cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Numerical Simulation of the Interaction of Two Adjacent Synthetic Jet Actuators

The interaction of two adjacent synthetic jet actuators is simulated. The computational results compare well with the experiment of Smith and Glezer[l]; the computed vortex structures in the flow-field are in general agreement with the experimental data. The influence of relative phase Δo between the two synthetic jets on the vectoring of the merged jet is studied.
FRM: an intelligent assistant for financial resource management

FRM is an experimental, knowledge-based system that assists in the judgmental aspects of budget planning and financial resource management. Problem solving in this domain requires many kinds of knowledge from many sources. We represent domain knowledge uniformly as constraints and view resource management and planning problems as constraint satisfaction and resolution tasks. We sketch here the financial resources management problem, our approach, and early results, concentrating on constraint representation and management issues in the system.
Demographic Data Regimes

This article deals with the history and present state of the institutions and process for the collection of basic demographic data, principally censuses and vital statistics. Although censuses were taken in ancient times and family and parochial (church) registers have existed in Europe and Asia for many centuries, the modern demographic data regime had its origins in Scandinavia in the eighteenth century. From that point on, national enumerations were adopted gradually, first in Europe and the more developed nations outside Europe, and then in other countries. At present, almost all of the 233 nations of the world are covered by censuses or population surveys. In a few developed nations, censuses have been supplemented or replaced by population register data. Modern vital statistics registration had its origins in parochial registration of baptisms, burials, and marriages, which were converted to civil registers of births, deaths, marriages, and, in some instances, migration. The spread of this institution has been much slower, given the more demanding resource requirements of continuous registration. Many contemporary developing nations have no vital registration or have seriously incomplete coverage. Sample surveys (such as the Demographic and Health Surveys) have supplemented knowledge in these regions.
Treating Respiratory Viral Diseases with Chemically Modified, Second Generation Intranasal siRNAs

Chemically synthesized short interfering RNA (siRNA) of pre-determined sequence has ushered a new era in the application of RNA interference (RNAi) against viral genes. We have paid particular attention to respiratory viruses that wreak heavy morbidity and mortality worldwide. The clinically significant ones include respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), parainfluenza virus (PIV) and influenza virus. As the infection by these viruses is clinically restricted to the respiratory tissues, mainly the lungs, the logical route for the application of the siRNA was also the same, i.e., via the nasal route. Following the initial success of intranasal siRNA against RSV, second-generation siRNAs were made against the viral polymerase large subunit (L) that were chemically modified and screened for improved stability, activity and pharmacokinetics. 2'-O-methyl (2'-O-Me) and 2'-deoxy-2'-fluoro (2'-F) substitutions in the ribose ring were incorporated in different positions of the sense and antisense strands and the resultant siRNAs were tested with various transfection reagents intranasally against RSV. Based on these results, we propose the following consensus for designing intranasal antiviral siRNAs: (i) modified 19-27 nt long double-stranded siRNAs are functional in the lung, (ii) excessive 2'-OMe and 2'-F modifications in either or both strands of these siRNAs reduce efficacy, and (iii) limited modifications in the sense strand are beneficial, although their precise efficacy may be position-dependent.
Evaluating Water Assets Using Water Efficiency Framework for Infrastructure Intensive Agency

AbstractWater infrastructure-intensive organizations should incorporate sustainability principles when making decisions on infrastructure investments to ensure the long-term resilience of mission-c...
Everyday Care and Precarity: Buddhaghosa and Thai Social Story-Making

In this article, Buddhaghosa’s fifth century philosophy provides a productive framework for deciphering contemporary social caregiving in Thailand. In particular, his work and the tradition it insp...
The spread of raised (ay) and (aw) in Yami: From regional distinctiveness to ethnic identity marker

This article extends previous analyses on (ay) and (aw) raising in Yami, an endangered Austronesian language spoken on Orchid Island, Taiwan. Two patterns of (ay) and (aw) variation co-exist in Yami—the more conservative/unraised variants and the innovative/raised forms—each of which indexes an authentic regional identity. Results from recent data suggest that Yami has undergone significant changes in just one generation as the raised variants are now preferred by younger islanders and have started permeating through non-raising areas. Traumatic shifts in the ecological context on Orchid Island help explain this sound change. Economically, rapid shift from fishing/farming to tourism trades promotes daily face-to-face communications among younger islanders, which has catalyzed the spread of nucleus raising to non-raising areas. Sociopsychologically, ongoing intergroup conflicts between islanders and mainland Taiwanese may further trigger the sound change, altering nucleus raising into a new communal system which highlights Yami identity in opposition to Others.
Calling Variants in the Clinic: Informed Variant Calling Decisions Based on Biological, Clinical, and Laboratory Variables

Deep sequencing genomic analysis is becoming increasingly common in clinical research and practice, enabling accurate identification of diagnostic, prognostic, and predictive determinants. Variant calling, distinguishing between true mutations and experimental errors, is a central task of genomic analysis and often requires sophisticated statistical, computational, and/or heuristic techniques. Although variant callers seek to overcome noise inherent in biological experiments, variant calling can be significantly affected by outside factors including those used to prepare, store, and analyze samples. The goal of this review is to discuss known experimental features, such as sample preparation, library preparation, and sequencing, alongside diverse biological and clinical variables, and evaluate their effect on variant caller selection and optimization.
"Ich komme nirgendwo her . . .// Wie es weitergeht, weiss ich nicht": Ortswechsel und Nirgendwo in Kurt Drawerts Lyrikband Wo es war

Kurt Drawert (born in 1956) belonged to that particular generation of young writers in the former GDR which Uwe Kolbe characterized as "Hineingeborene." Totally devoid of the political illusions and hopes which previous generations had entertained, they perceived themselves as "born into" a state of radical marginalization and alienation. Although preoccupied with the complex interrelationship between ideology, language and power, Drawert can hardly be called an insider within the experimental "Prenzlauer Berg-Connection," a group of young avantgarde writers who experimented with language, stripped it to its basics and exposed its manipulative workings. Drawert's poetry is primarily concerned with the effect of alienated language on an individual, the breakup of communication, frustration, despair, existential dispossession. This feeling of dislocation and isolation does not fade with the end of the East German state. It continues – under entirely new commercial conditions – in the West. Drawert's recent volume of poetry, Wo es war (1996), projects the artist as a "homeless" outsider in a consumer-oriented society where words are manipulative in a new way – random signs in the service of commercialism, totally divorced from the subject's experience which they are meant to define. At a time of growing "Nostalgie/Ostalgie" among former East Germans, this poet portrays his existential being in terms of continued alienation and homelessness. No defiance, no anger, no optimism. A sad mood of vanitas prevails, at best – a mood of peace which is grounded in resignation.
Surgical treatment for developmental dysplasia of hip in older children

Objective To investigate the surgical treatment for developmental dysplasia of hip (DDH)in older children.Methods Thirty-nine patients(48 hips)with the mean age of 8.5 years ranging from 6 to 12 years underwent different surgical methods.of whom 8 patients(11 hips)got postoperative redislocation.Of all the cases,4 patients(6 hips)underwent Salter osteotomy,19(22 hips)underwent Pemberton aeetabuloplasty,12(16 hips)were underwent Dega osteotomy and 4(4 hips)underwent Westin osteotomy.Twenty-three patients(28 hips)whose cartilago acetabularis got obvious defect and subcartilage spongy bone was partly exposed accepted the repair by free periosteum transplantation from autogenous femur proximate end.All the patients underwent subtrochanter transverse femoral shortening and derotation osteotomy.Fixation of the femur with plates and screws was performed after the abovementioned two procedures.The average length shortening was 2.8 em(ranging from 2cm to 4.5cm).The average derotation degree was 32°(ranging from 25°to 45°)and anteversion of femoral neck was kept in the angle of 10°～15°.Results Thirty-six patients(45 hips)were followed up for 7.2 years(ranging from 5 to 10 years)after surgery.According to the McKay criteria,17 patients got excellent ranking(37.8%),18 good(40%),6 fair(13.3%)and 4 poor(8.9%),with the fineness ratio at 77.8%.And according to the Severin X-ray criteria,19 patients got excellent ranking (42.2%),17 good(37.8%),7 fair(15.6%)and 2 poor(4.4%),with the fineness ratio at 80.0%.After the surgery,the average acetabular index was 18°and average CE angle was 30.;the mean fraction of coverage of acetabulum was 95%.But 2 cases got postoperative semiluxation(4.4%).Four cases got femoral head ischemia necrosis(8.9%)and 6 cases had hip joint dysfunction(13.3%).Conclusions DDH of older children has more complicated pathological changes.Overall clinical evaluations according to the results of X-ray and CT scanning before operations are necessary.In those cases with obviOUS cartilago acetabularis defect can be repaired by free autogeneic periosteum transplantation.Functional exercise without weight loading and continuous passive movement(CPM)at the earlier period after operation can significantly decrease the incidence rate of complications,such as redislocation,anchylosis and femoral head ischemia necrosis. Key words: Hip dislocation,developmental; Orthopedic procedures; Osteotomy
How Do you Repair a Broken World? Conflict(ing) Archives after the Holocaust

In contrast to the portrayal of archives as neutral sites that contain evidence of times past, this paper examines the construction of three archives during and after the Holocaust to highlight the challenges involved in gathering, preserving, and sharing documents produced by victimized populations. Specifically, I analyze the construction of, and conflicts among, the archives of the Centre de Documentation Juive Contemporaine in Paris, the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research in New York, and the International Institute for Holocaust Research at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem. Each archive purports to contain the history of Jews in France during the Holocaust and strived in its aftermath not only to gather the remnants of European Jewish history but to reconstitute it, leading to contestations over what it meant to be Jewish in turn. Through analysis of the conflicts among these three archives, I show how debates over the possession of documents after genocide became symbolic debates about Jewish history and identity that would shape each of these archives for generations to come. I generalize from the example to discuss the practical implications of working with conflicting archives and examine the broader lessons for social scientists who wish to give “voice to the voiceless” by working with documents produced by victimized populations.
Are the effects of exchange-rate volatility on commodity trade between the U.S. and Mexico symmetric or asymmetric?

Recent advances in nonlinear modeling or asymmetry analysis have revealed that nonlinear models produce more significant results compared to linear models. Only one study has demonstrated this with establishing the link between exchange rate volatility and trade flows. We add to the body of literature by considering the possibility of asymmetric effects of exchange rate volatility on commodity trade between Mexico and the U.S. After considering a total of 95 U.S. exporting industries to Mexico and 89 U.S. importing industries from Mexico, we find evidence of short‐run asymmetric effects in 54 exporting and 46 importing industries. Short‐run asymmetric effects translate into long‐run asymmetric effects in 44 exporting and 47 importing industries. These asymmetric effects were masked by the linear model which assumes the effects to be symmetric and they have different implication for different industries.
Economic Trends in Appalachian Coalfield Counties

An economic profile of the Appalachian coalfield counties is presented including trends in population, income, employment, labor force participation and unemployment, educational attainment, and poverty. Appalachian coalfield counties with relatively low populations (less than 100,000) are categorized into county types based on historical coal production. Economic characteristics of these county types are compared with those of other Appalachian counties, with counties outside Appalachia, and with high-population counties in Kentucky, Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. Results show declining populations and labor forces, and slower rates of income growth for rural high-coal-production Appalachian counties; these same county types have lower income levels, higher unemployment, and higher poverty rates compared to the non-Appalachian counties in the seven states. These differences have been evident for decades. As the coal-mining industry has experienced declining production and employment in recent years, economic conditions in rural high-coal-production counties have declined. Formal educational attainment rates in rural coal-production counties are lower than in the more prosperous non-Appalachian and high-population counties of the seven states.
External Validation and Comparison of Clostridioides difficile Severity Scoring Systems.

Background Many models have been developed to predict severe outcomes from Clostridioides difficile infection. These models are usually developed at a single institution and largely are not externally validated. This aim of this study was to validate previously published risk scores in a multicenter cohort of patients with CDI. Methods Retrospective study on four separate inpatient cohorts with CDI from three distinct sites: The Universities of Michigan (2010-2012 and 2016), Chicago (2012), and Wisconsin (2012). The primary composite outcome was admission to an intensive care unit, colectomy, and/or death attributed to CDI within 30 days of positive testing. Both within each cohort and combined across all cohorts, published CDI severity scores were assessed and compared to each other and the IDSA guideline definitions of severe and fulminant CDI. Results A total of 3,646 patients were included for analysis. Including the two IDSA guideline definitions, fourteen scores were assessed. Performance of scores varied within each cohort and in the combined set (mean area under the receiver operator characteristic curve(AUC 0.61, range 0.53-0.66). Only half of the scores had performance at or better than IDSA severe and fulminant definitions (AUCs 0.64 and 0.63, respectively). Most of the scoring systems had more false than true positives in the combined set (mean: 81.5%, range:0-91.5%). Conclusions No published CDI severity score showed stable, good predictive ability for adverse outcomes across multiple cohorts/institutions or in a combined multicenter cohort.
Fuzzy neural network applications in medicine

A fuzzy neural network based approach to 3-D heart motion understanding is proposed. Knowledge from cardiologists is used to specify different classes of motion and classification rules. The objective of this approach is to find the decisions for all possible classes of motion in the form of possibilities. The neural networks in the motion understanding system are independent of each other in operation and are cascaded to form a tree structure where each terminal node represents one possible class and each nonterminal node composed of a neural network represents one classification rule. In each network, the propagation rule is described by a fuzzy function and a supervised learning method is employed to train the parameters representing the type of fuzzy logic operation among inputs and the weights between each input and output neurons. Decision values can be computed by applying fuzzy reasoning technique to the outputs of the networks. Experiments on real data have been conducted to corroborate the proposed techniques. >
A randomized trial of family focused treatment for adolescents and young adults at risk for psychosis: study rationale, design and methods

Aim: This article outlines the rationale for a family-focused psychoeducational intervention for individuals at risk for psychosis and explains the design of a randomized multisite trial to test its efficacy. Methods: Adolescents and young adults that meet criteria for a psychosis risk syndrome at eight participating North American Prodromal Longitudinal Study sites are randomly assigned to a 6-month, 18-session family-focused treatment for prodromal youth or a 3-session psychoeducational enhanced care control intervention and followed over 1 year. Results: The results will determine whether the use of a family intervention is able to significantly improve functional outcomes, decrease the severity of positive symptoms and possibly prevent the onset of full psychosis, compared with enhanced care alone. Levels of familial criticism at baseline are hypothesized to moderate responses to family intervention. Improvements in knowledge about symptoms, family communication and problem solving will be tested as mediators in the pathways between treatment assignment and clinical or psychosocial outcomes in high-risk youth. Conclusions: The ongoing trial evaluates whether a non-invasive psychosocial approach can significantly enhance functional outcomes and prevent the ultra high risk patients from developing psychosis. The results will provide an important stepping stone in the movement of the field from refining early detection strategies to developing efficacious preventative treatments.
Two-stage positioning algorithm in complicated three dimensional environment

Ordinary nodes utilize static beacon nodes to achieve their location in existing three-dimensional positioning algorithms. The static beacon nodes need to send beacon message continuously to guarantee the positioning rate, but this will increase the energy consumption. To deal with this problem, we introduce an auxiliary device as beacon node in this paper, and come up with a two-stage positioning algorithm. Finally, we use MATLAB simulation tools to verify the superiority of this algorithm.
Improved mounting configurations for Fabry-Perot reference cavities

We discuss how the mounting configurations of a Fabry-Perot cavity contributes to its acceleration sensitivity and describe a simple, robust 1-Hz linewidth laser system.
Regulation of Protein Kinase Cν by the B-cell Antigen Receptor *

Diacylglycerol-dependent signaling plays an important role in signal transduction through T- and B-lymphocyte antigen receptors. Recently, a novel serine-threonine kinase of the protein kinase C (PKC) family has been described and designated as PKCν. PKCν has two putative diacylglycerol binding C1 domains, suggesting that it may participate in a novel diacylglycerol-mediated signaling pathway. Here we show that both endogenous and recombinant PKCν are trans-located to the plasma membrane and activated by the diacylglycerol mimic phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate. Mutational analysis demonstrates that PKCν activation is dependent on trans-phosphorylation of two conserved activation loop serine residues. We also find that PKCν is an important physiologic target of the B-cell receptor (BCR), because PKCν is found to be abundantly expressed in chicken and human B-cell lines and, in addition, exhibits robust activation after BCR engagement. Genetic and pharmacologic analyses of BCR-mediated PKCν activation indicate that it requires intact phospholipase Cγ and PKC signaling pathways. Furthermore, in co-transfection assays, PKCν can be trans-phosphorylated by the novel PKC isozymes PKCe, PKCη, or PKCθ but not the classical PKC enzyme, PKCα. Taken together, these results suggest that PKCν is an important component of signaling pathways downstream from novel PKC enzymes after B-cell receptor engagement.
Out of the Strike Zone: Why Graham v. Florida Makes It Unconstitutional to Use Juvenile-Age Convictions as Strikes to Mandate Life Without Parole Under § 841(b)(1)(A)

Life without parole is an incredibly harsh sentence. Recognizing this fact, the Supreme Court’s 2010 decision in Graham v. Florida held that life without parole is an unconstitutional cruel and unusual punishment for any juvenile convicted of a nonhomicide crime. This Comment takes the rule from Graham v. Florida and applies it to another context: sentencing defendants who have been convicted of drug trafficking in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841. Under the sentencing scheme of § 841(b)(1)(A), a defendant on his third strike—having two prior “felony drug offense” convictions—must be sentenced to life without parole. This Comment argues that counting juvenile-age prior convictions as strikes under § 841(b)(1)(A) to trigger mandatory life without parole is unconstitutional. Counting juvenile-age prior convictions as strikes effectively results in what Graham v. Florida forbids: life without parole based on the defendant’s actions as a juvenile.
The Cognitive Neuroscience of Remembering

Remembering draws on a diverse array of cognitive processes to construct a representation that is experienced as a copy of the original past. The results of brain-imaging, neuropsychological and physiological studies indicate that distinct neocortical regions might interact with medial temporal lobe structures to reinstate a memory. Frontal regions mediate the strategic retrieval attempt and monitor its outcome, with dissociated frontal regions making functionally separate contributions to retrieval. Parietal and frontal regions might supply a signal that information is old during the process of retrieval, allowing us to perceive that reconstructed representations are memories, rather than the products of new stimuli in the environment. Domain-specific cortical regions are reactivated during vivid remembering and contribute to the contents of a memory. Here, we describe how these regions interact to orchestrate an act of remembering.
Can Photo Sensors Help Us Understand the Intrinsic Differences Between Quantum and Classical Statistical Behaviors

We use the following epistemology—understanding and visualizing the invisible processes behind all natural phenomena through iterative reconstruction and/or refinement of current working theories towards their limits, constitute our best approach towards discovering actual realities of nature followed by new break‐through theories. We use this epistemology to explore the roots of statistical nature of the real world—classical physics, quantum physics and even our mental constructs. Diversity is a natural and healthy outcome of this statistical nature. First, we use a two‐beam superposition experiment as an illustrative example of the quantum world to visualize the root of fluctuations (or randomness) in the photo electron counting statistics. We recognize that the fluctuating weak background fields make the quantum world inherently random but the fluctuations are still statistically bounded, indicating that the fundamental laws of nature are still causal. Theoreticians will be challenged for ever to construct a causal and closed form theory free of statistical randomness out of incomplete information. We show by analyzing the essential steps behind any experiment that gaps in the information gathered about any phenomenon is inevitable. This lack of information also influences our personal epistemologies to have “statistical spread” due to its molecular origin, albeit bounded and constrained by the causally driven atomic and molecular interactions across the board. While there are clear differences in the root and manifestation of classical and quantum statistical behavior, on a fundamental level they originate in our theories due to lack of complete information about everything that is involved in every interaction in our experiments. Statistical nature of our theories is a product of incomplete information and we should take it as an inevitable paradigm.
Dietary and Hormonal Regulation of Enzymes of Fructose Metabolism in Rat Liver

Fructokinase (ketohexokinase, EC 2.7.1.3), aldolase (ketose-1-aldehyde lyase, EC 4.1.2.7), and triokinase (ATP:D-glyceraldehyde 3-phosphotransferase, EC 2.7.1.28) activities of rat liver were measured under various dietary and hormonal conditions. Specific activities in terms of liver weight did not change greatly, but marked changes were observed in total liver activity. All three activities decreased to about one-half or less of their normal total activity on fasting for 48 to 72 hours, and were restored completely to normal in 24 hours by fructose feeding. With glucose feeding, recovery was complete for aldolase but only partial for fructokinase and triokinase. There was no recovery of activity on feeding a high protein diet. Recovery of activity on fructose feeding occurred within a 4- to 8-hour period following a lag of about 16 hours, and roughly paralleled increases in liver weight. Long term feeding of fructose resulted in the maintenance of a considerably higher level of all three enzymes over that on a high fat or high protein diet. Levels of all three enzymes were unchanged in alloxan-diabetic rats. Fructokinase activity of fed adrenalectomized rats was at the fasting level of normal rats and was neither lowered further on fasting nor increased by subsequent feeding of fructose or glucose. In contrast, aldolase and triokinase activities were normal and decreased sharply on fasting but did not recover on subsequent glucose or fructose feeding. Essentially the same pattern was found for hypophysectomized as for adrenalectomized rats. Throughout all of the alterations of aldolase activity there was an invariably constant ratio of 1 for activity toward the two substrates, fructose 1,6-diphosphate and fructose 1-phosphate, suggesting the presence of a single aldolase species in rat liver.
Validation of community models: 2. Development of a baseline using the Wang‐Sheeley‐Arge model

This paper is the second in a series providing independent validation of community models of the outer corona and inner heliosphere. Here I present a comprehensive validation of the Wang-Sheeley-Arge (WSA) model. These results will serve as a baseline against which to compare the next generation of comparable forecasting models. The WSA model is used by a number of agencies to predict Solar wind conditions at Earth up to 4 days into the future. Given its importance to both the research and forecasting communities, it is essential that its performance be measured systematically and independently. I offer just such an independent and systematic validation. I report skill scores for the model's predictions of wind speed and interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) polarity for a large set of Carrington rotations. The model was run in all its routinely used configurations. It ingests synoptic line of sight magnetograms. For this study I generated model results for monthly magnetograms from multiple observatories, spanning the Carrington rotation range from 1650 to 2074. I compare the influence of the different magnetogram sources and performance at quiet and active times. I also consider the ability of the WSA model to forecast both sharp transitions in wind speed from slow to fast wind and reversals in the polarity of the radial component of the IMF. These results will serve as a baseline against which to compare future versions of the model as well as the current and future generation of magnetohydrodynamic models under development for forecasting use.
STARS computing corps: Enhancing engagement of women and underrepresented students in computing

The STARS Computing Corps is a national alliance of colleges and universities that facilitates student led regional engagement in computing service projects. In this paper, we present the results of a study of more than 400 students from across 20 institutions to examine the impact of participation in STARS. Results of the study show that there are many benefits for undergraduate computing students who engage in STARS projects across a variety of STARS institutions, including academic, career, and personal benefits, with students that are underrepresented in computing (i.e., females and ethnic minorities) benefitting more than others. The findings also indicate that higher degrees of student and faculty engagement in STARS projects are associated with greater student benefits. These findings establish empirical support for the STARS model of engagement, a flexible approach that can be applied across a variety of institutional types to positively impact traditionally under-represented students in computing.
Disturbance and coastal forests: a strategic approach to forest management in hurricane impact zones

Abstract The Indian Ocean Tsunami focused world attention on societal responses to environmental hazards and the potential of natural systems to moderate disturbance effects. Coastal areas are critical to the welfare of up to 50% of the world's population. Coastal systems in the southern United States are adapted to specific disturbance regimes of tropical cyclones (hurricanes) and fire. In August and September 2005, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita caused what has been termed the most costly natural disaster in U.S. history, including an estimated $2 billion to $3 billion in damage from wind alone. A total of 2.23 million ha of timberland in the coastal states of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama was damaged. Although financial loss estimates are incomplete, there is little doubt that these hurricanes caused extensive damage and their effects on the landscape will linger for years to come. Crafting a strategy for incorporating large, infrequent disturbances into a managed landscape such as the forested coastal plain of the southern U.S. must balance the desirable with the possible. We advance an adaptive strategy that distinguishes event risk (hurricane occurrence) from vulnerability of coastal forests and outcome risk (hurricane severity). Our strategy focuses on managing the disturbance event, the system after disturbance, and the recovery process, followed by modifying initial conditions to reduce vulnerability. We apply these concepts to a case study of the effects of recent Hurricanes Katrina and Rita on forests of the coastal plain of the northern Gulf of Mexico.
Fish cleaning symbiosis: Proximate causes of host behaviour

Abstract Proximate causes for response to a cleaner fish were studied in two host fishes, Chaetodon auriga and Zebrasoma flavescens . Response to a model of a cleaner fish indicated whether ectoparasites, deprivation of exposure to the model, and aversive stimulation had any effect on cleaning symbiotic behaviour. Tactile reinforcement and conflict behaviour appeared to be the major causal factors for host behaviour. Deprivation of experience with the model and aversive stimulation had strong effects on these factors. Ectoparasites had little effect on C. auriga and only amplified responses in Z. flavescens . An evolutionary scheme is suggested in which some cleaner fish have exploited their hosts' tendency to respond to rewarding tactile stimuli.
Simultaneously Extracting Multiple Parameters via Fitting One Single Autocorrelation Function Curve in Diffuse Correlation Spectroscopy

Near-infrared diffuse correlation spectroscopy (DCS) has recently been employed for noninvasive acquisition of blood flow information in deep tissues. Based on the established correlation diffusion equation, the light intensity autocorrelation function detected by DCS is determined by a blood flow index αDB, tissue absorption coefficient μa, reduced scattering coefficient μs', and a coherence factor β. This study is designed to investigate the possibility of extracting multiple parameters such as μa, μs', β, and αDB through fitting one single autocorrelation function curve and evaluate the performance of different fitting methods. For this purpose, computer simulations, tissue-like phantom experiments, and in vivo tissue measurements were utilized. The results suggest that it is impractical to simultaneously fit αDB and μa or αDB and μs' from one single autocorrelation function curve due to the large crosstalk between these paired parameters. However, simultaneously fitting β and αDB is feasible and generates more accurate estimation with smaller standard deviation compared to the conventional two-step fitting method (i.e., first calculating β and then fitting αDB). The outcomes from this study provide a crucial guidance for DCS data analysis.
Modeling of Mammalian Skeletal Muscle

A model of mammalian skeletal muscle is developed from experimental results from a rat gracilis anticus muscle at 17.5°C. The approach consists of factoring pertinent variables of muscle contraction (length, force, velocity, and duration of stimulation) into a series of physically realizable functions. The analysis indicates that for lengths less than 120 percent of rest length, mammalian skeletal muscle can be modeled as a nonlinear force generator, a function of length and time, bridged by a nonlinear viscous-like element, a function of time, length, and velocity, in series with a nonlinear elastic element, a function of length. A close correlation exists between the results obtained during an analog computer simulation of the model and those from a typical rat gracilis anticus muscle.
Stereoselective pharmacokinetics and inversion of (R)- ketoprofen in healthy volunteers.

The pharmacokinetics of ketoprofen enantiomers were evaluated after 25-, 50-, and 100-mg doses of (R)- ketoprofen and 100 mg of racemic ketoprofen in 25 healthy volunteers (12 male and 13 female). The fractional inversion (F1) of (R)- ketoprofen was 8.9 ± 3.3% using plasma data and 10.0 ± 2.2% using urine data. There were small (<5%) but significant differences between the enantiomers for areas under the plasma concentration-time curve (A UC) after the racemic dose (P < 0.005). Half-lives were 130-144 minutes for (R)- ketoprofen and 132-209 minutes for (S)- ketoprofen. Dose proportionality in AUC and maximum plasma concentration (Cmax) values was noted for both enantiomers. A total of 69% of the dose was recovered in the urine as (R)- and (S)- ketoprofen and conjugates. The elimination rate constant of(R)- ketoprofen was significantly different (P < 0.05) between men and women. Exposure to cyclooxygenase inhibiting (5)ketoprofen was approximately 10% of the dose after the administration of pure (R)ketoprofen and was independent of gender. J Clin Pharmacol 1998;38:3S-1OS.
An Efficient Method for Computing the Absorption of Solar Radiation by Water Vapor

The method is based upon molecular line parameters and makes use of a far wing scaling approximation and k distribution approach previously applied to the computation of the infrared cooling rate due to water vapor. Taking into account the wave number dependence of the incident solar flux, the solar heating rate is computed for the entire water vapor spectrum and for individual absorption bands. The accuracy of the method is tested against line by line calculations. The method introduces a maximum error of 0.06 C/day. The method has the additional advantage over previous methods in that it can be applied to any portion of the spectral region containing the water vapor bands. The integrated absorptances and line intensities computed from the molecular line parameters were compared with laboratory measurements. The comparison reveals that, among the three different sources, absorptance is the largest for the laboratory measurements.
Determination of the temperature artifact during ultrasound hyperthermia.

Temperature artifacts produced by very small uncoated thermocouples during ultrasonic heating are evaluated by backward extrapolation of the linear portion of the temperature rise curve or by backward extrapolation of the exponential portion of the temperature decay curve. The accuracy of these techniques for larger clinically used thermocouples is investigated by use of a two-dimensional model of the bioheat equation which simulates the transfer of heat radially from a probe 1 mm in diameter. The accuracy of these techniques is found to depend upon the perfusion rate. In the absence of perfusion, both extrapolation techniques underestimate the artifact by nearly 40%. Extrapolation of the temperature rise curve is very sensitive to the perfusion rate and this technique results in errors exceeding 100% when the perfusion rate is high. Extrapolation of the temperature decay curve produces more consistent results. Over a blood flow range of 0–100 ml/100 g per min, the artifact is underestimated by an amount ...
Granular cell tumor: A clinicopathologic study of 110 patients

The clinicopathologic features of 118 granular cell tumors (GCT) encountered at two affiliated hospitals were reviewed. A total of 110 patients were affected over this 32-year period of study (71 men, 39 women), and in 5% GCT were multiple. Patients ranged in age from 16 to 58 years (average 32 years) and were symptomatic for an average duration of 11 months prior to diagnosis. There was a greater than expected frequency of GCT among black patients (29%). Although tongue was the single most common anatomic site involved, relatively more GCT (44%) occurred in skin or subcutaneous tissue. Less common locations were breast parenchyma (10 cases), rectal mucosa and anus (6), vulva (4), esophagus and larynx (2 cases each). The correct preoperative diagnosis of this protean tumor was made in only three patients. GCT were surgically treated with the average diameter of resected tumor being 1.2 cm (range 0.2--3.5 cm). Pseudoepitheliomatous hyperplasia was noted in 11 tumors and in one vulvar GCT there was overlying in situ squamous cell carcinoma. Tumors were incompletely excised in 24 of 56 patients having adequate followup; only five of these 24 patients experienced a local recurrence of tumor. Malignant behavior was not observed. Results of histochemical and ultrastructural study are briefly discussed. The precise histogenesis of GCT is uncertain but Schwann cell origin is favored in most cases.
The accumulation of amino acids by Plasmodium lophurae (avian malaria).

Abstract 1. 1. The avian malaria Plasmodium lophurae , malaria-infected erythrocytes and normal duck erythrocytes incubated at 37–39°C for periods up to 30 min in the presence of 14 C-labeled amino acids (1 mM) demonstrate four patterns of accumulation. 2. 2. The uptake of aspartic acid, glutamic acid, lysine, arginine, taurine, histidine, methionine, glycine, valine and leucine is similar for normal and malaria-infected erythrocytes. The infected erythrocytes accumulates less alanine, serine and threonine than does the normal duck erythrocyte, whereas for proline, the converse is true. 3. 3. The only amino acids accumulated by erythrocyte-free P. lophurae are glutamic acid, lysine and arginine. Apparently, all other amino acids enter by diffusion.
“Great Pride and Insolence”: Spiritual Justifications for Violence in the Pequot War

In 1637 a coalition of soldiers from Massachusetts Bay, Connecticut, and allied natives attacked the Pequot fortification at Mystic, Connecticut culminating in the deliberate incineration of hundreds of Pequot men, women, and children. As part of the larger Pequot War (1636–37), the incident at Fort Mystic represents a distinctly “Puritan” moment of heightened aggression grounded in Puritan beliefs of humility and pride. Over the course of the 1630s the Puritans increasingly associated the entire Pequot nation with a myriad of sins, including pride, insolence, and an unwillingness to submit to the Christian God. This behavior was categorically opposed to Puritan expectations of Christian behavior that demanded humility. Puritans believed that when humble, God would intervene on one’s behalf, thus rewarding humility in the face of God’s greatness. The destruction of the Pequot was divine retribution on behalf of the godly against the sin of pride in the Pequot nation.
Scattering and Receiving Characteristics of Waveguide Slot Array Antennas

Scattering and receiving characteristics of waveguide-fed planar slot arrays are investigated. A plane wave incident source field is assumed. The scattered field consists of the physical optics field and the slot scattering. The former is obtained from the induced currents in the finite ground plane with all the slots shorted out and the latter from the moment method solution of the pertinent coupled integral equations for all slot aperture electric fields. Numerical results are presented.
Adaptive parallelism for web search

A web search query made to Microsoft Bing is currently parallelized by distributing the query processing across many servers. Within each of these servers, the query is, however, processed sequentially. Although each server may be processing multiple queries concurrently, with modern multicore servers, parallelizing the processing of an individual query within the server may nonetheless improve the user's experience by reducing the response time. In this paper, we describe the issues that make the parallelization of an individual query within a server challenging, and we present a parallelization approach that effectively addresses these challenges. Since each server may be processing multiple queries concurrently, we also present a adaptive resource management algorithm that chooses the degree of parallelism at run-time for each query, taking into account system load and parallelization efficiency. As a result, the servers now execute queries with a high degree of parallelism at low loads, gracefully reduce the degree of parallelism with increased load, and choose sequential execution under high load. We have implemented our parallelization approach and adaptive resource management algorithm in Bing servers and evaluated them experimentally with production workloads. The experimental results show that the mean and 95th-percentile response times for queries are reduced by more than 50% under light or moderate load. Moreover, under high load where parallelization adversely degrades the system performance, the response times are kept the same as when queries are executed sequentially. In all cases, we observe no degradation in the relevance of the search results.
Protofibril Assemblies of the Arctic, Dutch, and Flemish Mutants of the Alzheimer's Aβ1–40 Peptide

Using a coarse-grained model of the Aβ peptide, we analyze the Arctic (E22G), Dutch (E22Q), and Flemish (A21G) familial Alzheimer's disease (FAD) mutants for any changes in the stability of amyloid assemblies with respect to the wild-type (WT) sequence. Based on a structural reference state of two protofilaments aligned to create the “agitated” protofibril as determined by solid-state NMR, we determine free energy trends for Aβ assemblies for the WT and FAD familial sequences. We find that the structural characteristics and oligomer size of the critical nucleus vary dramatically among the hereditary mutants. The Arctic mutant's disorder in the turn region introduces new stabilizing interactions that better align the two protofilaments, yielding a well-defined protofibril axis at relatively small oligomer sizes with respect to WT. By contrast, the critical nucleus for the Flemish mutant is beyond the 20 chains characterized in this study, thereby showing a strong shift in the equilibrium toward monomers with respect to larger protofibril assemblies. The Dutch mutant forms more ordered protofilaments than WT, but exhibits greater disorder in protofibril structure that includes an alternative polymorph of the WT fibril. An important conclusion of this work is that the Dutch mutant does not support the agitated protofibril assembly. We discuss the implications of the structural ensembles and free energy profiles for the FAD mutants in regards to interpretation of the kinetics of fibril assembly using chromatography and dye-binding experiments.
Authentic Discourse and the Survival English Curriculum

This article argues the position that classroom language models must be based on authentic native-speaker/native-speaker discourse. The argument is supported with a quantitative distributional analysis of the language of one doctor-patient interaction and examples from three others. The topics, utterance functions, and structures are quantified, and their distribution is examined to show that simulated excerpts may serve to mislead students about the nature of everyday interactions. The implications of this study are discussed in terms of a need for collection of more authentic data, distributional analysis of forms and functions of conversation, and the implementation of a “discourse behavior” syllabus for survival English, in which syllabus items are determined by the needs of a participant in a given conversation.
Vegetation as a component of a non-nested hierarchy: a conceptual model

. A general conceptual model of vegetation based on hierarchy theory is presented. The model emphasizes that prediction of vegetation requires consideration of both mechanisms of vegetation change and the constraints within which it occurs. The mechanisms of vegetation change are the responses to and effects upon their surroundings of individual plants. The most general constraints upon vegetation are aspects of the environment not affected by vegetation over successional time, and the pool of species within dispersal range. Examples of such environmental factors include macroclimate and soil parent material. In some cases, vegetation may alter important labile environmental factors such as soil nutrient and water availability. Some vegetation compositions appear to be resistant to changes in the general constraints. Due to both sources, there are multiple possible vegetation compositions given the same general constraints. Disturbance is defined as an abrupt change in the constraints on the vegetation resulting in a change in the vegetation's state or dynamics. Both the recognition of disturbance and the distinction between independent and labile environmental factors depend on the spatial and temporal scale of observation. For example, a particular wildfire at a given stand may be a disturbance, whereas at a larger scale of observation the same event may contribute to the wildfire regime, part of the constraints at that scale. Similarly, levels of soil organic matter may constrain vegetation over short time scales, due to influencing availability of water and nutrients. Over long time scales, the vegetation itself is a primary determinant of soil organic matter content. This model contains elements of both the initial, holistic theory of vegetation and recent, reductionistic approaches. It reiterates the need to considerboth mechanisms and constraints, stressed by contemporary and earlier workers. Hierarchy theory provides new insights concerning sufficient conditions for prediction, possible limits on predictability, and appropriate research strategy.