cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A general method for nonlinear descriptor systems: an example from robotic path control

Several techniques for analyzing descriptor systems by utilizing information in derivative arrays have been proposed. The author considers their application to a descriptor system arising in robotic path control. Computational speedup, attainable accuracy, and other numerical considerations are examined. >
A minimal model to simulate dynamics of initial vergence component

According to the dual-mode theory, the two different dynamic components seen in the step response of disparity vergence eye movements are under separate control mechanisms. The initial, fast rising component is controlled by an open loop, preprogrammed system while the later, slow component is feedback controlled. The ability to separate the two components, or to isolate the initial component, is critical to the study of both control systems. To approach this goal, a simple open-loop control model, containing four independently adjustable parameters, was designed to simulate the disparity vergence movement. This model provided a substantial simplification of the control system, yet demonstrated remarkable accuracy in its ability to simulate the dynamic details of the initial component vergence response.
Orbital tuberculosis in childhood with intracranial extension: a case report

The common causes of orbital masses in pediatric age group include pseudotumour, lymphomas, hemangioma and dermoid cyst. Orbital tuberculosis is rare especially in children. We report a case of 5 year old child who presented with proptosis and gross diminution of vision due to orbital tuberculoma. Ocular examination of the left eye revealed proptosis with the eyeball displaced downwards and forwards. Vision was counting finger close to face. CT Scan showed an extraconal soft tissue mass along posteromedial side of left orbit with lateral displacement of medial rectus muscle. On antitubercular treatment, proptosis regressed and visual recovery was observed over a period of six month vision, in the left eye at the last followup was 20/30.
A study of dynamic behavior of a recurrent neural network for control

The dynamic behavior of a two-neuron recurrent network formulated from biological observations is studied. Different parameters that will affect the dynamic behavior of the network include decaying constant, synaptic weight, initial state of neuron, input to the system, and the activation function. The issues of stability, equilibrium state, and convergence time are explored. The convergence time is affected by the choice of decaying constant. In addition, the discontinuous activation function presents several favorable features over the continuous sigmoid function from the control point of view. Because of the discontinuity, equilibrium state can be separated into active region and inactive region. The active region can be triggered through the excitatory input, if the initial state is in the inactive region. The state of the equilibrium point is 'directly modulated by the input, which implies a unique input-output relationship. >
Adhesion and guidance in compatible pollination

The mechanisms of compatible pollination are less studied than those of incompatible pollination and yet most of the angiosperms show self-compatibility. From the release of pollen from anthers to the penetration of the micropyle by the pollen tube tip, there are numerous steps where the interaction between pollen and the pistil can be regulated. Recent studies have documented some diverse ways in which pollen tubes carrying sperm cells are guided to the ovules through the pistil extracellular matrices of the transmitting tract. What is still missing is an understanding of pollen tube cell biology in vivo. A recent finding supports the role of the synergids in the crucial guidance cue for the pollen tube tip at the micropyle, but experimental evidence for other 'guidepost' cells in the pistil is still lacking. The fact that the pollen tube must first travel through the matrices of the stigma and style before it can respond to the cue from the ovule makes it likely that there is a hierarchy of signalling events in pollen-pistil interactions starting at the stigma and ending at the micropyle. On the pistil side, several model systems have been used in the discovery of molecules implicated in either physical or chemical guidance. In lily, which has a hollow style, adhesion molecules (pectin and SCA) are implicated in guidance. SCA alone is also capable of inducing pollen chemotropism in an in vitro assay, suggesting that this peptide plays a dual role in lily pollination: chemotactic in the stigma and haptotactic (adhesion mediated) in the style.
Comparing throughput and power consumption in both sequential and reconfigurable processors

Recent improvements in the memory capacity of Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) have spurred interest in using the devices for arithmetic floating-point operations. However, adapting a program designed to run on a sequential processor to be run instead on an FPGA can be time-consuming and difficult for anyone lacking significant experience in hardware design. In this paper we use a high-level language (HLL)-Mitrion-C 1.4-to reduce some of this effort. Using this language we implemented on an FPGA two computations taken from a ray-tracing simulation. They were functionally identical to programs we implemented on a sequential processor. We measured throughput and power consumption for both implementations of each computation on a Cray-XD1 system. In the worst case, we achieved a 10times speedup using FPGAs over sequential processors at a cost of 1.3times the power.
Dystroglycan expression in the developing and senescent gerbil cochlea

Abstract Dystroglycan (DG) forms part of a cell surface laminin receptor complex and is believed to play a critical role in the assembly and homeostasis of basement membranes (BM). The receptor complex is made up of α- and β-DG subunits and is found in muscle, epithelial and nerve tissue. In the cochlea, DG may be involved in the abnormal accumulation of laminin seen in the thickened BM of strial capillaries with age. This excess deposition of laminin is thought to lead to capillary necrosis and contribute to degeneration of the stria vascularis (SV). Here we assessed the presence and distribution of DG in the developing, mature and senescent gerbil cochlea in order to ascertain whether altered patterns of expression are a factor in age-related pathology. Western blots of proteins isolated from the entire cochlea demonstrated the presence of the α-DG subunit. mRNA encoding DG was identified in microdissected specimens of the lateral wall and the combined organ of Corti/modiolus by RT-PCR analysis. Immunohistochemical experiments localized α-DG in epithelial BMs and regions of epithelial cell–cell contact with no intervening BM in the developing and mature cochlea. Immunoreactive α-DG was present in the BM underlying strial capillaries and in vessels of the central portion of the auditory nerve, but was not detected in any other vessels in the cochlea. Age-related changes in α-DG expression were observed only in the SV where a marked decrease in α-DG immunoreactivity was seen in the BM of strial capillaries as well as throughout the SV. The results demonstrate the selective expression of α-DG in both BM and non-BM sites in the mature cochlea and suggests its involvement in both developmental and aging processes.
Topography Influences Management System Effects on Total Soil Carbon and Nitrogen

Topography is one of the major factors affecting soil C and N contents at the field/landscape level. However, topographical effects are likely to differ in magnitude in different agricultural systems. The objective of this study was to examine the interactions between topography and management systems on soil C and N. The study was conducted at the Kellogg Biological Station Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) site in southwest Michigan. The studied treatments were chisel-plow (CT) and no-till (NT) with conventional chemical inputs and a chisel-plow organic management system with winter leguminous cover crops (CT-cover). At the 0- to 5-cm depth in both upperslope and valley positions total C and N contents of NT management were the highest followed by CT-cover and then CT. At 0- to 15-, 20- to 30-, and 30- to 40-cm depths, treatment effects varied depending on the landscape position. There were no differences among the treatments in upperslopes, while in the valleys total C and N tended to be the highest in NT and CT-cover followed by CT. The results indicated the importance of accounting for interaction between topography and management practices when assessing C sequestration across landscapes with varying topography. Total C stocks at the 0- to 30-cm depths were around 35,32, and 27 Mg C ha ― 1 soil (± 2 Mg C ha ― 1 standard error) in CT-cover, NT, and CT, respectively, across upperslopes and valleys. Overall, CT-cover was found to be as efficient in maintaining C and N content as no-till with conventional chemical inputs. Power analysis for C and N stocks at the 0- to 40-cm depth revealed that because of high variability in total C and N stocks at greater depths, the 10 to 30 samples per treatment available in this study were inadequate to detect differences in C and N stocks if thh differences were < 26 Mg C ha ― 1 .
Secondary Intraocular Lens Implantation

The visual, refractive, and surgical results with 190 consecutive secondary implantations of an anterior chamber intraocular lens were studied. Best-corrected postoperative visual acuity was either better than or within 1 Snellen line of best-corrected preoperative vision in 87% of the cases. Vision worsened by more than two Snellen lines in ten cases (5%), which included three cases of retinal detachment and one case of ischemic optic neuropathy; however, in only one case (0.5%) did we feel that the visual decrease was directly attributable to the secondary implantation procedure. We believe that secondary intraocular lens implantation can improve functional visual acuity in aphakic patients, especially those unable to tolerate aphakic correction with contact lenses or spectacles.
Eugenol modulation of the immune response in mice.

Abstract The effect of eugenol on selected parameters of the immune response of C57BL/6 mice was studied. In a dose-response study, eugenol at high doses completely inhibited the plaque-forming cell responses of splenocytes to the T-dependent antigen (sheep erythrocytes) both in vitro and in vivo. In vitro, at concentrations higher than 1.0 mM, eugenol was found to be cytotoxic. In vivo, however, at very low doses there appeared to be a suppression of the plaque-forming cell response to sheep erythrocytes, reaching maximal suppression at 0.1 μmol eugenol/kg mouse body weight. This was followed by enhancement of the response, peaking at 0.25 μmol eugenol/kg mouse body weight. These changes correlated fairly well with body weight changes. Thymic weights appeared to remain unchanged for all doses except the 1.0 μmol eugenol/kg body weight, which was significantly ( p p
Balint's syndrome and post-acute brain injury rehabilitation: a case report.

Background: Balint's syndrome includes the clinical symptom triad of simultagnosia, ocular apraxia and optic ataxia. These symptoms, in combination, are rare and can be quite debilitating as they impact visuospatial skills, visual scanning and attentional mechanisms.Case Study: The literature addressing rehabilitation of individuals with Balint's syndrome is sparse. The current case report describes the outcome of a 58-year old male who presented with Balint's syndrome secondary to severe traumatic brain injury and following completion of a comprehensive post-acute brain injury rehabilitation programme. The patient was 4-months post-injury onset upon admission and received 6 months of rehabilitation services as an inpatient. The patient's comprehensive rehabilitation programme involved a 3-pronged approach including the implementation of (a) compensatory strategies, (b) remediation exercises and (c) transfer of learned skills in multiple environments and situations with implementation of psychoeducation a...
Frequency and bias-dependent modeling of correlated base and collector current RF noise in SiGe HBTs using quasi-static equivalent circuit

This paper presents modeling of correlated RF noise in the intrinsic base and collector currents of SiGe heterojunction bipolar transistors using quasi-static equivalent circuits. The noises are first extracted from measured noise parameters using standard noise circuit analysis. Using the extraction results, model equations are proposed to describe both the frequency and bias dependence of the correlated noise sources using a single set of model parameters. The model is demonstrated using noise data from both measurement and microscopic noise simulation. The model is shown to work at frequencies up to at least half of the peak f/sub T/ and at biasing currents below high injection f/sub T/ rolloff.
Examining the Relationship Between Conspiracy Theories, Paranormal Beliefs, and Pseudoscience Acceptance Among a University Population

Summary Very little research has investigated whether believing in paranormal, conspiracy, and pseudoscientific claims are related, even though they share the property of having no epistemic warrant. The present study investigated the association between these categories of epistemically unwarranted beliefs. Results revealed moderate to strong positive correlations between the three categories of epistemically unwarranted beliefs, suggesting that believers in one type tended to also endorse other types. In addition, one individual difference measure, looking at differences in endorsing ontological confusions, was found to be predictive of both paranormal and conspiracy beliefs. Understanding the relationship between peoples' beliefs in these types of claims has theoretical implications for research into why individuals believe empirically unsubstantiated claims. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Evaluation of 39 medical implants at 7.0 T.

Objective:With increased signal to noise ratios, 7.0-T MRI has the potential to contribute unique information regarding anatomy and pathophysiology of a disease. However, concerns for the safety of subjects with metallic medical implants have hindered advancement in this field. The purpose of the present research was to evaluate the MRI safety for 39 commonly used medical implants at 7.0 T.Methods:Selected metallic implants were tested for magnetic field interactions, radiofrequency-induced heating and artefacts using standardized testing techniques.Results:5 of the 39 implants tested may be unsafe for subjects undergoing MRI at 7.0 T.Conclusion:Implants were deemed either “MR Conditional” or “MR Unsafe” for the 7.0-T MRI environment. Further research is needed to expand the existing database categorizing implants that are acceptable for patients referred for MRI examinations at 7.0 T.Advances in knowledge:Lack of MRI testing for common metallic medical implants limits the translational potential of 7.0-T...
Breeden Security, Inc. (A)

DO NOT EDIT CONTENT OF THIS CASE. IT MUST MATCH THE CAMBRIDGE BOOK VERSION (2009) EXACTLY. FORMATTING MAY BE UPDATED AS NECESSARY. Marlene Baer, the controller of Breeden Security USA, recognizes that grouping all manufacturing overhead costs together and allocating them to Breeden’s two products is not very accurate. She groups overhead costs by activity and then allocates them to the two products. The system resembles a simple activity-based costing system. It introduces the definition of activities, costing those activities, and computing product cost based on their use of the activities. The revised product costs are considerably different, and analyzing what causes the differences is important for discovering where ABC can provide valuable information. In addition, at the end of the year, profits have been reduced by the need to take care of a growing and increasingly complex packing and shipping activity. Baer defines a new activity (order handling), computes the cost per order, and begins to revise the data on product profitability and to develop data on customer profitability. Having discovered the high cost of handling each order, she now has good reason to work on activity-based management and the notion of customer profitability making that process more efficient, and perhaps more customer friendly. This is the second in a series of two cases that can be used to explore the evolution of cost systems. The main issues of the two cases are as follows: In the A case (UVA-C-2307), the company uses a traditional costing system. The main questions relate to breakeven analysis and the effect of inventory buildup on profit. The B case introduces the use of an activity-based costing system to allocate costs so that the company can assess both product and customer profitability. The two cases can be used in two classes or together in one class.
Developing an Understanding of Analytic Tradecraft in the Intelligence Community

Analytic tradecraft, how intelligence analysts do their job, has been cited in the literature, congressional hearings, and the press as an underlying reason for intelligence failures. Poor tradecraft in the US Intelligence Community (IC) generated enough interest that it was specifically addressed in the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 (IRTPA). The assumption within the IRTPA is that improving analytic tradecraft will result in fewer intelligence failures. Achieving those improvements without an understanding of what constitutes analytic tradecraft is, however, unlikely. Analytic tradecraft is an understudied and poorly understood concept and, not surprisingly, tradecraft reforms adopted as a result of legislative impetus have not changed the pattern of intelligence failures. The purpose of this paper is to describe a research effort being conducted as part of a doctoral program which will result in a better understanding of analytic tradecraft. This study is designed as a qualitative narrative study using Actor-Network Theory as the theoretical framework. Purposeful case sampling will be used with the intent to gain a representative mix of experience levels and IC agencies. Community wide reform in the IC is costly and in an era of declining budgets and fiscal austerity the nation should not expect to fund a reform effort based on incomplete research. As the IRTPA approaches 10 years of implementation and community wide tradecraft enforcement, there are few indications that these newly implemented community tradecraft standards have improved analysis. A more comprehensive understanding of how analysts approach intelligence problems and operate within their environment will help to identify shortfalls, tailor future improvements, and improve intelligence support to the nation.
Corporate Social Responsibility in a Globalizing World: What's a Christian Executive to Do?

Several years ago John Houck and Oliver Williams (1996) produced a book entitled Is the Good Corporation Dead? It was prompted by the question of whether globalization is changing?or worse?eliminating, our modern sense of corporate social responsibility (CSR). As is often the case with edited compilations, there was a range of opinions expressed, both about what defines CSR and what should be done to save it. But if there was a common theme, it was that while the "good" corporation is not dead, it is certainly facing new challenges because of globalization. To this I would add that new opportunities for CSR are emerging as well. Globalization is expanding the reach of even the smallest businesses, and with that comes the capacity to do great harm or great good. The CSR debate more often emphasizes the former; this essay will focus on the latter. Anyone familiar with the CSR debate knows that the only real dif ference between the concerns being raised today?corporate obligations toward employees and other stakeholders, the ethics of outsourcing, down sizing, and so on?and those raised in past decades, is the global nature of today's marketplace. Where once the debate focused on the ethicality of, for example, outsourcing certain stages of the production process to low wage states like South Carolina or Mississippi, now the sharpest criticism is reserved for those who use overseas sources.
Structurally Specific Heparan Sulfates Support Primitive Human Hematopoiesis by Formation of a Multimolecular Stem Cell Niche

Stem cell localization, conservation, and differentiation is believed to occur in niches in the marrow stromal microenvironment. Our recent observation that long-term in vitro human hematopoiesis requires a stromal heparan sulfate proteoglycan (HSPG) led us to hypothesize that such HSPG may orchestrate the formation of the stem cell niche. We compared the structure and function of HS from M2-10B4, a hematopoiesis-supportive cell line, with HS from a nonsupportive cell line, FHS-173-We. Long-term culture-initiating cell (LTC-IC) maintenance was enhanced by PG from supportive cells but not by PG from nonsupportive cells (P <.005). The supportive HS were significantly larger and more highly sulfated than the nonsupportive HS. Specifically, supportive HS contained higher 6-O-sulfation on the glucosamine residues. In agreement with these observations, purified 6-O-sulfated heparin and highly 6-O-sulfated bovine kidney HS similarly maintained LTC-IC. In contrast, completely desulfated heparin, N-sulfated heparin, and unmodified heparin did not support LTC-IC maintenance. Moreover, the supportive HS promoted LTC-IC maintenance but not differentiation of CD34(+)/HLA-DR- cells into colony-forming cells (CFCs) and mature blood cells. The supportive HS but not the nonsupportive HS bound both cytokines and matrix components critical for hematopoiesis, including interleukin-3 (IL-3), macrophage inflammatory protein-1 (MIP-1), and thrombospondin (TSP). Significantly more CD34(+) cells adhered directly to immobilized O-sulfated heparin than to N-sulfated or desulfated heparin. Thus, hematopoiesis-supportive stromal HSPG possessing large, highly 6-O-sulfated HS mediate the juxtaposition of hematopoietic progenitors with stromal cells, specific growth-promoting (IL-3) and growth-inhibitory (MIP-1 and platelet factor 4 [PF4]) cytokines, and extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins such as TSP. We conclude that the structural specificity of stromal HSPG that determines the selective colocalization of cytokines and ECM components leads to the formation of discrete niches, thereby orchestrating the controlled growth and differentiation of stem cells. These findings may have important implications for ex vivo expansion of and gene transfer into primitive hematopoietic progenitors.
Basic Issues of People-oriented——Connotation and Realizations of People-oriented Philosophy

The idea of "people-oriented" is interpreted in philosophy domain,which is the governance and development concept of the CPC Central Committee with Hu Jintao as general secretary.The concept of "people-oriented" reflects the philosophy quality of the dialectical unity of "persons and things",and the essence of it is to achieve sound and rapid development of human nature."People-oriented" is not only the inheritance and development of the Marxist ideology of science,but also the specific application of Marxist′s theory of human being's overall development.It is necessary to find out philosophical connotation of people-oriented,and explore the reality path of achieving people-oriented,which is the inevitable requirement of the times.
From meso-Lactide to Isotactic Polylactide: Epimerization by B/N Lewis Pairs and Kinetic Resolution by Organic Catalysts.

B/N Lewis pairs have been discovered to catalyze rapid epimerization of meso-lactide (LA) or LA diastereomers quantitatively into rac-LA. The obtained rac-LA is kinetically polymerized into poly(l-lactide) and optically resolved d-LA, with a high stereoselectivity kL/kD of 53 and an ee of 91% at 50.6% monomer conversion, by newly designed bifunctional chiral catalyst 4 that incorporates three key elements (β-isocupreidine core, thiourea functionality, and chiral BINAM) into a single organic molecule. The epimerization and enantioselective polymerization can be coupled into a one-pot process for transforming meso-LA directly into poly(l-lactide) and d-LA.
Weight Smoothing for Generalized Linear Models Using a Laplace Prior.

When analyzing data sampled with unequal inclusion probabilities, correlations between the probability of selection and the sampled data can induce bias if the inclusion probabilities are ignored in the analysis. Weights equal to the inverse of the probability of inclusion are commonly used to correct possible bias. When weights are uncorrelated with the descriptive or model estimators of interest, highly disproportional sample designs resulting in large weights can introduce unnecessary variability, leading to an overall larger mean square error compared to unweighted methods. We describe an approach we term ‘weight smoothing’ that models the interactions between the weights and the estimators as random effects, reducing the root mean square error (RMSE) by shrinking interactions toward zero when such shrinkage is allowed by the data. This article adapts a flexible Laplace prior distribution for the hierarchical Bayesian model to gain a more robust bias-variance tradeoff than previous approaches using normal priors. Simulation and application suggest that under a linear model setting, weight-smoothing models with Laplace priors yield robust results when weighting is necessary, and provide considerable reduction in RMSE otherwise. In logistic regression models, estimates using weight-smoothing models with Laplace priors are robust, but with less gain in efficiency than in linear regression settings.
Odyssey Overseas, 1913–27

To an African youth who had never traveled beyond the borders of Thembuland, journeying halfway around the world to the United States must have seemed like the adventure of a lifetime. Indeed it was. Although scores of South African blacks had already made their way to American educational institutions in the 20-odd years before 1913, each new contingent of students left their homeland not fully knowing what lay ahead. The image that 20 year old Alfred Xuma conjured up when he thought of the United States was a positive one. He envisioned America as a kind of promised land in which blacks could lift themselves up through the right combination ofeducation and self-help. In his quest for an American education, Xuma would discover more opportunities and face more challenges than most of his black South African predecessors in the States could have ever imagined.
Neuroimaging Advances in Alzheimer's Disease

Abstract Neuroimaging enables the detection of molecular to circuit-based events, allowing pathological features of neurological diseases to be observed alongside changes in brain structure and function. In this chapter, we use Alzheimer's disease as a model for exploring how neuroimaging can revolutionize the study of neurological disease, tie together in vivo human research with animal studies and neuropathology, and aid drug development and clinical practice. Our focus is on advances in magnetic resonance imaging and positron emission tomography. We describe how these imaging modalities can be used to distinguish Alzheimer's disease, characterize its development, and relate biological disease markers to cognitive decline. We conclude by showing how the integration of imaging and basic science research has furthered our understanding of Alzheimer's disease pathology and the mechanisms that govern its toxic spread.
Submicron diameter nickel filaments and their polymer-matrix composites

Discontinuous nickel filaments of diameter 0.4 μm and having a carbon core of diameter 0.1 μm were fabricated by electroplating nickel on discontinuous carbon filaments. They exhibited a grain size of 0.016 μm and electrical resistivity of about 5 × 10−6 Ω·cm. In an amount as low as 7 vol.% in a polymer (polyether sulfone) matrix, they resulted in a composite exhibiting electromagnetic interference shielding effectiveness of 87 dB and reflection coefficient 0.95 at 1–2 GHz, tensile strength 52 MPa, tensile ductility 1.0%, and density 1.87 g/cm3.
The Manager as Coach: The Role of Feedback Orientation

This study investigated the consequences of manager feedback orientation in the manager-as-coach process. Integrating theories of feedback and coaching, we examined the extent to which manager feedback orientation was related to indicators of effective coaching and subordinate feedback orientation. One hundred three manager–subordinate dyads participated in this study. Managers who value feedback for themselves (high feedback orientation) were viewed as better coaches as assessed through employee perceptions of coaching behaviors, the coaching relationship, and the feedback environment. Manager feedback orientation was also related to subordinate feedback orientation, and this relationship was mediated by the coaching effectiveness indicators. This study demonstrated that the coaching manager with higher feedback orientation is viewed as more effective than the coaching manager with lower feedback orientation. This study assesses previously untested theories of coaching and demonstrates the value of manager feedback orientation in the coaching process. This is the first study to integrate the feedback and coaching literatures to test derived hypotheses regarding feedback orientation in the manager-as-coach framework.
Study of the time-resolved, 3-dimensional current density distribution in solid metallic liners at 1 MA

We present a study of the time varying current density distribution in solid metallic liner experiments at the 1 MA level. Measurements are taken using an array of magnetic field probes which provide 2D triangulation of the average centroid of the drive current in the load at 3 discrete axial positions. These data are correlated with gated optical self-emission imaging which directly images the breakdown and plasma formation region. Results show that the current density is azimuthally non-uniform and changes significantly throughout the 100 ns experimental timescale. Magnetic field probes show clearly motion of the current density around the liner azimuth over 10 ns timescales. If breakdown is initiated at one azimuthal location, the current density remains non-uniform even over large spatial extents throughout the current drive. The evolution timescales are suggestive of a resistive diffusion process or uneven current distributions among simultaneously formed but discrete plasma conduction paths.
Crowd-Sourcing Real-World Human-Robot Dialogue and Teamwork through Online Multiplayer Games

100 AI MAGAZINE We envision the need for robots to be not only functional, but adaptable, robust to the diversity of human behaviors and speech patterns, and capable of acting in a both task and socially appropriate manner. Natural and diverse human-robot interaction (HRI) of this kind has been a long-standing goal for robotics research, and a broad range of approaches have been proposed for the development of robots that support diverse interactions. Among proposed techniques, variants that are dependent on hand-coded rule sets and probabilistic single-task policy learning methods have proven to be too brittle for interactive applications, failing to generalize over the diversity of possible inputs. Such systems typically force the user to adapt their method of interaction to fit the coded requirements of the robot. A different approach to creating more humanlike robotic systems has focused on imitating human cognitive processes by developing large scale cognitive architectures that support many modalities and interaction styles. While such systems have been shown to successfully support a broad range of interactions, they rely heavily on precoded data. For example, dialogue responses are typically limited to only one or two dozen phrases, which pales in comparison to the diversity of human speech. We believe that in order for robotic systems to become a truly ubiquitous technology, robots must make sense of natural human behavior and engage with humans in a more humanlike way. Robots must become more like humans instead of forcing humans to be more like robots. Much of human knowledge about the appropriateness of behavior, in terms of both speech and actions, comes from our personal experiences and our observations of others. Common
Research Priorities for Palliative Care for Older Adults with Advanced Chronic Kidney Disease

Abstract Older adults with advanced chronic kidney disease (CKD) often have multiple comorbid conditions, a high symptom burden, and limited life expectancy. There is mounting concern that the intensive patterns of care that many of these patients receive at the end of life are discordant with their values and preferences. The nephrology community has recognized that there are significant unmet palliative care needs in this population. In this article, we identify three broad areas of knowledge deficit where more evidence is needed to support the “best care possible” for this population: (1) what matters most to older adults with advanced CKD and their caregivers near the end of life; (2) how the nephrology community can best support older adults with advanced CKD to navigate complex treatment decisions throughout their illness; and (3) how the healthcare system should be reconfigured to promote patient- and family-centered care for older adults with advanced CKD. Research priorities include identifying o...
Social status and housing factors affect reproductive performance of pregnant sows in groups

Group-housing systems for pregnant sows are considered a welfare-promoting alternative to the individual stall. A major concern associated with pregnant sows housed in group pens is increased aggression at mixing and at feeding, which may cause chronic stress among some of the sows in the group due to low feed intake and social stress. Prolonged activation of the stress axis, based on elevated cortisol levels, may inhibit or impair reproductive success via disruption of the reproductive axis. Mixing sows into groups shortly after insemination evokes a stress response, which may affect fertilization and implantation due to sustained, elevated cortisol levels that disrupt reproductive processes. Yet, most studies reported minimal effects of group housing sows during pregnancy on reproduction or cortisol-related stress response. Differences between housing systems-in terms of group size, floor-space allowance, feeding system, and genetics-could account for these unexpected results. Indeed, interrupted feed intake, especially in early pregnancy, and sustained aggression in late pregnancy are two unfavorable social stresses that deserve special attention in order to achieve good reproductive performance. Unfortunately, most studies do not consider other factors, such as social rank and parity, which may interactively affect reproductive success and aggressive behavior of sows, especially in group-pen systems.
Variance-based digital logic for energy harvesting Internet-of-Things

In this paper we propose a novel approach for designing digital circuits that uses the variance of a signal to represent Boolean logic levels. The variance-based logic (VBL) representation enables embedding of rectification and multiplication modules within the basic logic cells and unlike AC-coupled or energy-recovery logic circuits the proposed approach obviates the need for any phase synchronization. As a result, VBL representation can be used for designing low-latency digital circuits that are directly powered by a combination of energy transducers with different frequency and source impedance characteristics. We present some representative examples of VBL circuits that can be implemented in a standard CMOS process and we present measurement results from fabricated prototype.
Midwives on the Margins: Stigma Management among Out-of-Hospital Midwives

Out-of-hospital midwives’ occupational practices can be interpreted as “dirty work” because of their responsibility to touch women’s genitals and the perceived danger of providing healthcare separa...
Predictors of First-Line Treatment Success in Children and Adolescents Visiting an Infusion Center for Acute Migraine.

OBJECTIVES To characterize a population of pediatric patients visiting an infusion center for acute migraine and determine predictors of first-line treatment success in this population. BACKGROUND Though migraine is common in the pediatric emergency department and specialized infusion centers, little is known about this patient population and whether or not clinical data can be used to predict treatment response. METHODS This was an observational study involving a retrospective analysis of data from visits to the Cincinnati Children's Hospital infusion center for treatment of an acute migraine. Data were extracted from a database and chart reviews were completed for missing or outlying data. Descriptive statistics were used to outline patient: sex, age, race, primary ICHD-III diagnosis, chronic migraine, medication overuse headache (MOH), headache frequency, month of treatment, headache severity, headache duration, use of acute medication at home in the past 24 hours and treatment received (metoclopramide vs prochlorperazine and dexamethasone vs no dexamethasone). The odds of success of first-line intervention were modeled using simple logistic regression with the above characteristics used as predictors. Predictors with a P value <.05 in the multiple logistic regression model with progressive backwards selection were entered into a final multiple logistic regression model controlling for age, sex and diagnosis, where a P value <.05 was considered statistically significant. RESULTS Data from 837 visits (n = 837) were included in this analysis. Visits were significantly more frequent in the academic year as compared to the summer (Z = 10.716, P < .0001). In the multiple logistic regression model, the odds of first-line treatment success decreased as headache frequency increased (OR = 0.951, 95% CI = 0.934-0.969, P < .0001), were higher for patients without MOH (OR = 1.528, 95% CI = 1.097-3.714, P = .0469), and were higher for patients who did not receive dexamethasone (OR = 1.528, 95% CI = 1.097-3.714, P = .0469). CONCLUSIONS Higher baseline headache frequency and presence of MOH may predict lower odds of treatment success after first-line intervention for pediatric migraine in the acute setting. These predictors may be useful in stratifying patients for treatment protocols and for planning future intervention studies.
Narratorhood in the Anthropocene: Strange Stranger as Narrator-Figure in The Road and Here

ABSTRACTThis essay develops a definition of a type of “narratorhood” specific to the Anthropocene. The concept of the strange stranger is adapted from Timothy Morton into narratological terms through an ecocritical perspective on unnatural narratology and the reading experience, arguing for an ethic of de-anthropomorphized reading that resists the interpretation of narrators as humanoids. Through analyses of Cormac McCarthy’s novel The Road and Richard McGuire’s graphic novel Here, this ethic is described as the encounter with a narrator-figure that is dialogic, radically indeterminate, and that foregrounds spatial juxtaposition and description over linear time and discourse representation.
Feminist Groups within Geography

This article outlines the main feminist groups working in geography today – their locations, constituencies, and goals. The article begins with a discussion of the only feminist geography group that is international by design and mission – the International Geographical Union’s (IGU) Commission on Gender and Geography – and then proceeds to outline feminist groups in various regions and countries throughout the world. What constitutes a feminist geography ‘group’ varies considerably by location, but for purposes of this article, will refer mainly to an organization, society, or other formalized group of academic geographers whose research and work advances feminist and/or gender geography, or women’s status in the discipline of geography. Though the essay attempts to cast a worldwide net around feminist groups, its discussion is limited to scholarship, communications, and other sources available in English, and to information retrieved through the US-based feminist geography electronic listserv, Geogfem, which has little membership from Latin America, Asia, or Africa.
Intelligent multimodal stream processing

This poster describes methods to enable intelligent access to multimodal information streams. We illustrate these methods in two integrated systems: the Broadcast News Editor (BNE) which incorporates image, speech, and language processing and the Broadcast News Navigator (BNN) which provides search, visualization and personalized access to broadcast news video. BNN enables users to perform keyword and named entity search, temporally and geospatially visualize entities and stories, cluster stories, discover entity relations, and obtain personalized multimedia summaries. By transforming access from sequential to direct search and providing hierarchical hyperlinked summaries, BNE and BNN enable users to access topics and entity news clusters nearly three times as fast as direct search of video.
Regulation and Modulation of the Function of p53

The p53 protein has a structure reminiscent of other factors involved in transcription.1–5 As discussed previously, strong evidence that wild-type p53 functions as a regulator of transcription has come from biochemical and biological studies demonstrating that the protein can repress the interleukin-6 (IL-6) gene and stimulate the expression of the mdm2, gadd45, and waf1/cip1 growth-regulatory genes, whose promoters contain a p53-binding site. Proteins may bind to p53 and regulate its DNA-binding and transcription activities in a fashion similar to that observed for other transcription factors, such as those belonging to the TFII,3,6–13 the AP-1,14–19 and the myc and max20,21 factor families.
RNA-Seq analysis of differentially expressed genes relevant to innate and adaptive immunity in cecropin P1 transgenic rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss).

In the past years, our laboratory successfully generated transgenic rainbow trout bearing cecropin P1 transgene. These fish exhibited resistant characteristic to infection by Aeromonas salmonicida, Infectious Hematopoietic Necrosis Virus (IHNV) and Ceratomyxa shasta (a parasitic pathogen). Previously, treating rainbow trout macrophage cells (RTS-11) with cecropin B, pleurocidin and CF17, respectively, resulted in elevated expression of two pro-inflammatory genes, e.g. cyclooxygenase-2 (cox-2) and interleukin-1β (il-1β). In addition, a profiling of global gene expression by 44 k salmonid microarray analysis was conducted, and the results showed that immune relevant processes have been perturbed in cecopin P1 transgenic rainbow trout. Therefore, we hypothesized that cecropin P1 may not only eliminate pathogens directly, but also modulate the host immune systems, leading to increased resistance against pathogen infections. To confirm this hypothesis, we performed de novo mRNA deep sequencing (RNA-Seq) to analyze the transcriptomic expression profiles in three immune competent tissues of cecropin P1 transgenic rainbow trout. De novo sequencing of mRNA of the rainbow trout spleen, liver and kidney tissues were conducted by second-generation Illumina system, followed by Trinity assembly. Tissue specific unigenes were obtained, and annotated according to the Gene Ontology (GO) and the Nucleotide Basic Local Alignment Search Tool (BLAST). Over 2000 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were determined by normalized ratio of Reads Per Kilobase of transcript per million mapped reads (RPKM) among the transgenic and non-transgenic fish in a tissue specific manner, and there were 82 DEGs in common among the three tissues. In addition, the enrichment analysis according to Gene Ontology Biological Process (GO:BP), and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) based pathway analysis associated with innate/adaptive immunity of fish were also performed to illustrate the altered immune-related functions in each tissue. According to the RNA-Seq data, the correlations between alteration of gene expression profiles and the functional perturbations of the host immune processes were revealed. In comparison with the results of cDNA microarray analysis conducted by Lo et al., the overall results supported our hypothesis that the gene product of cecropin P1 transgene may not only directly eliminate pathogens, but also modulate the host immune system. Results of this study present valuable genetic information for Oncorhynchus mykiss, and will benefit future studies on the immunology of this fish species.
The Need for Hetero-functional Graph Theory

The second chapter of this book presents the theoretical need for hetero-functional graph theory. Smart cities create the need for greater integration between multiple infrastructures. The coupling between these multiple infrastructures may take on a wide variety of potential topologies. Consequently, the modeling methods used to represent smart city infrastructures must recognize this heterogeneity. The chapter supports the need for hetero-functional graph theory by deeply investigating the limitations of existing multi-layer network theory. It shows by virtue of a simple example that the eight constraints in the multi-layer network literature present a practical limitation in modeling multiple arbitrarily connected infrastructure systems.
Global Asymptotic Stability and Stabilization of Long Short-Term Memory Neural Networks with Constant Weights and Biases

In this paper, a global asymptotic stability condition for Long Short-Term Memory neural networks is presented. Since this condition is formulated in terms of the networks’ weight matrices and biases that are essentially control variables, the same condition can be viewed as a way to globally asymptotically stabilize these networks. The condition and how to compute numerical values for the weight matrices and biases are illustrated by a number of numerical examples.
Evaluation of the effects of chemotherapy-induced fatigue and pharmacological interventions in multiple mouse behavioral assays

Fatigue is a common symptom in many diseases and disorders and can reduce quality of life, yet lacks an adequate pharmacological intervention. To identify and develop such interventions, and to better understand fatigue, additional preclinical research is necessary. However, despite numerous mouse behavioral assays reportedly detecting fatigue-like behavior, the assumption that fatigue-like behavior is detected in many assays has not been validated through a cross-assay study. Thus, we modeled fatigue in mice by administering 5-fluorouracil, a chemotherapy drug known to cause fatigue in humans and fatigue-like behavior in mice, then evaluated its effects via voluntary wheel running activity (VWRA), locomotor activity in the open field test (OFT), immobility in the forced swim test (FST), and distance run in the treadmill fatigue test (TFT) and treadmill exercise capacity test. Additionally, taltirelin or methylphenidate was administered to alleviate fatigue-like behavior. As a result of 5-fluorouracil treatment, VWRA and the TFT were markedly reduced, indicating fatigue. The OFT, FST, and treadmill exercise capacity test, however, failed to detect fatigue-like behavior. Interestingly, both taltirelin and methylphenidate alleviated fatigue-like behavior in TFT. These data suggest that, of the current assays, only the TFT and VWRA should be expected to detect fatigue-like behavior. Moreover, this study provides additional evidence that taltirelin may provide a novel treatment for chemotherapy-induced fatigue and warrants further evaluation as an anti-fatigue therapeutic.