cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Varying Serendipity Between Inventors

I explore the effect of chance encounters on innovation. To do so, I introduce the use of local flu prevalence as an exogenous influence on chance encounters during the knowledge-seeking process of inventors. I argue that a social avoidance response to a disease epidemic – a phenomenon well-established in epidemiology literature – decreases the likelihood of chance encounters between geographically proximate people. I establish and validate a measure of local flu prevalence during inventive search as proxy for lower potential chance encounters affecting an innovation. I predict and find that collaborations that are more influenced by chance encounters result in more novel re-combinations of knowledge because “serendipitous” knowledge from chance encounters is less constrained by the tendency toward local, exploitative search. During times with fewer chance encounters, inventors substitute where they get knowledge, more often turning to prior contacts and, therefore, limit recombination potential.
The Importance of Hypotheses in Church-Based Research

The role of hypotheses is central both in church-related research and in Christian ministry. Hypotheses guide the collection of data to determine what is true in research and provide tentative guidelines for action in ministry, even when they are not yet confirmed. Well-constructed hypotheses are based on previous research and provide clear potential solutions to research problems. They succinctly posit a testable relationship between two or more variables. Such hypotheses can be tested through appropriately designed research. Statistical techniques can indicate to what degree the evidence collected supports the hypotheses. In church-based research, hypotheses to be examined can come from a body of literature (e.g., the Church Growth Movement), a practitioner’s experience, theories from other domains (e.g., the Social Brain Hypothesis; Dunbar, 1993), and modeling phenomena using analogies (e.g., modeling the church lifecycle as an epidemic; Hayward, 2015, 2018).
The “U-Tube”: An improved aspirated temperature system for mobile meteorological observations, especially in severe weather

Obtaining quality air temperature measurements in complex mesoscale environments, such as thunderstorms or frontal zones, is problematic, and particularly challenging from a moving platform. For some time mobile weather platforms known as Mobile Mesonets (MMs) have used custom aspirated temperature shields. The original design was known as the “J-Tube”, which addresses some but not all of the unique problems associated with mobile temperature measurements. For VORTEX-2 2009, a second, well documented shield, the R.M. Young (RMY) 43408 was included but was also found to have certain shortcomings in some severe weather environments. Between the end of VORTEX2 2009 and the start of VORTEX2 2010, a third and new shield called the “U-tube” was designed, tested and installed. Reported here are the results of efforts to better characterize the J-Tube, RMY 43408, and the U-Tube. Several tests designed to isolate key aspects of a radiation shield’s performance, such as performance in rain, high solar radiation, varying wind conditions, and general response time were completed. A period of intercomparison between the three shields during the 2010 season of VORTEX 2 is also used to highlight each shield being used in “real world” conditions. Results indicate that the U-Tube has several significant advantages over the J-tube and 43408 in terms of aspiration rate, sampling efficiency, performance during rain, variable winds, and high solar radiation periods, as well as response time. Given these results, the U-tube should be utilized for mobile observations going forward.
Error flow in computer programs

White box program analysis has been applied to program testing for some time, but this analysis is primarily grounded in program syntax, while errors arise from incorrect program semantics. We introduce a semantically-based technique called error flow analysis, which is used to investigate the behavior of a program at the level of data state transitions. Error flow analysis is based on a model of program execution as a composition of functions that each map a prior data state into a subsequent data state. According to the fault/failure model, failure occurs when a fault causes an infection in the data state which then propagates to output. A faulty program may also produce coincidentally correct output for a given input if the fault resists infection, or an infection is cancelled by subsequent computation. We investigate this phenomenon using dynamic error flow analysis to track the infection and propagation of errors in the data states of programs with seeded faults. This information is gathered for a particular fault over many inputs on a path-by-path basis to estimate execution, infection, and failure rates as well as characteristics of error flow behavior for the fault. Those paths that exhibit high failure rates would be more desirable to test for this fault than those with lower failure rates, and we look for error flow characteristics that correlate with high failure rate. We present the results of dynamic error flow experiments on several programs, and suggest ways in which error flow information can be used in program analysis and testing.
van Vleck determinants: Geodesic focusing in Lorentzian spacetimes.

The van Vleck determinant is a ubiquitous object, arising in many physically interesting situations such as (1) WKB approximations to quantum time evolution operators and Green functions, (2) adiabatic approximations to heat kernels, (3) one-loop approximations to functional integrals, (4) the theory of caustics in geometrical optics and ultrasonics, and (5) the focusing and defocusing of geodesic flows in Riemannian manifolds. While all of these topics are interrelated, the present paper is particularly concerned with the last case and presents extensive theoretical developments that aid in the computation of the van Vleck determinant associated with geodesic flows in Lorentzian spacetimes. A fortiori these developments have important implications for the entire array of topics indicated.
Molecular approaches to understanding pregnancy-induced protection against breast cancer

The marked protection against breast cancer afforded women by an early first full-term pregnancy has important clinical implications for designing chemopreventive approaches to breast cancer and, more generally, for understanding how cancer susceptibility can be modulated by normal developmental events. Epidemiologic studies have repeatedly demonstrated that women who undergo an early first full-term pregnancy have a significantly reduced lifetime risk of breast cancer. Similarly, rodents that have previously undergone a full-term pregnancy are highly resistant to carcinogen-induced breast cancer compared with age-matched nulliparous controls. Relatively little progress has been made, however, towards understanding the molecular basis of this phenomenon. We have used microarray expression profiling to identify persistent changes in gene expression in the mouse and rat mammary gland that are induced by an early first full-term pregnancy. Using this approach, we have isolated a panel of genes whose expression is persistently altered in multiple strains of mice and rats by a reproductive event known to reduce breast cancer risk. Additional studies are underway to compare gene expression patterns in mammary tissues from parous and nulliparous mice, rats, and women with parity-induced changes in gene expression that are evolutionarily conserved. Similarly, gene expression patterns in rats that have been treated with hormonal regimens that mimic parity-induced protection are being compared with those induced by non-protective control regimens in order to identify genes whose expression patterns are most closely correlated with protection. Finally, gene expression changes induced by parity in strains of rats that exhibit different levels of susceptibility to carcinogen-induced tumorigenesis are being compared. These gene expression changes suggest novel hypotheses for the mechanisms by which parity may modulate breast cancer risk and will be useful for probing the mechanisms by which the developmental state of the mammary gland modulates the response to an oncogenic stimulus.
Hybrid, high density energy storage for AUVs

This paper forwards a concept for a hypothetical hybrid, internal combustion-electric power generation system that can be used to increase the energy density of an AUV. Though the system is hypothetical, it consists of subsystems that are mature technologies with long histories of successful commercial use. The use of hydrocarbon based fuels as a primary source of energy within an AUV has the advantage of a 350% increase in energy density over the PEM fuel cell based technologies currently being researched.
Empirical relation of stable particle masses

This paper is concerned with the observation that the masses of the stable particles (μ±,μ0, μ±, etc.) tend to be close to integral multiples of (3me),me being the electron mass. The probability for random mass values to cluster around integral multiples of (3me) as strongly as the experimental mass values is shown to be of the order of 10−3. A procedure to search for other likely values of a «mass quantum»M0 has been developed and is applied to mass valuesM0 from 1.0 MeV to 100 MeV. In this range the strongest clustering of the stable particle masses around integral multiples ofM0 occurs forM0=2.9996me.
Depression, illness severity, and healthcare utilization in cystic fibrosis.

Summary Cystic fibrosis (CF) is an illness associated with high healthcare utilization and healthcare costs, even when compared to other chronic illnesses. In a variety of medical populations, depression has been found to be associated with lower adherence and poorer medical outcomes. The current study is a retrospective chart review of a matched set of 40 patients with CF, half with and half without a depressive disorder diagnosis. Participants were matched on the basis of their age, gender and lung function, and compared in terms of their illness severity (lung function and weight), medical adherence, and healthcare utilization during the year prior to and following diagnosis of depression and a comparable time period for the non-depressed group. Results show an association between depression and BMI, with only the depressed group showing significant decreases in the year following their depressive disorder diagnosis (from a mean BMI z-score of −0.48 to −1.04). Depression was also strongly associated with greater healthcare utilization and healthcare costs relative to those of comparably medically ill controls, in that depressed youth were hospitalized at over three times the rate of non-depressed youth, and their healthcare costs were more than four times higher (mean number of admissions per year for the depressed group of 4.00 vs. 1.20 for the non-depressed group; mean annual costs of $280,000 for the depressed vs. $60,116 for the non-depressed). These findings highlight the importance of addressing the mental health needs of chronically ill patients as a path to better health outcomes and decreasing need for medical services. Pediatr Pulmonol. 2014; 49:1177–1181. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Malignant Mesothelioma Mimicking Invasive Mammary Carcinoma in a Male Breast

Malignant mesothelioma is an uncommon tumor with strong association with asbestos exposure. Few cases of malignant pleural mesothelioma metastatic to the female breast have been reported. Herein, we presented, for the first time, a case of locally infiltrating malignant pleural mesothelioma forming a mass in the breast of a male as the first pathologically confirmed manifestation of the disease. Breast ultrasound revealed an irregular mass in the right breast which involves the pectoralis muscle. Breast core biopsy revealed a proliferation of neoplastic epithelioid cells mimicking an infiltrating pleomorphic lobular carcinoma. IHC studies showed the cells to be positive for calretinin, CK5/6, WT1, and CK7. The cells were negative for MOC-31, BerEp4, ER, and PR. A final diagnosis of malignant mesothelioma, epithelioid type, was rendered. This case demonstrates the importance of considering a broad differential diagnosis in the setting of atypical presentation with application of a panel of IHC markers.
Solid waste as refuse-derived fuel

Europe and the Far East have been using refuse-to-energy plants to power turbine generators in the production of electricity. If the U.S. would convert the total municipal refuse to energy at normal efficiency, 6% of the total U.S. electric production could be produced. Pelletized solid waste (refuse-derived fuel (RDF)) can be mixed with coal and burned in existing industrial spreader stoker-fired boilers. An RDF-to-coal volume ratio of 11 : 1 corresponding to a weight ratio of 40 : 60 and an energy ratio fo 23 : 77 was burned in a completely unmodified steam plant without unusual variations in equipment operation for a 24-h period. In addition, there was significant reduction in both SO/sub 2/ and HC emissions compared to low-sulfur coal. Difficulties were experienced with an RDF-to-coal volume ratio of 2 : 1. Control data were established for comparative purposes by burning coal for a 24-h period.
Introduction to Cardiac Computed Tomography

Recent dramatic technological advances in computed tomography (CT) technology allow routine performance of cardiac computed tomography angiography (CCTA) with excellent image quality at modest effective radiation doses (E). Improved z-axis coverage, utilizing scanners with 64, 128, 256, and 320 z-axis detector-rows, decreases “slab artifact,” improves contrast opacification, and allows shorter breath holds – thus further decreasing cardiac motion artifacts and improving over image quality. Improved “true” hardware-dependent temporal resolution, now at roughly 100–175 ms with single source and 75 ms with dual source scanners, decreases artifacts from coronary artery motion. Improved detector technology now yields a maximal spatial resolution on the order of 18.2 line pairs/cm.
Dendrites of medial olivocochlear neurons in mouse

Stains for acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and retrograde labeling with Fluorogold (FG) were used to study olivocochlear neurons and their dendritic patterns in mice. The two methods gave similar results for location and number of somata. The total number of medial olivocochlear (MOC) neurons in the ventral nucleus of the trapezoid body (VNTB) is about 170 per side. An additional dozen large olivocochlear neurons are located in the dorsal periolivary nucleus (DPO). Dendrites of all of these neurons are long and extend in all directions from the cell bodies, a pattern that contrasts with the sharp frequency tuning of their responses. For VNTB neurons, there were greater numbers of dendrites directed medially than laterally and those directed medially were longer (on average, 25-50% longer). Dendrite extensions were most pronounced for neurons located in the rostral portion of the VNTB. When each dendrite from a single neuron was represented as a vector, and all the vectors summed, the result was also skewed toward the medial direction. DPO neurons, however, had more symmetric dendrites that projected into more dorsal parts of the trapezoid body, suggesting that this small group of olivocochlear neurons has very different physiological properties. Dendrites of both types of neurons were somewhat elongated rostrally, about 20% longer than those directed caudally. These results can be interpreted as extensions of dendrites of olivocochlear neurons toward their synaptic inputs: medially to meet crossing fibers from the cochlear nucleus that are part of the MOC reflex pathway, and rostrally to meet descending inputs from higher centers.
Representation of the cecum in the lateral dorsal motor nucleus of the vagus nerve and commissural subnucleus of the nucleus tractus solitarii in rat.

Motor fibers of the accessory celiac and celiac vagal branches are derived from the lateral columns of the dorsal motor nucleus of the vagus nerve. These branches also contain sensory fibers that terminate within the nucleus of the tractus solitarii. This study traces the innervation of the intestines by using the tracer cholera toxin-horseradish peroxidase. In 53 rats, the tracer was injected into either the stomach, duodenum, jejunum, terminal ileum, cecum, or ascending colon. With all cecal injections, prominent retrograde labeling of cell bodies occurred bilaterally in the lateral columns of the dorsal motor nucleus of the vagus nerve above, at, and below the level of the area postrema. Dendrites of laterally positioned neurons projected medially and rostrocaudally within the dorsal motor nucleus of the vagus nerve and dorsomedially into both the medial subnucleus and parts of the commissural subnucleus of the nucleus of the tractus solitarii. Sensory terminal labeling occurred in the dorsolateral commissural subnucleus at the level of the rostral area postrema and the medial commissural subnucleus caudal to the area postrema. Additionally, there was sensory terminal labeling within a small confined area of the dorsomedial zone of the nucleus of the tractus solitarii immediately adjacent to the fourth ventricle at a level just anterior to the area postrema. Stomach injections labeled motoneurons of the medial column of the entire rostrocaudal extent of the dorsal motor nucleus of the vagus nerve and a sensory terminal field primarily in the subnucleus gelatinosus, with less intense labeling extending caudally into the medial and ventral commissural subnuclei. Dendrites of gastric motoneurons project rostrocaudally and mediolaterally within the dorsal motor nucleus of the vagus nerve and dorsolaterally within the nucleus of the tractus solitarii. They are most pronounced at the level of the rostral area postrema where many dendrites course dorsolaterally terminating primarily within the subnucleus gelatinosus. Injections of the duodenum labeled a small number of the cells within the medial aspects of the dorsal motor nucleus of the vagus nerve. Jejunal, ileal, and ascending colon injections labeled cells sparsely within the lateral aspects of the dorsal motor nucleus of the vagus nerve bilaterally. No afferent terminal labeling was evident after injection of these areas of the bowel. The dorsal vagal complex has a prominent viscerotopography: the dorsal motor nucleus of the vagus nerve has a mediolateral organization corresponding to end-organ innervation; the nucleus of the tractus solitarii has a rostrocaudal axis of visceral representation with some overlap corresponding to rostrocaudal positioning along the alimentary canal and mediolateral separation of terminals within the nucleus.
Root surface resorption of periodontally diseased teeth.

Abstract Investigation of resorption areas on the roots of three groups of teeth—118 healthy, 81 periodontally diseased, and 100 teeth from India—showed three times more root surface resorption on periodontally diseased teeth and five times more on teeth from India than on healthy teeth. Other types of cementum changes or loss were also noted.
A new approach to the identification of sources of airborne mutagens and carcinogens: Receptor source apportionment modeling

Abstract Receptor source apportionment modeling is discussed as a new and an alternative approach to the identification of the sources of airborne mutagens and carcinogens. These models estimate the contributions of various source types to pollutant levels at a sampling or receptor site through variations in the concentrations and composition of the ambient aerosol. Receptor models for several carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in the New York City atmosphere have been developed and are presented as examples of the potential application of receptor modeling techniques to airborne carcinogens and mutagens. The requirements, advantages, and limitations of this method are discussed.
GENES IN THE MHC THAT MAY AFFECT ANTIGEN PROCESSING

Recent evidence indicates that genes required for antigen processing are present in the class II region of the MHC. Two new classes of MHC genes that may encode much of the machinery required in the class I (endogenous) antigen-processing pathway have been discovered. There is evidence that genes required in the class II pathway also reside in this region.
Pyrimidine-requiring suppressor mutations of arginine-3 in Neurospora and their bearing on the structure of the pyrimidine-3 locus.

The acridine ICR-170 was used to study the bifunctional pyr-3 locus, which specifies carbamyl phosphate synthetase (CPS) and aspartate transcarbamylase (ATC) activities. Both spontaneous and ICR-170-induced mutants were selected as suppressors of the arginine requirement of. an arg-3 mutation. One of the ICR-170-induced CPS+ATC- mutants was identified, by reversion analysis, as a frame shift. This mutant, a second CPS+-ATC- frame shift, and several other new CPS+ATC- alleles, were integrated into the complementation map of the locus produced by a thorough reanalysis of ten previously existing CPS+-ATC- alleles. KS36, a CPS-ATC- frame shift allele which had previously been shown to map very close to certain CPS+ATC- alleles was studied by an experiment designed to select partial revertants to CPS+ATC-, as it was thought that a frame shift in the normalle ATC-specific translation-distal end of the locus might destroy both functions. Failure to recover such partial revertants indicates that the site of KS36 is unlikely to be located in the distal ATC-specific region of the locus, and that earlier recombination data showing it to be distal to the CPS+-ATC- allele KS43 are probably incorrect. The general applicability of partial reversion analysis of complex loci is discussed.
ROBUST EXTRACTION OF STATISTICS FROM IMAGES OF MATERIAL FRAGMENTATION

The extraction of statistics of interest in experimental or observational images is often challenging due to the noise in the data and the variation across images in a dataset. For an objective analysis, any algorithms used must be relatively insensitive to the choice of parameters. In addition, to avoid manual analysis, which is tedious and error-prone, these algorithms must also lend themselves to full or partial automation, especially when the number of images is large. In this paper, we describe the use of image analysis techniques to extract various statistics from experimental images resulting from the fragmentation of materials. We show how we can use a sequence of relatively simple algorithms to provide a robust solution for the extraction of statistics on the fragments and the gaps between them.
Chronic active heavy drinking and family history of problem drinking modulate regional brain tissue volumes

The goals of this study were to measure if chronic active heavy drinking is associated with brain volume loss in non-treatment seeking men and women, and to assess the effect of positive family history of problem drinking on brain structure in heavy drinkers. Automated image processing was used to analyze high-resolution T1-weighted magnetic resonance images from 49 active heavy drinkers and 49 age- and sex-matched light drinkers, yielding gray matter, white matter and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) volumes within the frontal, temporal, parietal and occipital lobes. Regional brain volume measures were compared as a function of group, sex and their interaction. Within heavy drinkers, volumes were correlated with measures of alcohol consumption and compared as a function of family history of problem drinking. Deformation morphometry explored localized patterns of atrophy associated with heavy drinking or severity of drinking. We found significant gray matter volume losses, but no white matter losses, in active heavy drinkers compared with light drinkers. Women had greater gray matter and smaller white matter and CSF volumes as a percentage of intracranial vault than men. Within heavy drinkers, smaller gray matter volumes were associated with higher current levels of drinking and older age, while a positive family history of problem drinking was associated with smaller CSF volumes. Community-dwelling heavy drinkers who are not in alcoholism treatment have dose-related gray matter volume losses, and family history of problem drinking ameliorates some structural consequences of heavy drinking.
Cost effectiveness of routine gonadotropin and androgen measurements in hirsute women

ABSTRACT Many physicians routinely measure the gonadotropins PRL, LH, and FSH and the androgens dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAS), an-drostenedione (ADIONE), and testosterone, as well as testosterone’s biologically active fractions in the evaluation of hirsute women. Is this cost effective? To answer this question, 38 consecutive premenopausal hirsute women were evaluated. Two women each had minor elevations in PRL and FSH, and 11 had minor elevations in LH. Three women had minor elevations in the LH/FSH ratio, and only one was above a ratio of 3, believed to be indicative of polycystic ovarian syndrome. Because these gonadotropin elevations did not correlate with the androgens measured and were of no value in the diagnosis or management of these women, they were not believed to be cost effective. Their routine measurements should be abandoned.
Sensitization during Visual Habituation Sequences: Procedural Effects and Individual Differences

Although individual differences in visual habituation have long been interpreted in terms of processes derived from comparator theory, research over the last decade has suggested that arousal or arousability as manifest in sensitization may contribute to infants' attentional profiles, and thus, to individual differences in those profiles. We explored this possibility by habituating 4-month-old infants to 4 x 4, 10 x 10, or 20 x 20 checkerboards in a fixed-trial paradigm. The first specific aim was to examine the attentional characteristics of infants with habituation patterns showing sensitization versus those that did not. The second specific aim was to determine whether patterns of attention suggestive of sensitization effects reported in past research might be attributable to the use of illuminated interstimulus intervals (ISIs). Trends were observed for sensitization to occur more frequently with more complex than with less complex checkerboards. Infants who showed looking patterns characteristic of sensitization looked longer and did not habituate as readily as infants who did not show sensitization. Finally, different ISIs did not engender different levels of sensitization, but dark ISIs significantly increased infants' looking times to stimuli during trials.
The role of Chi mutations in the Spi- phenotype of phage λ: Lack of evidence for a gene Delta

λ red - gam - makes a small plaque on P2 lysogens (the partial Spi- phenotype). It has been proposed that inactivation of an additional gene δ, mapping in the recombination region, makes the plaque bigger (the full Spi- phenotype) (Zissler et al., 1971b). The present paper demonstrates that the Chi mutation in λ (Stahl et al., 1975) confers upon red - gam - phage the full Spi- phenotype and that the deletion of the region of the chromosome attributed to δ does not. It appears unnecessary to invoke a gene δ in the Spi- phenotype.
A search for seismic radiation from late slip for the December 26, 2004 Sumatra-Andaman (Mw = 9.15) earthquake

[1] The great 2004 Sumatra-Andaman (Mw = 9.15) earthquake ruptured a 1300-km-long segment of the Sumatra-Andaman Islands subduction zone in about nine minutes. The possibility of continued fault slip after the primary rupture has been raised by tsunami excitation models and by discrepancies between seismic slip models and geodetic observations. We examine the global seismic wavefield to identify any late seismic radiation that occurred during the first hour after the main rupture using stacking of deconvolutions and cross correlations of complete ground motion observations and point-source responses (Green's functions). We find no evidence for delayed seismic radiation larger than Mw = 7.5. Any major slip within an hour after the main sliding with mechanism similar to the main shock involved deformation so slow that it radiated no detectable seismic waves in the body wave or surface wave passband for periods less than ∼500 s.
Ascaris suum: electrophoretic characterization of reproductive tract and perienteric fluid polypeptides, and effects of seminal and uterine fluids on spermiogenesis.

Abstract Fluids isolated from the testis, seminal vesicle, uterus, and pseudocoelomic cavity of Ascaris suum were characterized using sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, and measured for protein concentration, pH, and osmolarity. The testis and seminal fluids display much homology and share major polypeptide components having molecular weights of 15,000 and 35,000. A cytoplasmic extract of spermatids from the seminal vesicle exhibited a banding pattern nearly identical to that of testis fluid. The seminal fluid has unique major components of 57,000 and 150,000, and seminal fluid from individual worms showed differences in major band concentration and distribution of minor components. The uterine fluid has major polypeptides of 14,000, 16,000, 66,000, 74,000, 120,000, and 140,000, and exhibits more similarity to the perienteric fluid then either the seminal or testis fluids. Electrophoretic comparisons of four uterine regions revealed nearly identical banding patterns although somewhat higher concentrations of four major components occurred in certain segments. The male and female perienteric fluids have major bands at 40,000, 120,000, and 140,000, and the female fluid has more intense minor components of 90,000 and 115,000. Perienteric fluid from individual worms differed only in minor band distribution. The reproductive fluids have numerous minor components mostly from 20,000 to 70,000, while the perienteric fluid minor bands are mainly located in the 80,000 to 120,000 range. The pH of the seminal fluid (6.5) differs from that of the uterine fluid (7.7), and both seminal and uterine fluids are of lower osmolarity than the perienteric fluid. In vitro studies demonstrate that uterine fluid does not induce spermatid transformation into bipolar, ameboid spermatozoa, while the seminal fluid induces only lipid granule coalescence in either seminal vesicle or terminal testis spermatids.
Spin Jastrow state

A variational ansatz with quantum fluctuations at all ranges is introduced to describe the ground state of the antiferromagnetic Heisenberg model. As an example, the ground-state energy and staggered magnetization of the spin-1/2 square lattice are evaluated from the variational principle. The form of the short-range correlation factor in the ansatz for this system is obtained. The properties of the ground state are then analyzed based on these findings.
Fluctuations in the C12(O16, α)Mg24 reaction

Abstract Rapid fluctuations were observed in the excitation functions at two angles for C12(O16, α)Mg24 reactions involving the low-lying states of Mg24. The energy resolution in the entrance channel was 45 keV. The fluctuations were found at compound-nucleus excitation energies of about 25 and 30 MeV. At 30 MeV they were as strong as at 25 MeV. The statistical theory of Ericson was applied and autocorrelation functions were used to determine the width of the fluctuations. The average width, ≈ 116 keV, corresponds to a compound-nucleus lifetime of 0.57 × 10−20 sec. Cross correlations between different transitions are usually small, as predicted by the theory. Upper limits on the non-compound cross section are given for the ground-state transition. A comparison is made with Al27(p, α)Mg24 results at the same angles and energies in the light of the statistical theory. Other possible interpretations of the experimental data are discussed.
Vital interests: cultivating global competence in the international studies classroom

Are students being prepared for the challenges they will face in a globalising world? We investigated whether middle school students were interested in global issues, had knowledge of global issues and possessed the skills needed for competence as a citizen in a globalising world in the context of participating in a five-week, web-based international negotiation simulation conducted by the GlobalEd Project. A repeated measures ANOVA on a pre- and post-test scores and a chi square analysis on qualitative data indicated significant pre- to post-increases in knowledge and skills from this educational programme. Potential implications of these findings with regard to global education are discussed.
Multiple faces of BDNF in cocaine addiction

Abstract Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) has been found to play roles in many types of plasticity including drug addiction. Here, we focus on rodent studies over the past two decades that have demonstrated diverse roles of BDNF in models of cocaine addiction. First, we will provide an overview of studies showing that cocaine exposure alters (and generally increases) BDNF levels in reward-related regions including the ventral tegmental area, nucleus accumbens, prefrontal cortex, and amygdala. Then we will review evidence that BDNF contributes to behavioral changes in animal models of cocaine addiction, focusing on conditioned place preference, behavioral sensitization, maintenance and reinstatement of self-administration, and incubation of cocaine craving. Last, we will review the role of BDNF in synaptic plasticity, particularly as it relates to plasticity of AMPA receptor transmission after cocaine exposure. We conclude that BDNF regulates cocaine-induced behaviors in a highly complex manner that varies depending on the brain region (and even among different cell types within the same brain region), the nature of cocaine exposure, and the “addiction phase” examined (e.g., acquisition vs maintenance; early vs late withdrawal). These complexities make BDNF a daunting therapeutic target for treating cocaine addiction. However, recent clinical evidence suggests that the serum BDNF level may serve as a biomarker in cocaine addicts to predict future relapse, providing an alternative direction for exploring BDNF's potential relevance to treating cocaine addiction.
Practical Energy Harvesting for Microbial Fuel Cells: A Review

The microbial fuel cell (MFC) technology offers sustainable solutions for distributed power systems and energy positive wastewater treatment, but the generation of practically usable power from MFCs remains a major challenge for system scale up and application. Commonly used external resistors will not harvest any usable energy, so energy-harvesting circuits are needed for real world applications. This review summarizes, explains, and discusses the different energy harvesting methods, components, and systems that can extract and condition the MFC energy for direct utilization. This study aims to assist environmental scientists and engineers to gain fundamental understandings of these electronic systems and algorithms, and it also offers research directions and insights on how to overcome the barriers, so the technology can be further advanced and applied in larger scale.
Efficiently, effectively detecting mobile app bugs with AppDoctor

Mobile apps bring unprecedented levels of convenience, yet they are often buggy, and their bugs offset the convenience the apps bring. A key reason for buggy apps is that they must handle a vast variety of system and user actions such as being randomly killed by the OS to save resources, but app developers, facing tough competitions, lack time to thoroughly test these actions. AppDoctor is a system for efficiently and effectively testing apps against many system and user actions, and helping developers diagnose the resultant bug reports. It quickly screens for potential bugs using approximate execution, which runs much faster than real execution and exposes bugs but may cause false positives. From the reports, AppDoctor automatically verifies most bugs and prunes most false positives, greatly saving manual inspection effort. It uses action slicing to further speed up bug diagnosis. We implement AppDoctor in Android. It operates as a cloud of physical devices or emulators to scale up testing. Evaluation on 53 out of 100 most popular apps in Google Play and 11 of the most popular open-source apps shows that, AppDoctor effectively detects 72 bugs---including two bugs in the Android framework that affect all apps---with quick checking sessions, speeds up testing by 13.3 times, and vastly reduces diagnosis effort.
Recognizing gender bias, rejecting feminism : A qualitative study of feminist ideology and practice among southern clergywomen

Abstract This article explores the degree to which clergywomen are aware of gender bias, both in and outside of the church, and their attitudes towards feminism. Ordained women are marginalized, and remain a minority, both socially and numerically, within the institutional church. As such, they are often isolated from important social and professional networks and subject to intense scrutiny and negative stereotyping. This kind of marginalization would seem to generate a greater receptivity among these clergy to feminist ideals. To explore this question, I conducted in-depth interviews with thirty-three ordained clergywomen in three southeastern states to find out whether or not they have witnessed or experienced gender bias in the church, the degree to which these experiences influence their attitudes towards feminism, and how they may incorporate these feminist beliefs into their ministries. Drawing on the concept of “tokenism” as well as feminist standpoint theory, I expected to find that clergywomen w...
Improved decoding of Reed-Solomon and algebraic-geometry codes

Given an error-correcting code over strings of length n and an arbitrary input string also of length n, the list decoding problem is that of finding all codewords within a specified Hamming distance from the input string. We present an improved list decoding algorithm for decoding Reed-Solomon codes. The list decoding problem for Reed-Solomon codes reduces to the following "curve-fitting" problem over a field F: given n points ((x/sub i//spl middot/y/sub i/))/sub i=1//sup n/, x/sub i/, y/sub i//spl isin/F, and a degree parameter k and error parameter e, find all univariate polynomials p of degree at most k such that y/sub i/=p(x/sub i/) for all but at most e values of i/spl isin/(1,...,n). We give an algorithm that solves this problem for e 1/3, where the result yields the first asymptotic improvement in four decades. The algorithm generalizes to solve the list decoding problem for other algebraic codes, specifically alternant codes (a class of codes including BCH codes) and algebraic-geometry codes. In both cases, we obtain a list decoding algorithm that corrects up to n-/spl radic/(n(n-d')) errors, where n is the block length and d' is the designed distance of the code. The improvement for the case of algebraic-geometry codes extends the methods of Shokrollahi and Wasserman (see in Proc. 29th Annu. ACM Symp. Theory of Computing, p.241-48, 1998) and improves upon their bound for every choice of n and d'. We also present some other consequences of our algorithm including a solution to a weighted curve-fitting problem, which may be of use in soft-decision decoding algorithms for Reed-Solomon codes.
Kinetic analysis of the interaction of the C1 domain of protein kinase C with lipid membranes by stopped-flow spectroscopy.

Abstract The diacylglycerol (DG)/phorbol ester-dependent translocation of conventional protein kinase C (PKC) isozymes is mediated by the C1 domain, a membrane-targeting module that also selectively binds phosphatidylserine (PS). Using stopped-flow spectroscopy, we dissect the contribution of DG/phorbol esters (C1 ligand) and PS in driving the association and dissociation of the C1 domain from membranes. Specifically, we examine the binding to membranes of the C1B domain of PKCβ with a substituted Trp (Y123W) whose fluorescence is quenched upon binding to membranes. Binding of this construct (C1Bβ-Y123W) to phospholipid vesicles is cooperative with respect to PS content and dependent on C1 ligand, as previously characterized. Stopped-flow analysis reveals that the apparent association rate (), but not the apparent dissociation rate (), is highly sensitive to PS content: the 60-fold increase in membrane affinity for vesicles containing no PS compared with 40 mol % PS results primarily from a robust (30-fold) increase in with little effect (2-fold) on . Membrane affinity is also controlled by the content and structure of the C1 ligand. In contrast to PS, these ligands markedly alter with smaller effects on . We also show that the affinity for phorbol ester-containing membranes is 2 orders of magnitude higher than that for DG-containing membranes primarily resulting from differences in . Our data are consistent with a model in which the C1 domain is recruited to the membrane via an initial weak electrostatic interaction with PS, followed by a rapid two-dimensional search for ligand, the binding of which retains the domain at the membrane. Thus, PS drives the initial encounter, and DG/phorbol esters retain the domain on membranes. The decreased effectiveness of DG compared with phorbol esters in retaining the C1 domain on membranes contributes to the molecular dichotomy of the rapid, transient nature of DG-dependent PKC signaling versus the chronic hyperactivity of phorbol ester-activated PKC.
Effects of Child Health on ParentsA Relationship Status

We use data from the national longitudinal Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study to estimate the effect of poor child health on father presence. We look at whether parents live in the same household 12-18 months after the child's birth and also at how their relationships changed along a continuum (married, cohabiting, romantically involved, friends, or not involved) during the same period. We find that having an infant in poor health reduces the likelihood that parents will live together and increases the likelihood that they will become less committed to their relationship, particularly among parents with low socioeconomic status.
Confounding the Divine and the Spiritual: Challenges to a Psychology of Spirituality

The pervasive inclusion of God or “God-substitutes” (the “sacred,” the “supernatural,” the “ultimate”) in the psychology of spirituality prevents the development of a truly psychological understanding. Misidentification of the spiritual with the divine projects the determinants of spirituality into a non-human, vaguely defined, ultimately intractable, and non-falsifiable realm. Two other difficulties follow: confusion about the essential nature of spirituality and indeterminacy regarding criteria to adjudicate true and false spiritualities. These three intertwined issues represent unavoidable challenges for the social sciences in general and psychology in particular. Building on the work of Bernard Lonergan, invoking the thought of Viktor Frankl, and citing long-standing Western theological and philosophical principles, this article elucidates these challenges and intimates a response, an explanatory and normative non-theological psychology of spirituality, which is open to theological elaboration.
Virtual Immersion for Post-Stroke Hand Rehabilitation Therapy

Stroke is the leading cause of serious, long-term disability in the United States. Impairment of upper extremity function is a common outcome following stroke, often to the detriment of lifestyle and employment opportunities. While the upper extremity is a natural target for therapy, treatment may be hampered by limitations in baseline capability as lack of success may discourage arm and hand use. We developeda virtual reality (VR) system in order to encourage repetitive task practice. This system combined an assistive glove with a novel VR environment. A set of exercises for this system was developed to encourage specific movements. Six stroke survivors with chronic upper extremity hemiparesis volunteered to participate in a pilot study in which they completed 18 one-hour training sessions with the VR system. Performance with the system was recorded across the 18 training sessions. Clinical evaluations of motor control were conducted at three time points: prior to initiation of training, following the end of training, and 1 month later. Subjects displayed significant improvement on performance of the virtual tasks over the course of the training, although for the clinical outcome measures only lateral pinch showed significant improvement. Future expansion to multi-user virtual environments may extend the benefits of this system for stroke survivors with hemiparesis by furthering engagement in the rehabilitation exercises.
Limits on doubly charged Higgs bosons and lepton-flavor violation

We consider the effect of a doubly charged Higgs boson ({Delta}{sup {minus}{minus}}) on several processes. We find that the effective Hamiltonian that is normally used to interpret the results of muonium-antimuonium oscillation experiments also describes the {ital t}-channel exchange of a {Delta}{sup {minus}{minus}}. A limit on the existence of the {Delta}{sup {minus}{minus}} is extracted from the most recent muonium oscillation result. The effect of {Delta}{sup {minus}{minus}} exchange on high-energy Bhabha scattering is discussed, and a limit is extracted from the published cross sections of several experiments at the SLAC and DESY storage rings PEP and PETRA. The case of a nondiagonal coupling of the {Delta}{sup {minus}{minus}} to the charged leptons (nondiagonal in lepton flavor) is considered. A limit is extracted from the result of the most recent search for the rare decay {mu}{r arrow}3{ital e}. Finally, a coupling-independent limit is extracted from a recent measurement of the process {ital e}{sup +}e{sup {minus}}{r arrow}4 leptons at PETRA.
Rules for new drug development need a serious overhaul

We'll never be able to trust the drugs we take until they are developed according to proper safety guidelines
Controlling the Morphology of Chiral Lipid Tubules

Several techniques for controlling the morphology of self-assembled lipid tubules are investigated by using circular dichroism spectroscopy and electron microscopy. These studies show that variations in the molecular structure of the diacetylenic phospholipid, lipid concentration, and solution conditions allow for control of the number of bilayers in the tubule walls, but not their diameter. Tubules formed in water and mixtures of alcohols adopt interesting morphologies and allow for further control of tubule structure. In addition, studies of lipids with different acyl chains show that tubule morphology is sensitive to the degree of order within the chains. Because of the chiral molecular architecture in lipid tubules, intense peaks in their circular dichroism spectra are observed. These peaks can be monitored to obtain information on the tubule morphology. This information is correlated to direct observations made using electron microscopy. Results of these studies have led to the optimization of large ...
Gender-transposition theory and homosexual genesis

The genesis of homosexuality, and therefore of heterosexuality also, has traditionally been argued as either wholly biological or wholly social-environmental. The theory of gender transposition integrates findings regarding both prenatal hormonal programming of the sexual brain, and postnatal social programming.