cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The Origin of the Millimeter-Scale Lamination in the Neoproterozoic Lower Beck Spring Dolomite: Implications for Widespread, Fine-Scale, Layer-Parallel Diagenesis in Precambrian Carbonates

Abstract The Neoproterozoic lower Beck Spring Dolomite exhibits a prominent, millimeter-scale, light–dark, planar lamination commonly interpreted as a primary depositional fabric. Microscopic examination reveals that the dark laminae are composed of micrite and contain a micrometer-scale, wavy fabric, whereas the light laminae are composed of relatively coarse-crystalline pseudospar that engulfs, surrounds, and crosscuts the dark laminae. Nearly all of the light laminae surround, or occur in proximity to, elongate (long axis fabric-parallel), spar-filled cavity structures. The average δ18O values for dark and light laminae are −1.8‰ (std. dev. 1.6) and −3.0‰ (std. dev. 1.3) VPDB, respectively. Cavity-filling cements are even more depleted in 18O, with an average isotopic value of −6.2‰ (std. dev. 1.1). These characteristics suggest that the coarse-crystalline, light laminae are the result of the preferential, aggrading neomorphism of a thinly laminated, micritic host rock and that the (now cemented) cavity structures acted as conduits for the fluid responsible for recrystallization. The oxygen isotope distributions are consistent with progressive recrystallization by an 18O-depleted fluid, likely of meteoric origin. Therefore, we interpret the prominent millimeter-scale, light–dark layering in the lower Beck Spring Dolomite to result from widespread, laminae-parallel, diagenetic processes—perhaps controlled by fine-scale layer-parallel differences in initial porosity and permeability—and not from primary sedimentary processes. Extensive, layer-parallel diagenesis on such a fine scale is rare in Phanerozoic shallow marine deposits, due to disruption by bioturbation. However, before the advent of metazoan burrowing, fine-scale, layer-parallel fluid flow would have been more common. Thus, the diagenetic fabric of the lower Beck Spring Dolomite may represent a mode of carbonate diagenesis restricted to the Precambrian. Similar diagenesis may also occur in Phanerozoic environments devoid of vertical bioturbation.
Bridging the programming gap between persistent and volatile memory using WrAP

Advances in memory technology are promising the availability of byte-addressable persistent memory as an integral component of future computing platforms. This change has significant implications for software that has traditionally made a sharp distinction between durable and volatile storage. In this paper we describe a software-hardware architecture, WrAP, for persistent memory that provides atomicity and durability while simultaneously ensuring that fast paths through the cache, DRAM, and persistent memory layers are not slowed down by burdensome buffering or double-copying requirements. Trace-driven simulation of transactional data structures indicate the potential for significant performance gains using the WrAP approach.
Physical embodiments for mobile communication agents

This paper describes a physically embodied and animated user interface to an interactive call handling agent, consisting of a small wireless animatronic device in the form of a squirrel, bunny, or parrot. A software tool creates movement primitives, composes these primitives into complex behaviors, and triggers these behaviors dynamically at state changes in the conversational agent's finite state machine. Gaze and gestural cues from the animatronics alert both the user and co-located third parties of incoming phone calls, and data suggests that such alerting is less intrusive than conventional telephones.
Automatic layout and optimization of static CMOS cells

A novel algorithm for generating complex CMOS gates from Boolean factored forms is presented. It uses a hierarchical composition of cells corresponding to the subexpressions of a Boolean factored form. Composition rules that allow for constructing the gates in linear time are derived. Cell width/height tradeoffs are made possible to ease pitch-matching. The algorithm has been coded in a pair of programs, called Castor and Pollux. The programs have been used to generate moderately complex layouts, consisting of circuits having up to a few thousand transistors. They can also be used to automatically generate a library of logic gates. >
NMR Characterization of a DNA Duplex Containing the Major Acrolein-derived Deoxyguanosine Adduct γ-OH-1,-N 2-Propano-2′-deoxyguanosine

The environmental and endogenous mutagen acrolein reacts with cellular DNA to produce several isomeric 1,N 2-propanodeoxyguanosine adducts. High resolution NMR spectroscopy was used to establish the structural features of the major acrolein-derived adduct, γ-OH-1,N 2-propano-2′-deoxyguanosine. In aqueous solution, this adduct was shown to assume a ring-closed form. In contrast, when γ-OH-1,N 2-propano-2′-deoxyguanosine pairs with dC at the center of an 11-mer oligodeoxynucleotide duplex, the exocyclic ring opens, enabling the modified base to participate in a standard Watson-Crick base pairing alignment. Analysis of the duplex spectra reveals a regular right-handed helical structure with all residues adopting an anti orientation around the glycosidic torsion angle and Watson-Crick alignments for all base pairs. We conclude from this study that formation of duplex DNA triggers the hydrolytic conversion of γ-OH-1,N 2-propano-2′-deoxyguanosine to an open chain form, a structure that facilitates pairing with dC during DNA replication and accounts for the surprising lack of mutagenicity associated with this DNA adduct.
Making Sound Adoption Decisions: A Longitudinal Study of Mindfulness in Technology Adoption and Continued Use

A lot of research has been conducted to study what drives people to adopt technologies. Yet, an equally, if not more, important question is how to make sound adoption decisions. This research investigates this question from a mindfulness perspective. Based on the mindfulness literature, this research defines mindfulness in the context of technology adoption and conceptualizes it as a multi-faceted formative factor. A research model of mindfulness is developed to delineate how mindfulness influences the soundness of technology adoption decisions, including the influence of mindfulness at both the adoption and post-adoption stages. The model was examined by a longitudinal empirical study and the data largely supported the model. The results suggest that mindfulness can help individuals make sound adoption decisions, which are somewhat crystallized at the post-adoption stage through high (i.e., positive) disconfirmation, user satisfaction, modified beliefs, and intention to continue. The results have implications for IS research and practices.
Molecular Diversity, Structure and Domestication of Grasses

Over the last 10,000 years, crop domestication has been the single most important human cultural development. Grasses are prominent among these crops, and provide the vast majority of the world's food. Similar traits have been selected during the domestication and breeding of these critically important grasses, and since they share a similar complement of genes, the same set of genes may have been selected. Even though the process of domestication occurred over the same 5000 to 10,000 year period, the domesticated grasses have major differences in genome structure, diversity, and life history. Molecular investigations of grass domestication have succeeded in identifying progenitor species and are beginning to catalog genetic resources. Additionally, research is now elucidating some of the basic processes by which crops have evolved over the last few millennia. In this review, we discuss our present knowledge of molecular diversity among the grass crops and relate that diversity to the genes involved in domestication and to yield gains. Understanding the connection between diversity and genome structure will be critical to future crop breeding.
Factors in Various Fractions of Meat Homogenates That Affect the Oxidative Stability of Raw Chicken Breast and Beef Loin

The fractions of meat homogenates were analyzed to find the factors that determine the susceptibility of raw chicken breast and beef loin to lipid oxidation. The fractions used in this study were meat homogenate, precipitate, and supernatant of homogenate after centrifugation, and high and low molecular weight fractions from the supernatant. Chicken breast showed greater oxidative stability than beef loin during 10-d storage (P < 0.05). All fractions from chicken breast showed lower amounts of free ionic iron and myoglobin and higher total antioxidant capacity (TAC) than those from beef loin during storage. The TAC level of chicken breast maintained during storage. This suggested that the oxidative stability of chicken breast was ascribed to high, stable total antioxidant capacity with low level of catalysts for lipid oxidation. The water-soluble high molecular weight fraction, which contained myoglobin, was responsible for the high lipoxygenase-like activity and lipid oxidation potential (LOP) in beef loin. TAC in all fractions from beef loin decreased during storage. This suggested that high myoglobin content in beef loin caused the imbalance between pro- and antioxidant factors leading to the high susceptibility of beef loin to lipid oxidation. Myoglobin served a major source of catalysts, ferrylmyoglobin, hematin, and/or free ionic iron, for lipid oxidation.
On the evolution of the wake structure produced by a low-aspect-ratio pitching panel.

Flow visualization is used to interrogate the wake structure produced by a rigid flat panel of aspect ratio (span/chord) 0.54 pitching in a free stream at a Strouhal number of 0.23. At such a low aspect ratio, the streamwise vorticity generated by the plate tends to dominate the formation of the wake. Nevertheless, the wake has the appearance of a three-dimensional von Karman vortex street, as observed in a wide range of other experiments, and consists of horseshoe vortices of alternating sign shed twice per flapping cycle. The legs of each horseshoe interact with the two subsequent horseshoes in an opposite-sign, then like-sign interaction in which they become entrained. A detailed vortex skeleton model is proposed for the wake formation.
Perforin-2 is essential for intracellular defense of parenchymal cells and phagocytes against pathogenic bacteria

An effective defense against foreign invaders is fundamental to an organism's survival. It is likely that immunity began to develop shortly after the emergence of Earth's first single-celled organisms and a remnant of that distant past still exists in our present day immune system in the form of Perforin-2. This ancient protein has been highly conserved throughout evolution from sea sponges to humans. Some studies have suggested that Perforin-2 may have an antimicrobial role in invertebrates (including clams, mussels, and snails) and fish. However, its mechanism of killing and its role in the mammalian immune systems has remained largely unknown. McCormack et al. now report that Perforin-2 is a crucial component of host defense against a wide spectrum of infectious bacteria in both mice and humans. This was shown when mice lacking Perforin-2 died from bacterial infections that are not normally lethal. Somewhat unexpectedly, other bactericidal molecules were also found to be less effective in the absence of Perforin-2. This indicates that Perforin-2 is required for the activity of multiple aspects of the mammalian immune system. McCormack et al. demonstrated that Perforin-2 kills by punching holes in bacteria. Unlike other pore-forming proteins that are only present in specific cells, all mammalian cells can express Perforin-2. McCormack et al. also showed that when Perforin-2 is produced at optimal levels, cells are able to combat otherwise lethal, drug-resistant bacteria, including methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). This means that Perforin-2 provides a rapid self-defense mechanism for cells against bacterial invaders. The protein's dual role as a pore-forming protein and a supporter of other antibacterial molecules is unprecedented. In the future, these findings could inform the development of treatments that activate and optimize Perforin-2 production to target and eradicate bacterial infections.
Cultural, Institutional, And Economic Factors Inhibiting The Transition From Tobacco Cultivation To Alternative Forms Of Agriculture In South Central Appalachia

A series of preliminary investigations indicated the strong need for alternatives for tobacco farming. Progressive elements in the communities where the study took place often suggested that this particular economic development issue should be a leading or critical priority. Nevertheless, when the issue was put to communities at large in subsequent community sustainability studies, there was little enthusiasm among the populace for alternative agriculture initiatives. The study reported here involved interviews with thirteen tobacco growers, two intermediaries who have grown tobacco themselves and worked among the farmers for many years, and representatives of three entities that have demonstrated success in alternate methods. The results indicate that there are substantial institutional, economic, and psychological barriers to grower adaption. The most important institutional barriers are the concentration in retailing and the development of highly centralized buying offices. The most significant economic barriers are the high start-up costs and variable nature of returns. Finally, the most salient cultural barrier is a learned helplessness resulting from years of isolation from market forces and an under educated and aging populace in farm communities.
Hyperglycemia-Mediated Oxidative Stress Increases Pulmonary Vascular Permeability.

Objective Hyperglycemia in diabetes mellitus is associated with endothelial dysfunction as evidenced by increased oxidative stress and vascular permeability. Whether impaired glucose control in metabolic syndrome impacts pulmonary vascular permeability is unknown. We hypothesized that in metabolic syndrome, hyperglycemia increases lung vascular permeability through superoxide. Methods Lung capillary Kf and vascular superoxide were measured in the isolated lungs of LZ and OZ rats. OZ were subjected to 4 weeks of metformin treatment (300 mg/kg/day orally) to improve insulin sensitivity. In a separate experiment, lung vascular permeability and vascular superoxide were measured in LZ exposed to acute hyperglycemia (30 mM). Results As compared to LZ, OZ had impaired glucose and insulin tolerance and elevated vascular superoxide which was associated with an elevated lung Kf. Chronic metformin treatment in OZ improved glucose control and insulin sensitivity which was associated with decreased vascular oxidative stress and lung Kf. Acute hyperglycemia in isolated lungs from LZ increased lung Kf, which was blocked with the nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) oxidase inhibitor, apocynin (3 mM). Apocynin also decreased baseline Kf in OZ. Conclusions These data suggest that hyperglycemia in metabolic syndrome exacerbates lung vascular permeability through increases in vascular superoxide, possibly through NADPH oxidase.
The Chaos of Competition Indicated by Consumer Reports

Is quality associated with price? Do products maintain the same degree of association between price and quality over time? Do particular brands of products maintain their quality-price position rel...
A Stochastic Asset Life Prediction Method for Large Fleet Datasets in Big Data Environment

Preventing catastrophic failures is the most important task of prognostics and health management approaches in industry where Remaining Useful Life (RUL) prediction plays a significant role to schedule required preventive actions. Regarding recent advances and trends in data analysis and in Big Data environment, industries with such foreseeing approach are able to maintain their fleet of assets more efficiently with higher assurance. To address this requirement, several physics-based and data-driven methods have been developed to predict the remaining useful life of various engineering systems. In current paper, we present a simple, yet accurate stochastic method for data-driven RUL prediction of complex engineering system. The approach is constructed based on selecting the most significant parameters from raw data by using the improved distance evaluation method as feature selection algorithms. Subsequently, the health value of units is assessed by logistic regression and the assessment output is used in a Monte Carlo simulation to estimate the remaining useful life of the desired system. During Monte Carlo iterations, several features are extracted to help filtering less accurate estimations and improve the overall prediction accuracy. The proposed algorithm is validated in two ways. First of all, the accuracy of RUL prediction is measured by applying the method to 2008 PHM data challenge gas-turbine dataset. Subsequently, gradual changes in RUL prediction of a particular test unit are measured to verify the behavior of the algorithm upon availability of additional historical data.Copyright © 2015 by ASME
Childhood adversity reprograms gene expression

Daily news reports remind us that of the nearly 5 million refugees from war-torn Syria, half are children. These highly vulnerable members of society are now at greater risk of becoming ill, malnourished, exploited, or abused. Furthermore, childhood adversity is the most commonly observed risk
Butyl ester preparation for gas-liquid chromatographic determination of fatty acids in butter

Butter oil is extracted from butter with hexane, using a rolling boil technique. The resulting 10% butter oil in hexane is converted to butyl esters, using butanol in place of methanol as specified in the official final action method, 28.063-28.067. A water wash and centrifuge technique is used to remove butanol from the n-hexane-butyl ester solution. Conversions to butyl esters are quantitative by the boron trifluoride, sulfuric acid, and sodium butoxide procedures. When methyl ester methods are used, there are serious losses of the short chain volatile and water-soluble acids, making the methyl ester procedures questionable for determining the authenticity of milk fat.
Several Crossed Treatment Factors

When an experiment involves three or more treatment factors, the presence of high order interactions must be considered. Completely randomized designs for such factorial experiments form the topic of this chapter. Several different models are examined and, in the case of equal sample sizes per treatment combination, formulas for confidence intervals and hypothesis tests are developed. Since the total number of treatment combinations can become large, methods are presented for analyzing experiments with a single observation per treatment combination and no degrees of freedom for error. The concepts introduced in this chapter are illustrated through a real experiment and with the use of SAS and R software.
Frailty in HIV: Epidemiology, Biology, Measurement, Interventions, and Research Needs

Frailty is a critical aging-related syndrome marked by diminished physiologic reserve and heightened vulnerability to stressors, predisposing to major adverse clinical outcomes, including hospitalization, institutionalization, disability, and death in the general population of older adults. As the proportion of older adults living with HIV increases in the era of antiretroviral therapy, frailty is increasingly recognized to be of significant clinical and public health relevance to the HIV-infected population. This article reviews current knowledge on the epidemiology and biology of frailty and its potential role as a target for reducing disparities in outcomes in HIV; conceptual frameworks and current approaches to frailty measurement; existing data on frailty interventions; and important areas for future research focus necessary to develop and advance effective strategies to prevent or ameliorate frailty and its marked adverse consequences among people living with HIV.
The Rising Price of Naloxone - Risks to Efforts to Stem Overdose Deaths.

As experts and public officials have called for expanding the use of naloxone to reverse opioid overdoses, its price has risen dramatically. Though its relatively slow adoption may be due largely to stigma and lack of familiarity, another reason may be the cost.
A Shortcut Approach to the Multi-scale Atomic Targeting and Design of C–H–O Symbiosis Networks

Eco-industrial parks “EIPs” are aimed at integrating natural resources among different participating plants. A particularly important category of EIPs involves hydrocarbon processes where intermediate species and environmental discharges may be exchanged and/or transformed to other chemical species so as to reduce the purchase of fresh raw materials and the disposal of wastes. The problem of synthesizing carbon-hydrogen-oxygen symbiosis networks (CHOSYNs) has been recently introduced along with a mathematical programming approach for the optimal design (Noureldin and El-Halwagi 2015). In this paper, a shortcut approach is developed to solve the problem of CHOSYN synthesis. Multi-scale atomic targeting is used to establish benchmarks for the carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen atoms, for the external chemical species to be purchased and discharged, and for the chemical reactions transforming the involved compounds into value-added feedstocks, intermediates, and products. Because of the algebraic nature of the devised approach, it can be readily used by process engineers and can also be used as a starting point for the mathematical programming techniques. A case study is solved in details to illustrate the implementation of the proposed approach.
LCA for Green Chemical Synthesis—Terephthalic Acid

Researchers at the University of Kansas Center for Environmentally Beneficial Catalysis recently reported a one-step spray process concept as a greener alternative to the conventional Mid-Century process to produce high-purity terephthalic acid (TPA) (< 25 ppm 4-carboxybenzaldehyde). In the spray process, the enhanced gas–liquid mass transfer rates help to avoid oxygen starvation in the liquid phase, thereby facilitating the formation of polymer-grade TPA without the need for the subsequent hydrogenation step used in conventional processing. This provides not only significant economic benefit but also potential environmental benefits as revealed by comparative life-cycle assessments (LCAs). The environmental benefits are derived mainly from the avoidance of hydrogen production and the energy required for hydrogenation step for crude TPA purification in the conventional process, resulting in an approximately 57% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. The results of the LCA analysis provide valuable guidance for the rational design and optimization of the spray process.
Synthesis and characterization of colloidal ZnTe nanocrystals and ZnTe/ZnSe quantum dots

Quantum dots (QDs) emitting in the visible are of interest for many biomedical applications, including bioimaging, biosensing, drug targeting, and photodynamic therapy. However, a significant limitation is that QDs typically contain cadmium, which makes prospects for their FDA approval very unlikely. Previous work has focused on InP and ZnO as alternative semiconductor materials for QDs. However, these nanoparticles have also been shown to be cytotoxic. High-efficiency luminescent ZnTe-based QDs could be a reasonable alternative to Cd-containing QDs. In this paper, we present preliminary results of our recent studies of ZnTe-based QDs, including their synthesis, structural characterization, and optical properties.
Exploiting semantic patterns over biomedical knowledge graphs for predicting treatment and causative relations.

Background Identifying new potential treatment options for medical conditions that cause human disease burden is a central task of biomedical research. Since all candidate drugs cannot be tested with animal and clinical trials, in vitro approaches are first attempted to identify promising candidates. Likewise, identifying different causal relations between biomedical entities is also critical to understand biomedical processes. Generally, natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning are used to predict specific relations between any given pair of entities using the distant supervision approach. Objective To build high accuracy supervised predictive models to predict previously unknown treatment and causative relations between biomedical entities based only on semantic graph pattern features extracted from biomedical knowledge graphs. Methods We used 7000 treats and 2918 causes hand-curated relations from the UMLS Metathesaurus to train and test our models. Our graph pattern features are extracted from simple paths connecting biomedical entities in the SemMedDB graph (based on the well-known SemMedDB database made available by the U.S. National Library of Medicine). Using these graph patterns connecting biomedical entities as features of logistic regression and decision tree models, we computed mean performance measures (precision, recall, F-score) over 100 distinct 80–20% train-test splits of the datasets. For all experiments, we used a positive:negative class imbalance of 1:10 in the test set to model relatively more realistic scenarios. Results Our models predict treats and causes relations with high F-scores of 99 % and 90 % respectively. Logistic regression model coefficients also help us identify highly discriminative patterns that have an intuitive interpretation. We are also able to predict some new plausible relations based on false positives that our models scored highly based on our collaborations with two physician co-authors. Finally, our decision tree models are able to retrieve over 50% of treatment relations from a recently created external dataset. Conclusions We employed semantic graph patterns connecting pairs of candidate biomedical entities in a knowledge graph as features to predict treatment/causative relations between them. We provide what we believe is the first evidence in direct prediction of biomedical relations based on graph features. Our work complements lexical pattern based approaches in that the graph patterns can be used as additional features for weakly supervised relation prediction.
The Role of Language in Nonlinguistic Stimuli: Comparing Inhibition in Children With Language Impairment.

Purpose There is conflicting evidence regarding if and how a deficit in executive function may be associated with developmental language impairment (LI). Nonlinguistic stimuli are now frequently us...
Equipment and Configuration

Table 6 shows the first stage of equipment employed in the communications system. Obviously, there is no room available for additional terminals or functions. This is one of the serious problems we faced as the system began to expand. The computer equipment, terminals, and software are all produced by Diversified Numeric Applications and the software is written in Medcoder assembly language.
Contact Scrotal Thermography: Application to Problems Of Infertility

Traditionally, studies on the relationship between scrotal or testicular temperature and infertility have concerned patients with varicoceles. However, some varicoceles are difficult to palpate and, in fact, there now appears to be an entity called subclinical varicocele. These data have led to the development of a new diagnostic tool, a contact thermography camera, which is inexpensive in comparison to infrared thermography units, is portable and provides consistent permanent recordings of scrotal temperature. The initial use of this camera in 30 patients seen in an infertility clinic is reported.
The Impact of Homeownership on the Life Satisfaction of African-Americans

The federal government has begun to move homeownership to the center of US housing policy. Economic recovery and minority homeownership programs have increased African-American homeownership to an all-time high in 1999. A primary assertion of homeownership advocates is that the life satisfaction of owner-occupiers is greater than that of renters. However, there is little literature to support this assertion, and little is known about whether homeownership is related to life satisfaction among African-Americans. This study tests that hypothesis and evaluates whether the impact of homeownership on life satisfaction is mediated by housing quality, residential stability, perceived neighborhood safety, and neighborhood social relations. A path analysis indicates that homeownership has direct impacts on the life satisfaction of AfricanAmericans, but that indirect relationships do not exist. Homeownership does, however, have positive impacts on housing quality, residential stability, neighborhood safety and social relations. Implications of these findings for housing policy and research are provided.
Acute glutaraldehyde mucosal injury of the upper aerodigestive tract due to damage to the working channel of an endoscope.

Objectives: Glutaraldehyde (Cidex) is a commonly used agent for cold sterilization of endoscopes despite its known irritative, allergic, and carcinogenic potential. This report details the clinical course of 2 patients who suffered acute glutaraldehyde exposure during office injection procedures. Methods: Clinical records of 2 outpatients undergoing office injection procedures were reviewed. One patient underwent bilateral injections of hydroxyapatite, and I underwent voice gel injection. Results: Both patients developed acute mucosal injury in the form of supraglottitis and laryngitis. Both patients required inpatient admission with airway monitoring (1 requiring admission to the intensive care unit) and were treated with steroids and antibiotics. The same channel endoscope was used for both procedures and was noted after careful examination to have retained glutaraldehyde inside the scope due to a perforation of the lining of the working channel. Conclusions: Glutaraldehyde can cause acute mucosal injury to supraglottic and glottic structures, and diligent procedures must be maintained for flushing the channels and monitoring glutaraldehyde retention in the channels. Great care should be taken to avoid damage to the lining of working channels from instrumentation.
Examining the Influence of Internal Service Characteristics on Social Benefits of Multimodal Transit

Recent research has demonstrated that certain transit planning decisions about internal performance factors appeared to serve as successful strategies for improving transit ridership and productivity. However, the research has not assessed overall social benefits or the operating and capital costs of implementing such strategies. The influence of several transit performance factors, internal and external, on the annual net benefits generated by 13 U.S. bus and light rail transit systems was investigated with data from 2001 to 2011. The evaluation started with a benefit–cost analysis, which estimated net benefits (equal to agency revenues plus indirect social benefits minus operating and capital costs). Then, the statistical relationship between specific performance factors and the average net benefits generated by the systems studied was evaluated with a panel regression model. Results indicated that high frequency and service density positively influenced net benefits, but network decentralization (i.e.,...
Performance Isolation of Data-Intensive Scale-out Applications in a Multi-tenant Cloud

Data-intensive applications often suffer from performance variability and degradation in the cloud due to intrinsically complex problem of performance interference that arises from multi-tenancy. Although application-level approach of straggler mitigation for scale-out data processing frameworks such as MapReduce and Spark, address the issue to some extent, they incur extra resource and often react after tasks have already slowed down. In this paper, we present PerfCloud, a novel system software that utilizes system level performance metrics for early detection of performance interference in a multi-tenant cloud, and provides non-invasive performance isolation through fine-grained resource control. Unlike existing works, PerfCloud does not require time-consuming workload profiling, or intrusive modification of the application framework and the operating system. We implemented PerfCloud on NSF Cloud's Chameleon testbed using KVM for virtualization, and OpenStack for cloud management. Experimental results with Hadoop MapReduce and Spark benchmarks show that PerfCloud effectively reduces their job completion time, decreases performance variability, and improves resource utilization efficiency while minimizing the performance degradation of other colocated VMs.
The Utility of 3D Digital Image Correlation for Characterizing High-Rate Deformation

Digital image correlation has become a popular technique for making full-field measurements during high-rate mechanical testing, blast experiments, and shock loading; however, limited work to date has been done to evaluate the fidelity of this diagnostic tool. The aim of this work is to understand the underlying elements of uncertainty that affect the collected data. A methodology is presented for characterizing imaging system resolution and quantifying error when measuring out-of-plane displacements. High-velocity impact experiments were then performed on 6.35 mm thick aluminum disks to demonstrate the efficacy of digital image correlation when characterizing a ballistic impact.
Participation, Boycott, and Protest in Authoritarian Elections

This chapter develops the theory of opposition strategy and sets out the conditions under which an opposition group will choose to participate in or boycott an election, and when the opposition will choose to protest following an unsuccessful boycott. The opposition’s calculus to participate, boycott, or protest, Buttorff argues, is influenced by its beliefs in the strength of the regime and the possibility of obtaining reform with the contentious strategies of boycott and protest. Importantly, the theory developed in this chapter redirects the focus away from proximal electoral variables to wider structural and institutional factors that influence opposition strategic choice. The chapter also explores how the theory can explain several important theoretical and empirical puzzles, including why opposition groups participate in elections they are bound to lose and the variation in opposition strategies across elections despite consistently unfair electoral processes.
Binary small molecule organic nanoparticles exhibit both direct and diffusion-limited ultrafast charge transfer with NIR excitation

Here we describe a facile, one-step synthesis of a binary organic nanoparticle composed completely of NIR-absorbing small molecules, a quatterylene diimide and a vanadyl napthalocyanine, using Flash Nanoprecipitation. We show that the molecules are co-encapsulated within an amphiphilic block copolymer shell by observing distinct ultrafast dynamics in the binary nanoparticles compared to nanoparticles of their individual components, which we rationalize as a photoinduced charge transfer. We then draw similarities between the charge transfer dynamics studied in our system and the charge dissociation process in macroscale organic bulk heterojunction blends for OPV applications by assigning the ultrafast time component (∼10 ps) to direct interfacial charge transfer and the slow component (70–200 ps) to diffusion limited charge transfer. This discovery can inspire the development of mixed-composition nanoparticles with new functionality for optoelectronic and theranostic applications.
Physical activity after mild traumatic brain injury: What are the relationships with fatigue and sleep quality? Is physical activity a key to prevention of post-concussive symptoms?

Acquired brain injury (ABI) in children and youth has been designated as a neglected area in medicine and a ‘silent’ epidemic.1 Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a common injury during childhood and youth and one of the leading causes of death and disability. The estimated yearly incidence in western countries is 225–296 per 100.0000 for the age group 15–25 years.1,2 The majority of injuries (>95%) are of mild severity and most children recover completely. However, it is now increasingly recognized that mild TBI (mTBI) may lead to persistent problems in up to 21% of children 12–24 months trauma.
Modeling the Effects of Resource-Driven Immune Defense on Parasite Transmission in Heterogeneous Host Populations

Individuals experience heterogeneous environmental conditions that can affect within-host processes such as immune defense against parasite infection. Variation among individuals in parasite shedding can cause some hosts to contribute disproportionately to population-level transmission, but we currently lack mechanistic theory that predicts when environmental conditions can result in large disease outbreaks through the formation of immunocompromised superspreading individuals. Here, I present a within-host model of a microparasite's interaction with the immune system that links an individual host's resource intake to its infectious period. For environmental scenarios driving population-level heterogeneity in resource intake (resource scarcity and resource subsidy relative to baseline availability), I generate a distribution of infectious periods and simulate epidemics on these heterogeneous populations. I find that resource scarcity can result in large epidemics through creation of superspreading individuals, while resource subsidies can reduce or prevent transmission of parasites close to their invasion threshold by homogenizing resource allocation to immune defense. Importantly, failure to account for heterogeneity in competence can result in under-prediction of outbreak size, especially when parasites are close to their invasion threshold. More generally, this framework suggests that differences in conditions experienced by individual hosts can lead to superspreading via differences in resource allocation to immune defense alone, even in the absence of other heterogeneites such as host contacts.
Preliminary assessment of the feasibility of autologous myeloid-derived suppressor cell infusion in non-human primate kidney transplantation.

Abstract Myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSC) are a heterogenous population of immunosuppressive myeloid cells now considered important immune regulatory cells in diverse clinical conditions, including cancer, chronic inflammatory disorders and transplantation. In rodents, MDSC administration can inhibit graft-versus-host disease lethality and enhance organ or pancreatic islet allograft survival. There is also evidence, however, that under systemic inflammatory conditions, adoptively-transferred MDSC can rapidly lose their suppressive function. To our knowledge, there are no reports of autologous MDSC administration to either human or clinically-relevant non-human primate (NHP) transplant recipients. Monocytic (m) MDSC have been shown to be more potent suppressors of T cell responses than other subsets of MDSC. Following their characterization in rhesus macaques, we have conducted a preliminary analysis of the feasibility and preliminary efficacy of purified mMDSC infusion into MHC-mismatched rhesus kidney allograft recipients. The graft recipients were treated with rapamycin and the high affinity variant of the T cell co-stimulation blocking agent cytotoxic T lymphocyte antigen 4 Ig (Belatacept) that targets the B7-CD28 pathway. Graft survival and histology were not affected by infusions of autologous, leukapheresis product-derived mMDSC on days 7 and 14 post-transplant (cumulative totals of 3.19 and 1.98 × 106 cells/kg in n = 2 recipients) compared with control monkeys that did not receive MDSC (n = 2). Sequential analyses of effector T cell populations revealed no differences between the groups. While these initial findings do not provide evidence of efficacy under the conditions adopted, further studies in NHP, designed to ascertain the appropriate mMDSC source and dose, timing and anti-inflammatory/immunosuppressive agent support are likely to prove instructive regarding the therapeutic potential of MDSC in organ transplantation.
Overlapping Shades of Blue: Exploring Police Officer, Supervisor, and Administrator Cultures of Police Integrity

This chapter explores the contours of police integrity across the police agencies’ hierarchical structure. Instead of relying on the traditional non-supervisor/supervisor dichotomy, we differentiate across three levels of the police hierarchy (line officers, first-line supervisors, and administrators). Our results, based on the 2013/2014 survey of 664 police officers from 11 U.S. police agencies, indicate that non-supervisors, first-line supervisors, and administrators had similar views about misconduct seriousness and similar assessments of police misconduct as rule violating. Compared to supervisors, non-supervisors thought that less severe discipline would be appropriate in the majority of the scenarios. At the same time, there were no statistically significant differences in the expected discipline among non-supervisors, first-line supervisors, and administrators. The greatest degree of heterogeneity among non-supervisors, first-line supervisors, and administrators was discovered in their expressed willingness to report. Non-supervisors were not only more likely to say that they would adhere to the code of silence themselves than the first-line supervisors and/or administrators, but they were also more likely to say that most police officers would do the same. The results of our analyses clearly demonstrate the need to include a more complex differentiation of the respondents’ rank and supervisory status into future studies.
Motile Bacteria at Oil-Water Interfaces: Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Bacteria are important examples of active or self-propelled colloids. Because of their directed motion, they accumulate near interfaces. There, they can become trapped and swim adjacent to the inte...
Large Compressor Motor Failure Due to Environmental Conditions

This paper covers the failure of a propane compressor synchronous motor, 19,000HP, 13.2kV. The damage extent in the motor was sever, causing a stator ground fault and a rotor mechanical damage. The main findings extracted concluded that the rotor material failed due to Stress Corrosion Cracking (SCC). Accordingly, excessive corrosion and dirt ingress was internally visible inside the machine enclosure. This was abnormal for motors enclosure designed with Totally Enclosed Air-Air Cooled (TEAAC) type [2], which prevents any direct interaction between the machine internal cooling air and outside environment. A detailed inspection was conducted on the dismantled machine where water leaks were traced inside the heat exchanger, where it was found to be coming from gaps between the heat exchanger tubes and the enclosure wall. These gaps exposed the motor’s internal parts to the outside corrosive environment in the form of water, fine dust and moisture reaching inside of the motor by the forced air caused by the cooling fans. This paper will address the failure in details, which also explains the importance of having a Totally Enclosed enclosure in an environment such as the Middle East, as opposed the open WP-II enclosures commonly used around the world.
SOLUBLE FMS-LIKE TYROSINE KINASE-1 (SFLT-1) IS ASSOCIATED WITH SUBCLINICAL AND CLINICAL ASCVD: THE DALLAS HEART STUDY

Soluble Fms-like tyrosine kinase-1 (sFlt-1) plays a role in angiogenesis, atherogenesis, and preeclampsia but associations with subclinical atherosclerosis and clinical events in healthy adults are unknown. Participants from the Dallas Heart Study with sFlt-1 measured were included (n=3932).
Chapter 12 – Electronic Structure

Publisher Summary The electronic structures of the crystalline phases are expected to be closely related to the electronic levels of the isolated fullerene molecules. The electronic structure for the solid is considered from both the standpoint of a highly correlated molecular solid and as a one-electron band solid. Theoretical work on the electronic structure of fullerenes had relied heavily on comparisons of these calculations with photoemission experiments, because, in principle, photoemission and inverse photoemission experiments are, respectively, sensitive to the HOMO (highest occupied molecular orbital) and LUMO (lowest unoccupied molecular orbital) electronic densities of states. Several models for the electronic structure of fullerene molecules have been developed, ranging from one-electron Hiickel calculations or tight-binding models to first principles models. While sophisticated models yield somewhat more quantitative agreement with optical, photoemission, and other experiments sensitive to the electronic structure, the simple Hiickel models lead to the same level ordering near the Fermi level and for this reason are often used for physical discussions of the electronic structure.
UC Davis Train-the-Trainer Primary Care Pain Management Fellowship: Addressing the Pain Management Education Gap.

Problem Primary care providers are responsible for the majority of pain care and opioid prescribing, but they are often inadequately trained. Training current providers to address the crisis of excessive opioid prescribing and inadequate pain management is a substantial workforce problem that requires urgent action. This educational need is vast and requires a staged solution to amplify its effect. Approach The University of California Davis Train-the-Trainer (T3) Primary Care Pain Management Fellowship targets the most pressing topics related to pain management, including prescription drug abuse, responsible opioid prescribing, and substance abuse, as well as broad coverage of comprehensive pain management. It offers an innovative, scalable solution to address the education gap in pain management that, in part, fuels the opioid epidemic in the United States. The T3 Fellowship incorporates a competency-based curriculum and a hybrid educational model of in-person and distance-based learning and direct faculty-fellow mentoring to comprehensively train primary care providers in pain care and prepare them to train others. Since it was established in 2017, 2 cohorts (of 17 and 26 fellows, respectively) have completed the 10-month fellowship and a third cohort of 38 fellows started the program in September 2019. Outcomes Pre- and post-program surveys for the first 2 cohorts, and a 6-month post-program survey for the first cohort, demonstrated fellows' improvement and sustained performance in pain competencies as well as increased recognition and understanding of pain and related topics. Next steps If adopted by other institutions and expanded across the country, the T3 Fellowship holds potential for developing an ever-growing legion of trained professionals who will locally fill the need for effective pain management, including appropriate opioid prescribing. Advancing this model will require further economic and feasibility studies to assess costs, resources, and other variables, as well as a robust comprehensive outcomes program.
The Curious Case of Competition Law and Health Equity

Healthcare markets have started being created in Europe. Indeed, some countries, such as the UK, have introduced competitive forces in their health systems as a means to improve their efficiency and quality. The role of competition in healthcare is a hotly debated topic with some considering it “anathema” and others seeing it as “a magic bullet”. Aiming to spark this heated, albeit unsettled, debate, this article raises an additional concern: it contends that when competitive forces are introduced into a health system, the main actors involved in the provision of healthcare, mainly physicians acting either as gatekeepers or purchasers of healthcare services may enter into agreements that restrict competition among healthcare providers with a view to protecting equity and access to care. Shining a light on these antitrust concerns, this article asks the wider question: should competition authorities in Europe consider in their competition analysis the core objectives their health systems strive to attain, such as equity? How and to what extent can the antitrust enforcers integrate distributive concerns into their competition assessment on the basis of article 101 TFEU?