over the first 24 hours from admission to help personalize the care of high-risk patients with acute gastrointestinal bleeding.
Montreal AI Ethics Institute's Response to Scotland's AI Strategy.

In January and February 2020, the Scottish Government released two documents for review by the public regarding their artificial intelligence (AI) strategy. The Montreal AI Ethics Institute (MAIEI) reviewed these documents and published a response on 4 June 2020. MAIEI's response examines several questions that touch on the proposed definition of AI; the people-centered nature of the strategy; considerations to ensure that everyone benefits from AI; the strategy's overarching vision; Scotland's AI ecosystem; the proposed strategic themes; and how to grow public confidence in AI by building responsible and ethical systems. In addition to examining the points above, MAIEI suggests that the strategy be extended to include considerations on biometric data and how that will be processed and used in the context of AI. It also highlights the importance of tackling head-on the inherently stochastic nature of deep learning systems and developing concrete guidelines to ensure that these systems are built responsibly and ethically, particularly as machine learning becomes more accessible. Finally, it concludes that any national AI strategy must clearly address the measurements of success in regards to the strategy's stated goals and vision to ensure that they are interpreted and applied consistently. To do this, there must be inclusion and transparency between those building the systems and those using them in their work.
Cardiac rehabilitation in women; comparison of enrollment, adherence and outcomes between heart failure and coronary artery disease.

Abstract Background There is paucity of data on cardiac rehabilitation (CR) enrollment and outcomes in women with heart failure (HF). Methods In this retrospective analysis, we compared enrollment, adherence and outcomes between women with HF versus coronary artery disease (CAD)-related indications referred to a university-affiliated CR program from June 2014–July 2018. A multivariate regression analysis was performed to adjust for imbalanced variables at baseline and baseline value of each outcome to compare change in outcomes between HF and CAD groups Results A total of 538 women (HF=63 vs CAD=475) were included in the study. At baseline, women with HF were younger, had lower attendance to CR intake and worse perceived health, higher AACVPR risk category and lower exercise capacity but had similar enrollment, weight and dieatry habits when compared to women with CAD. Adjusted analyses showed that almost all cardiac rehabilitation outcomes except for positive affect (anxiety, depression symptoms, negative affect, dietary habits, perceived physical and mental health summary scores, exercise duration and capacity) improved significantly from baseline and in a similar fashion in both groups. Weight loss was significantly greater for women with CAD versus those with HF (CAD: Δ -1.12 ± 2.23 kg versus HF: Δ -0.66 ± 2.78 kg, p = 0.03). Conclusion Despite a lower attendance to CR intake, lower perceived physical health and higher baseline AACVPR risk in women with HF, they have similar CR enrollment, adherence and completion rates compared to women with CAD. Both groups showed significant but similar improvements from baseline in almost all cardiac rehabilitation outcomes. These findings should alert cardiology providers to help overcome obstacles for women with HF to attend CR intake.
Stochastic cooling of electrons and positrons with EUV light

Stochastic cooling of electrons and positrons with EUV light provides petaherz-scale bandwidth for fast cooling without the amplifier.
An a priori analysis of the structure of local subfilter-scale species surrounding flame fronts using direct numerical simulation of turbulent premixed flames

An a priori analysis of subfilter-scale (SFS) species structure important to estimate chemical reaction rates in large-eddy simulation (LES) is performed using direct numerical simulation (DNS) of a turbulent premixed flame at a turbulence Reynolds number R e 0 = 329 and Karlovitz number K a 0 = 7.23 with semi-detailed finite-rate chemistry. Differences between the complete chemical reaction rates extracted from DNS and those estimated from LES-filtered variables are quantified. The spatial distributions of these differences are found to be localized in regions surrounding the flame front for representative reactions. Within these regions, variations in the localization relative to the flame, scale, and magnitude of the SFS species concentrations are quantified, and mean SFS structure is determined. SFS species structure is found in two groupings: “single-banded” structure characterized by one distinct peak and “double-banded” structure characterized by two peaks of opposite signs. Species that are produced and consumed within the flame such as CH 2 O and HCO are observed to have single-banded structure, and species displaying a frontal behavior such as n-C7H16 and OH are found to have double-banded structure, on average. The local SFS structure surrounding the flame is impacted by neighboring flame-flame interactions as well as by variations in flame curvature. The impacts of the flame-flame interactions are strong when the SFS species structure has “large” length scales with concentration peaks significantly displaced from the flame front. Curvature effects are shown to be strong in high curvature regions of the flame.
Patient Preferences Regarding Surgical Treatment Methods for Symptomatic Uterine Fibroids

Study Objective The purpose of this study is to rank the benefit-risk factors that are most/least important to patients with symptomatic uterine fibroids. Design Using a best worst scaling (BWS) preference elicitation approach, eligible, consenting participants completed an online survey to rank factors associated with fibroid treatments. Survey content was based on a literature review and included the following factors: symptom relief; surgical complications; repeat treatment; recovery time; cosmetic effects; risk of cancer; sexual outcomes; maintenance of child-bearing continuation of menses; unpredictable menses; and location of procedure. Participants completed 11 BWS tasks. For each task, we presented participants with a subset of 5 factors from the possible 11, and participants chose the most important and least important factor. Setting N/A. Patients or Participants 285 women with symptomatic uterine fibroids (69 physician-confirmed and 216 self-reported) who had not undergone prior surgical treatment completed the survey. Participants were enrolled from two clinical sites and an online consumer panel. Interventions N/A. Measurements and Main Results Each cohort's responses were analyzed using conditional logistic regression to determine the relative importance of factors. Both cohorts identified symptom relief, cancer risk, repeat treatment and complications as the most important factors in selecting treatment options and cosmetic effects like presence of a scar after the treatment, location of treatment, and return to normal activities after surgery, as the least important factors. Of note, younger women (≤ 40) placed greater importance on the ability to have children after the procedure. Conclusion Information regarding the factors most and least important to patients with symptomatic uterine fibroids might inform shared-decision making efforts between women and their providers, as well as provide insights to guide development and evaluation of new technologies and procedures.