cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Using a Workflow to Reduce Database Costs without Affecting Collection Needs

A small university with limited staff and resources created a workflow to help streamline decision making during renewal of subject databases. A literature review of common assessment methods found cost per use, content overlap analysis, and relevance to the curriculum to be the most common metrics. However, each individually provided an incomplete portrait of usage. A flowchart documented the decision process and incorporated multiple metrics. Implementing this workflow reduced the library’s materials budget by 3% for the following fiscal year. This process may be implemented at other libraries to lower overall budget spending, while still providing content aligned with the local curriculum.
Keynote Address: Brain Science Perspectives on Investor Behavior and Decision-Making Errors

Time horizons for maximizing the value of an investment vary among individuals in surprisingly wide, imperfectly predictable, and often seemingly irrational ways. Problems ensue. A deeper understanding of the causes of this variation might aid in the planning and design of legal and corporate policies. Consequently, this article provides brain science perspectives on: 1) Why does the brain discount time?; and 2) How does the brain discount time? The article is based on a Keynote Address at the Berle IX Symposium on Investor Time Horizons.
RACC: Resource-Aware Container Consolidation using a Deep Learning Approach

Resource optimization has always been a big challenge in modern data centers. The process of performing workload consolidation on a minimal number of physical machines is becoming more complex when these data centers began supporting containers in addition to virtual machines (VMs). With the increasing usage of containers with VMs in data centers, it becomes critical to address this problem from the container's point of view - that is to optimally allocate containers in the fewest number of physical hosts. Depending on the type of application workload or tasks, infrastructure providers may provision separate containers to handle each task. These tasks may have different resource demands, such as: some of these tasks are CPU intensive, some memory intensive, some I/O intensive and some may be network intensive. Also, the physical machines in the data center are heterogeneous i.e. the hardware configuration (resource capacity) of these machines may differ from each other. Hence, the challenge is to consolidate all the active containers with different resource requirements on the minimum number of physical machines that are not even. We formulate a multi-resource bin packing problem and propose a Deep Learning technique called Fit-for-Packing to place a near-optimal number of containers on a physical machine. Experimental results show that our model achieves an average training accuracy of 82.01% and an average testing accuracy of 82.93%.
Design of a media and gaming sequence for graduates in applied CS

The effect of interactive media and games pervades society today. Interactive media and games can be found everywhere from the Internet to cell phones, in homes and vehicles. As technology continues to infiltrate nearly every aspect of everyday life, with users demanding more stimulating and entertaining media, it is imperative that those desiring a career in today's IT and gaming industries are aware of the needs, process, and tools in developing such applications. With this in view, we have created a two semester media and gaming sequence in an attempt to tap student interest in these areas and provide instruction relevant to current and projected computing markets. This paper presents the design of this sequence beginning with requisite background information followed by a discussion of the design, implementation, student reactions to, and future plans for these courses.
On the Design of a Cryogenic Facility for Testing Aircraft Components

Testing of aircraft cryogenic components such as valves, pumps, etc., requires the usual torture testing plus the use of various cryogenic fluids. Consequently, many of the probelms are ordinary but some are extremely difficult to solve. The difficulties are greatest for small companies with limited resources who must either use the services of specialized testing agencies or do it themselves. The use of outside test laboratories is economically justified in many cases, although problems exist in scheduling, setting-up, delays, etc. This paper discusses the do-it-yourself approach.
Chronic Cellular Injury and Human Proliferative Disorders

Carcinogenesis and normal tissue regeneration share some common characteristics. In both states there is an active cellular proliferation and induction of the expression of potent mitogenic growth factors and receptors that promote the proliferative activity. Normal tissue regeneration is initiated by acute injury. Carcinogenesis is linked to prolonged chronic cellular injury by a variety of toxic agents including carcinogen. The major difference between the two processes is that in normal tissue repair, both cellular proliferation and growth factor expression are suppressed upon the healing of the wound. In contrast, in cancer and in some nonmalignant proliferative disorders cellular proliferation remains uncontrolled, and the expression of the mitogenic growth factors and receptors remains unsuppressed. It seems that in these disorders, the pathologic lesion is not the induction of growth factor and cytokine expression. Induction of these factors in response to acute or chronic injury appears to be a physiologic process aiming at the repair of the damage caused by the injury. What is abnormal in these pathologic states is a malfunction of the reversal mechanisms that normally control the suppression of the genes encoding for these growth factors and cytokines.
Citorellamine, a new bromoindole derivative from polycitorella mariae

Abstract The structure of citorellamine, isolated from the tunicate Polycitorella mariae , has been deduced from spectroscopic analyses and chemical transformations.
Resorcinol–formaldehyde gel method to synthesize porous Ce0.8Sm0.2O1.9 nanoparticles

Abstract We report a novel resorcinol–formaldehyde sol–gel (RF) method to prepare samarium-doped ceria (SDC). The synthesized SDC powders exhibit cotton-like micro-morphology with nanosized pores. The structure is composed of interconnected nanoparticles with average particle size of 4.3 nm and remarkably uniform size distribution. The nanoparticles are softly aggregated with Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) surface area as high as 78 m 2 /g after being calcined at 500 °C.
Biologically Active Nitro-PAH Compounds in Extracts of Diesel Exhaust Particulate

Polycyclic organic matter extracted from diesel exhaust particulate is active in bacterial mutation assays without mammalian enzyme systems as required for activation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. This direct-acting mutagenicity is attributable to nitrated-PAH compounds activated by bacterial nitroreductases. TLC and HPLC separations used in combination with Salmonella mutation assays employing nitroreductase-deficient strains evidence the involvement of a variety of nitrated compounds. These include mononitro-PAH derivatives such as 1-nitropyrene, but the larger proportion of mutagenic activity is associated with more polar fractions which likely contain further-substituted nitroarenes. Highly-mutagenic derivatives of mononitro-PAH, such as the dinitropyrenes, are evidently present in the particle extracts. Similar products are formed by mammalian enzymes in the Salmonella/S9 assay. The enhanced mutagenicity of 1-nitropyrene with rat liver S9 enzymes is attributable to a metabolite formed by P-450 monoxygenase activity, but the mutagenicity of this product still requires activation by bacterial nitroreductases. The intermediate metabolite, most probably an oxygenated derivative of 1-nitropyrene, may be representative of the more polar mutagens found in diesel particle extracts.
Sustainability of Water Supply at Military Installations, Kabul Basin, Afghanistan

The Kabul Basin, including the city of Kabul, Afghanistan, is host to several military installations of Afghanistan, the United States, and other nations that depend on groundwater resources for water supply. These installations are within or close to the city of Kabul. Groundwater also is the potable supply for the approximately four million residents of Kabul. The sustainability of water resources in the Kabul Basin is a concern to military operations, and Afghan water-resource managers, owing to increased water demands from a growing population and potential mining activities. This study illustrates the use of chemical and isotopic analysis, groundwater flow modeling, and hydrogeologic investigations to assess the sustainability of groundwater resources in the Kabul Basin.
Identification of Proprietary Amino Ethoxylates in Hydraulic Fracturing Wastewater Using Liquid Chromatography/Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry with Solid-Phase Extraction.

This work describes the discovery of amino-poly(ethylene glycol)s, amino-poly(ethylene glycol) carboxylates, and amino-poly(ethylene glycol) amines in 20 produced water samples from hydraulic fracturing in the western United States. These compounds, with masses in the range of m/z 120–986, were identified using solid-phase extraction and liquid chromatography/quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry. The polymeric sorbent, Oasis HLB, gave good recovery for all three ethoxylated surfactants and desalted the samples, which significantly reduced suppression of the mass spectral signal allowing detection and identification. The Kendrick mass defect, mass spectra, fragmentation pathways, and pure standards were used for confirmation. Finally, because these compounds are not explicitly listed in FracFocus reports, rather they are categorized as a proprietary surfactant blend; their identification is an important step in understanding the chemistry, treatment, and possible toxicity of hydraulic fracturing was...
Abstract WP24: Impact of Blood Pressure Control in First 24 Hrs Post-Thrombectomy

Introduction: The importance of blood pressure control after IV tPA is well known. Current practice is to use these same parameters for patients undergoing Endovascular Thrombectomy (ET). However, ...
Smart Cities and the Dire Need for a Course Correction

Smart city strategies use digital technologies to improve the efficiency and efficacy of city services and enhance the livability of urban areas. Conceptually smart cities are not novel. For decades, cities have employed technology based strategies to identify effective means of improving the quality of life of its inhabitants. The current renewed efforts to create smart cities, therefore, do not come from new long-term goals set by municipalities around the globe. The movement that embraces smart cities today is fueled by the efforts of municipalities trying to understand how to take advantage of the advances in digital technology and the ubiquitous availability of wireless connectivity to achieve previously identified objectives. Urban planning research has clearly identified the challenges cities face today. However, the ongoing academic research efforts in the communications area are largely unrelated to these challenges. Based on this premise, this work first visits the realities that municipalities confront in an urbanizing world. Thereafter, it highlights the current efforts in research and argues how these are not clearly related to the current needs of municipalities around the world. It then visits the current standardization efforts around smart cities. Finally, the article proposes a new interdisciplinary path that interested researchers could take advantage of to effectively help cities from developed or developing nations mitigate the imminent crisis fueled by urbanization.
Happiness as the constitutive principle of action in Thomas Aquinas

Constitutivism locates the ground of practical normativity in features constitutive of rational agency and rests on the concept of a constitutive norm – a norm that is internal to a thing such that...
Adherence and Continued Participation in a Wellness Class for Individuals with Disabilities

Background:For individuals with disabilities, adherence and participation in wellness programs is a challenge. Adherence and participation were explored in a wellness class for people with disabili...
Incrementally Maintaining Classification using an RDBMS

The proliferation of imprecise data has motivated both researchers and the database industry to push statistical techniques into relational database management systems (RDBMSs). We study algorithms to maintain model-based views for a popular statistical technique, classification, inside an RDBMS in the presence of updates to the training examples. We make three technical contributions: (1) An algorithm that incrementally maintains classification inside an RDBMS. (2) An analysis of the above algorithm that shows that our algorithm is optimal among all deterministic algorithms (and asymptotically within a factor of 2 of a nondeterministic optimal). (3) An index structure based on the technical ideas that underlie the above algorithm which allows us to store only a fraction of the entities in memory. We apply our techniques to text processing, and we demonstrate that our algorithms provide several orders of magnitude improvement over non-incremental approaches to classification on a variety of data sets: such as the Cora, UCI Machine Learning Repository data sets, Citeseer, and DBLife.
Impact of Undergraduate Research on Academic Performance, Educational Planning, and Career Development.

An undergraduate research mentoring program (URMP), initiated at Texas AM and (2) to encourage students to become effective written and oral communicators by preparing a manuscript of their research findings for scientific publication and by presenting their original research at professional and lay audience meetings. The efficacy of the URMP was assessed by determining the difference in academic performance and marketability between students in the URMP and a control group, and by a survey of graduates from the program as to their perceived value of the URMP. Fifty undergraduates participated in the program from 1998 to 2003. Among these students, 31 research projects were completed resulting in 18 peer-reviewed, scientific publications, 15 oral and 28 poster presentations at scientific meetings, and >120 presentations to lay organizations. Students who participated in the URMP had a mean 0.5 grade point improvement from their junior year to graduation compared with students in the control group. In addition, more URMP students graduated with a B.S. degree and also graduated sooner, obtained employment within the wildlife profession sooner, and had greater success obtaining wildlife-related employment than students of the control group. The URMP was perceived by participants as a positive influence in their academic career, which taught them to focus on their goals and made them more marketable for employment after graduation.
High-throughput behavioral screen in C. elegans reveals novel Parkinson disease drug candidates

We recently linked branched-chain amino acid transferase 1 (BCAT1) with the movement disorder Parkinson disease (PD), and found that reduction of C. elegans bcat-1 causes abnormal spasm-like curling behavior with age. Here, we report the development of a high-throughput automated curling assay and its application to the discovery of new potential PD therapeutics. Four FDA-approved drugs were identified as candidates for late-in-life intervention, with metformin showing the greatest promise for repurposing to PD.
Southeast Asia, 1300–1540

The end of the thirteenth century and the early decades of the fourteenth century witnessed the end of Southeast Asia’s classical period, that age when the empires of Pagan (Burma), Angkor (Cambodia), Dai Viet (northern Vietnam), and Sri Vijaya (in the Malay Archipelago) thrived and introduced the region’s religions, political models, and cultural standards. The thirteenth-century invasions of Mongol armies coming out of Yuan China encouraged, but did not cause, the collapse of most of these states, although changes in the application of the Chinese tribute system may have played a substantial role in the fall of Sri Vijaya. On the mainland, however, Mongol intervention was merely disruptive and did not represent meaningful conquest. Instead, administrative weaknesses and trade dislocation contributed to political fragmentation followed by internecine war among the myriad successor states. This fighting would only end with the reemergence of large-scale empires from the middle to the end of the sixteenth century. The period between 1300 and 1540 thus represented a phase of near constant warfare, due both to the multiplicity of competing polities and the administrative weaknesses that worked against sustained political centralization. By the end of the period, the formation of new empires established the political terrain for warfare in the centuries to come.
Spontaneous Cervicovaginal Fistula in Obstructed Hemivagina and Ipsilateral Renal Anomaly Syndrome: A Case Report.

ABSTRACT Background Obstructed hemivagina and ipsilateral renal anomaly (OHVIRA) syndrome is a rare diagnosis; patients classically present with dysmenorrhea and increasing pelvic pain. Unusual manifestations of OHVIRA syndrome might occur as a result of patient anatomy and the rupture or relief of the obstructed hemivagina. Case We present a 15-year-old patient with OHVIRA syndrome who developed a spontaneous cervicovaginal fistula and subsequently underwent hemihysterectomy.
Thunderstorm and fair-weather quasi-static electric fields over land and ocean

Abstract Natural lightning and the associated clouds are known to behave differently over land and ocean, but many questions remain. We expand the related observational datasets by obtaining simultaneous quasi-static electric field observations over coastal land, near-shore water, and deep ocean regions during both fair-weather and thunderstorm periods. Oceanic observations were obtained using two 3-m NOAA buoys that were instrumented with Campbell Scientific electric field mills to measure the quasi-static electric fields. These data were compared to selected electric field records from the existing on-shore electric field mill suite of 31 sensors at Kennedy Space Center (KSC). Lightning occurrence times, locations and peak current estimates for both onshore and ocean were provided by the U.S. National Lightning Detection Network. The buoy instruments were first evaluated on-shore at the Florida coast, and the first system was calibrated for field enhancements and to confirm proper behavior of the system in elevated-field environments. The buoys were then moored 20 mi and 120 mi off the coast of KSC in February (20 mi) and August (120 mi) 2014. Diurnal fair-weather fields at both ocean sites matched will with each other and with those found during the Carnegie cruise, but mean values were 33% smaller, due at least in-part to constraints on the calibration procedure. Diurnal fair-weather fields variations at coastal and inland sites were a poorer match than offshore, likely because the offshore environment is “cleaner” with limited variations in local space charge, lower surface aerosol densities, little surface heating to disturb the surface charge layer during fair weather, and fewer local radioactive sources to modulate the near-surface electrical conductivity. Storm-related static fields were 4-5× larger at both oceanic sites than over land, likely due to decreased screening by near-surface space charge produced by corona current. The time-evolution of the electric field and field changes during storm approach are sufficiently different over land and ocean to warrant further study. This work shows the quality, accuracy, and reliability of these data, and has demonstrated the practicality of off-shore electric field measurements for safety- and launch-related decision making at KSC.
Designing Ruby: Protocol for a 2-Arm, Brief, Digital Randomized Controlled Trial for Internalized Weight Bias

Background: Weight bias internalization, also known as weight self-stigma, is a serious health concern for individuals with higher body weight. Weight bias internalization is associated with the greater avoidance of health care and health-promoting activities, disordered eating, social isolation, and weight gain. Elevated weight bias internalization has been associated with low self-compassion, yet few investigations have explored self-compassion as a potential mechanism for reducing internalized weight bias. Objective: Ruby is a 2-arm randomized controlled trial that was designed to test the efficacy of a 4-week digital self-compassion intervention to reduce internalized weight bias compared with a wait-list control. Methods: Adults with elevated internalized weight bias and a BMI of >30 kg/m2 (N=80) were recruited. Ruby is a standalone digital trial that will be delivered entirely via a smartphone and will involve web-based data collection and text messages. The intervention content will include psychoeducation and daily mindfulness practices with a focus on self-compassion and body concerns. We will use intent-to-treat analyses to examine changes in weight bias internalization throughout time by treatment arm. The analyses will be conducted by using one-way analysis of covariance models and linear mixed models. Results: The protocol was designed in May 2020 and approved in December 2020. Data collection is currently underway. Conclusions: Ruby will be the first digital standalone, self-compassion–based intervention designed to reduce internalized weight bias. Owing to its standalone digital delivery, Ruby may be a highly scalable treatment for internalized weight bias that can be delivered on its own or combined with other treatments. We expect Ruby to be accessible to many, as participants can access the digital intervention at times of the day that are the most convenient in their schedule and are not burdened by in-person time commitments, which can be a barrier for participants with competing demands on their time and resources. If efficacious, Ruby will be poised to expand a burgeoning body of literature related to psychological intervention in this area. Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04678973; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04678973
Locke, Science and Politics

Introduction 1. Science and morality 2. Locke's moral epistemology 3. The paradoxes of Locke's moral and political teaching 4. Conclusion: some thoughts concerning education and Lockean happiness.
Separate dimensions of anxiety differentially predict alcohol use among male juvenile offenders

INTRODUCTION: Although research has documented robust prospective relationships between externalizing symptomatology and subsequent adolescent alcohol use, the extent to which internalizing symptoms such as anxiety may increase risk for alcohol consumption remains controversial. Recent evidence suggests that one possible reason for mixed findings is that separate dimensions of anxiety differentially confer risk for alcohol use. The present study tested two dimensions of anxiety, worry and physiological anxiety symptoms, as predictors of alcohol use and misuse in a longitudinal sample of juvenile offenders. METHODS: Participants were 818 male juvenile offenders drawn from a larger multi-site, longitudinal study. Zero-inflated Poisson regression models estimated the influence of anxiety symptoms on typical drinking quantity, frequency of binge drinking, and alcohol dependence symptoms. RESULTS: Results indicate that physiological anxiety and worry symptoms showed differential relations with alcohol use risk. Physiological anxiety was positively associated with increased risk for typical alcohol involvement, frequency of binge drinking, and alcohol dependence symptoms, whereas worry was negatively associated with all alcohol use outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: Current findings underscore the importance of considering anxiety as a multidimensional construct when examining the prospective relation between anxiety and adolescent alcohol use risk. Keywords: Juvenile justice Language: en
Scalable Cache Coherence for Shared Memory Multiprocessors

This paper presents a performance analysis of a new directory based cache coherence protocol. We compare the fully mapped centralized directory protocol with a distributed directory protocol developed by us. The distributed directory protocol is based on a linked list of caches and is more scalable in terms of cost and performance. It does not require the network to preserve the order of messages and allows adaptive routing so that network performance may be more robust. Simulation results show that the distributed directory protocol has better performance than the centralized directory protocol for the benchmarks we have analyzed.
Deuda externa y riesgo de pais

This paper investigates to what extent the international financial community has taken into account the risk characteristics of borrowing less developed countries when granting loans. Specifically, this study analyzes the determinants of the spread betwee
Chapter 22. Cytokine Modulation as a Medicinal Chemistry Target

Publisher Summary This chapter summarizes the recent progress made in the discovery of modulators of cytokine function with the emphasis on the activity of small molecules and also discusses the clinical use of specific biologicals such as antibodies, soluble receptors, or recombinant cytokines. Interleukin 1 (IL-1), which plays a central role in both inflammatory and immunological responses and has been implicated in a wide range of human diseases, exis,ts in two different forms, IL-1α and IL-1β. Interleukin 2 (IL-2) plays an integral role in the clonal expansion of T-lymphocytes after antigen stimulation. In addition, it stimulates the growth and differentiation of a variety of other lymphocytes, including B cells, natural killer cells, and lymphokine-activated killer cells. The efficacy of IL-2 has been investigated in a number of cancerous states. Interleukin 3 is a 23 kDa glycoprotein, whose general function is to induce proliferation of early hematopoietic progenitor cells. Interleukin 4 is a 20 kDa peptide, which plays a key role in B-cell growth, and is the sole cytokine responsible for initiation of IgE synthesis, implicating it in allergic diseases and parasitic infections. Its immunoregulatory functions and potential application in cancer therapy have been reviewed. Interleukin 5 plays a key role in eosinophil and B-cell proliferation and differentiation. Interleukin 6 is a major mediator of the acute phase response to infection or injury. Interleukin 7 is a 25 kDa protein derived from stromal cells. It stimulates the proliferation of pre-B cells, thymocytes, and mature T cells. Interleukin 8 is a monocyte-derived chemotactic factor for neutrophils. Tumor necrosis factor-α plays a central role in host defense mechanisms and has been implicated in shock, chronic inflammation, and other autoimmune diseases. These studies can provide not only the pharmacological tools but also the future drugs for the treatment of immunological, inflammatory, and oncological diseases.
Boundaries in psychotherapy supervision.

Objective: This study examines the perceptions of trainees and supervisors on the boundaries of the supervisory relationship. Method: A 19-item questionnaire about the appropriateness of the action...
Pressure Grouting Fine Fissures

Standard field equipment and methods were used in grouting fine fissures between specially prepared concrete slabs in a laboratory study with various grout mixtures and pressures. The lowest water-cement ratio that could be used in grout with neat cement, cement plus fly ash, cement plus fly ash plus an intrusion aid, cement plus an intrusion aid, and cement plus calcium lignosulfonate, to penetrate fissures of 0.01, 0.02, and 0.03 in. width at 25, 50, and 100 psi was determined. The penetration characteristics and the quality of hardened grout films were determined with seven different grout compositions, neat cement, cement plus fly ash, cement plus fly ash plus calcium lignosulfonate, cement plus calcium lignosulfonate, cement plus finely ground water-quenched slag, cement plus pumicite, and cement plus finely ground calcined shale.
Food Insecurity Is Associated With Development Of Faster Cognitive Decline In The Boston Puerto Rican Health Study (P5.219)

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the hypothesis that food insecurity - living with hunger and fear of not having enough food - is associated with development of cognitive decline. BACKGROUND: Food insecurity is a growing worldwide concern, due to an imbalance between rapidly increasing demand for food and limited access to good quality foods. In our previous cross-sectional study, we found that food insecurity was associated with poor cognitive function, but the direction of this relationship remains unclear. DESIGN/METHODS: The current prospective analysis was based on 597 Puerto Rican adults aged 40-75 with mini-mental status exam (MMSE) 蠅 24 at baseline. Food security was assessed at baseline with the US Household Food Security Scale. Participants completed cognitive batteries (MMSE, word list learning, digit span, Stroop test, verbal fluency, clock drawing, figure copying) at baseline and two-year follow-up. The primary outcome was the change in global cognitive function over 2 years, averaging standardized scores across all cognitive tests. In secondary analyses, changes in individual cognitive test scores, and cognitive decline (yes/no; defined as the 10% of participants with the greatest global cognitive decline) over 2 years were compared. RESULTS: Food insecurity at baseline was significantly associated with 2 year decline in global cognitive function (p trend = 0.02), after adjusting for baseline global cognitive score, age, education, APOE status, diet quality score, serum homocysteine concentration, depression and other potential confounders. Consistently, very low food security, relative to food security, was associated with 7.24 times increased risk of having the greatest cognitive decline (adjusted OR=8.24; 95% CI: 2.36, 28.8; p trend = 0.003). CONCLUSIONS: Food insecurity is associated with cognitive decline in this high risk population. Study Supported by: NIH grants P01 AG023394, P50 HL105185 Disclosure: Dr. Wong has nothing to disclose. Dr. Scott has nothing to disclose. Dr. Li has nothing to disclose. Dr. Tucker has nothing to disclose. Dr. Gao has nothing to disclose.
Holocinematographic velocimetry: resolution limitation for flow measurement

The goal of developing a holocinematographic velocimeter (HCV) is to provide a technique to study the evolution of instantaneous 3-D velocity profiles in turbulent flow fields. The method tracks individual seed particles that have been introduced into the flow. An imaging system using far-field holography is used to provide a full field of view tracking. Velocity information is determined from measured particle displacements of sequential hologram reconstruction. This study examines the resolution limits of far-field holography as applied to the HCV. The results aid in the determination of required seeding concentrations, establish the ability to resolve particle centers, and illustrate the use of a dual TV camera system to aid resolution. A straightforward enhancement technique provides a means to eliminate noise and reduce out of image plane ambiguity.
Return on Investment: Libraries and Student Retention

Using data on libraries collected by the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) and the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL), as well as fall-to-fall retention rates obtained from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) of the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), this study employs statistical measures of association to analyze the relationship of both library expenditures and number of professional library staff to student persistence. The strongest relationships found were those between student retention and total library expenditures, total library materials costs, and serial costs for institutions categorized as baccalaureate colleges within the Carnegie Classification System. The most significant relationship between persistence and number of library professional staff was discovered to occur at doctoral-granting institutions.
Interleukin-1α prevention of the lethality of Escherichia coli peritonitis

Interleukin-1 (IL-1) is an inflammatory mediator with a variety of described physiologic functions. IL-1 alpha has been shown to confer a survival advantage to experimental animals when administered before a lethal bacterial challenge. The experiments reported here were performed to define the effective pretreatment interval of a single intravenous dose of IL-1 alpha in a murine model of bacterial peritonitis, to examine the differential induction of cytokines in animals with and without IL-1 alpha pretreatment, and to assess differences in histologic evidence of end organ damage. IL-1 alpha (27 micrograms/kg iv) conferred a survival advantage to mice given a lethal challenge of live Escherichia coli (2 x 10(8) CFU/mouse ip) when the pretreatment was given 2 to 24 hr before the bacterial inoculum. Longer pretreatment intervals were not significantly protective. Treatment with IL-1 alpha at 1 hr after bacterial inoculum also did not improve survival. Mice pretreated with IL-1 alpha developed significantly lower peak serum levels of TNF-alpha after E. coli injection than did control mice. Pretreated and control mice had similar peak serum levels of IL-6 after bacterial challenge; however, IL-1 alpha-pretreated mice had a less prolonged elevation of serum levels of IL-6. IL-1 alpha-pretreated animals were protected from the histologic evidence of end organ damage seen in control animals. Thus, in this model of E. coli peritonitis pretreatment with a single intravenous dose of IL-1 alpha confers a significant protective effect when given within a limited time range. Treatment outside this interval has no apparent beneficial effect.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
The typification of Hispanics as criminals and support for punitive crime control policies

The Hispanic population is now the largest and fastest growing minority in the United States, so it is not surprising that ethnic threat linked to Hispanics has been associated with harsher crime control. While minority threat research has found that individuals who associate blacks with crime are more likely to support harsh criminal policies, the possibility that this relationship exists for those who typify Hispanics as criminal has yet to be examined. Using a national random sample, this study is the first to use HLM to find that perceptions of Hispanics as criminals do increase support for punitive crime control measures, controlling for various individual and state influences. Moderated and contextual analyses indicate this relationship is most applicable for individuals who are less apt to typify criminals as black, less prejudiced, less fearful of victimization, politically liberal or moderate, not parents, and living in states with relatively fewer Latin American immigrants.
Dexamethasone, OB gene, and leptin in humans; effect of exogenous hyperinsulinemia.

This study was undertaken to investigate temporal association between dexamethasone administration, OB gene expression, and leptin response in humans in the presence and absence of exogenous hyperinsulinemia. Six healthy males (age 24.5 ± 1.0 yr, body mass index 26.4± 1.0, body fat 16.2 ± 1.8%) received 10 mg oral dexamethasone in five divided doses twice (protocols A and B) 1–2 weeks apart beginning at 0800 h on day 1 and ending at 0700 h on day 2. The dexamethasone administration was combined with two subcutaneous abdominal fat biopsies performed at 0800 h before and after dexamethasone administration (protocol A), or 4-h isoglycemic hyperinsulinemic (300 mU/m2 BSA/min, protocol B) clamp carried out between 0900 and 1300 h on day 2. OB gene expression (protocol A) did not change. In both protocols on day 2, the 0800 h leptin levels nearly doubled (P < 0.001), whereas 1300 h levels nearly quadrupled (P < 0.001). The elevation in leptin persisted until 0800 h of day 3 (24 h after last dexamethasone dose) ...
Aldosterone-Receptor Antagonists in Heart Failure: Insights After EMPHASIS-HF

The recent publication of the Eplerenone in Mild Patients Hospitalization and Survival Study in Heart Failure (EMPHASIS-HF) has affirmed the important role of aldosterone-receptor antagonism across the spectrum of systolic heart failure. Previously restricted as therapy in patients with severe symptomatic or postinfarction heart failure, it now is being considered in less-sick patients. The precise mechanisms of benefit remain to be elucidated, in part due to the observed discrepancy between improved outcomes and the lack of reverse cardiac remodeling with aldosterone-receptor antagonists. With the probable increased use of spironolactone and eplerenone, there are concerns for increased complications, especially hyperkalemia. This risk must be balanced against the potential benefit for reduced mortality and morbidity in addition to effects of β-blockers and angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors or angiotensin-receptor blockers, and cardiac resynchronization therapy.
Innovative Safety Interventions

NIOSH researchers are studying methods to reduce struckby and caught-in accidents, involving machinery at mining operations. This is a challenging problem-in many circumstances, workers must be near moving machinery to perform their jobs. Innovative safety interventions are needed to further decrease accidents without adversely affecting productivity. Monitoring hazardous areas near machines by using the IVSs may be one possible solution, but limitations must be understood and anticipated during implementation. Although more tests are needed, some general conclusions can be drawn about the possible applications of intelligent video for stationary machine safety.
Kinetics of oxidation of benzphetamine by compounds I of cytochrome P450 2B4 and its mutants.

Cytochromes P450 are ubiquitous heme-containing enzymes that catalyze a wide range of reactions in nature including many oxidation reactions. The active oxidant species in P450 enzymes are widely thought to be iron(IV)-oxo porphyrin radical cations, termed Compound I species, but these intermediates have not been observed under turnover conditions. We prepared Compounds I of the mammalian hepatic P450 enzyme CYP2B4 and three mutants (E301Q, T302A, and F429H) by laser flash photolysis of the Compound II species that, in turn, were prepared by reaction of the resting enzymes with peroxynitrite. The PN treatment resulted in a small amount of nitration of the P450 as determined by mass spectrometry but no change in reactivity of the P450 in a test reaction. CYP2B4 Compound I oxidized benzphetamine to norbenzphetamine in high yield in bulk studies. In direct kinetic studies of benzphetamine oxidations, Compounds I displayed saturation kinetics with similar binding equilibrium constants (Kbind) for each. The fi...
Rapid and brief communication: Design efficient support vector machine for fast classification

This paper presents a four-step training method for increasing the efficiency of support vector machine (SVM). First, a SVM is initially trained by all the training samples, thereby producing a number of support vectors. Second, the support vectors, which make the hypersurface highly convoluted, are excluded from the training set. Third, the SVM is re-trained only by the remaining samples in the training set. Finally, the complexity of the trained SVM is further reduced by approximating the separation hypersurface with a subset of the support vectors. Compared to the initially trained SVM by all samples, the efficiency of the finally-trained SVM is highly improved, without system degradation.
Cosecretion of calcitonin and calcitonin gene-related peptide from cultured rat medullary thyroid C cells

Whether C cells cosecrete calcitonin (CT) and CGRP was examined by exposing cultured rat medullary thyroid carcinoma 6-23 cells for 2 h to high medium Ca and to agents with a potential for affecting Ca-dependent secretion. In every experiment exposure of cells to high medium Ca (2.0-2.5 mM) provoked an increased release of both peptides that was highly correlated (r = 0.73). With other test substances, also, changes in both hormones occurred in parallel. The Ca-channel activator, BAY-K-8644 (10 microM) increased secretion, and this was inhibited by the Ca channel blocker, nitrendipine (10 microM). The Ca2+ ionophore, ionomycin (5 microM), increased release, and the calmodulin-Ca channel inhibitor, phenytoin (100 microM), inhibited Ca-induced release. The active 4 beta isomer of phorbol-12,13-didecanoate (0.1 microM), but not the inactive 4 alpha isomer, increased secretion. The findings suggest that pathways mediating C cell secretion include plasma membrane Ca channels, intracellular [Ca2+], calmodulin, and protein kinase C. The results show that the secretory process in rat C cells involves the release of CGRP as well as CT.
Repression of asexual embryogenesis in vitro by some plant growth regulators.

A factor that represses asexual embryogenesis has been observed in the Rutaceae, with particularly high concentrations in the naturally monoembryonic cultivars. This investigation was an initial step towards identifying the factor.Citrus reticulata Blanco Ponkan mandarin nucellus explants andDaucus carota L. ‘Queen Anne's Lace’ callus were employed to examine effects of known plant growth regulators and to determine possible identity of one or more of them with the repressive factor. The chalazal halves of ovules ofC. media L. ‘Citron of Commerce’ were used as control repressor source. Embryo initiation and growth of both test tissues were depressed markedly by 2,4-D, abscisic acid and ethephon. Slight inhibitions were obtained with IAA, kinetin and gibberellic acid. Recovery from the repressor did not occur readily inCitrus nucellus following recultures in citron-ovule-free medium; carrot callus resumed normal embryogenesis immediately upon transfer to suppressor-free medium. The repression by natural sources apparently involved the combined action of some or all natural hormones that are generically related to the above.
Mutagenesis by metal-induced oxygen radicals.

To assess the contribution of reactive oxygen species (ROS) to metal-induced mutagenesis, we have determined the spectrum of mutations in the lacZ alpha gene after exposure of M13mp2 DNA to Fe2+, C...
Comment on ''Subsurface flow and vegetation patterns in tidal environments'' by Nadia Ursino, Sonia Silvestri, and Marco Marani

] Ursino et al. [2004] suggested that aeration timein salt-marsh sediments could affect plant zonation andpresented numerical models of tidally driven groundwaterflow to estimate aeration time in a theoretical creek bank.They found that under conditions of high ET loss theduration of aeration can increase with distance from thecreek bank. If so, this might lead to greater marsh grassproductivity with distance from the creek rather than less asis commonly observed [Dame and Kenny, 1986]. Aerationtime is, of course, only one of many factors that could affectmarsh productivity, including salinity, sulfide concentration,and nutrient transport, but we agree that aeration likelyplays an important role in tidal marsh ecology. Therefore thepotentially contradictory finding that aeration time couldincrease with distance from the creek warrants closerexamination. Unfortunately, the model of Ursino et al. isnot clearly described and appears to be based on assump-tions that are not realistic.[
New forms of expansive learning at work: the landscape of co-configuration

A viable theory of work-related learning needs to be founded on an analysis of the historical development of work. A new landscape of learning emerges as work in industrialized countries is transformed from mass production and mass customization to co-configuration of customer-intelligent products and services with long life cycles. Co-configuration work takes place in divided multi-organizational terrains. It requires continuous re-configuration of the shared object between the multiple producers, the customer or user, and the product or service itself. In such a landscape, learning takes on three characteristics. First, it is transformative learning, focused on expanding the objects of work. Secondly, it is horizontal learning, focused on dialogue, boundary crossing and 'knotworking' between the different activity systems involved. Thirdly, it is subterranean learning, focused on blazing inconspiucous cognitive trails across the terrain. I will examine and concretize the theoretical ideas sketched above by analyzing data from an ongoing longitudinal study in the care of chronic patiens with multiple illnesses in Helsinki. The study follows three methodological principles: (1) following the trajectory of the object, (2) giving the object a voice, and (3) re-mediating the participants' realtionship to the object by constructing and implementing shared reflective tools.
Genetic analysis of androgenetic rainbow trout

We analyzed a number of genetic characteristics in androgenetic rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) and their progeny. The androgenetic progeny of individual androgenetic males appeared genetically identical to each other based on eight enzyme loci. Their viability was no higher than that of androgenetic progeny of outbred males. Homozygous androgenetic female rainbow trout produced very poor quality eggs. When common eggs and sperm from outbred individuals were used to produce androgenetic and gynogenetic progeny, the yield of gynogenetic progeny was higher but some were heterozygous at protein loci, while no androgenetic progeny were heterozygous. Some androgenetic diploid rainbow trout were successfully produced from cryopreserved sperm. The progeny of some androgenetic males crossed to normal females were virtually all males, while the progeny of other males were virtually all females. This suggests that both XX and YY androgenetic individuals may develop as males. Androgenesis is likely to be useful for generating homozygous clones for research and for recovering strains from cryopreserved sperm.
The effects of child maltreatment on language development

The separate effects of child neglect, abuse, and their interaction upon language development as measured by the Preschool Language Scale were examined in four groups of children (n = 79) in a quasi-experimental design. There were three groups of maltreated subjects, all drawn from a treatment center: an abused only group (n = 13), a neglected only group (n = 7), and an abused and neglected group (n = 31); a non-maltreated group (n = 28) was drawn from a day care center. Abuse, neglect, and their interaction were used to predict both auditory comprehension and verbal ability as separate criteria in two stepwise multiple regression equations, where the variance attributable to gender and mother's status on Aid to Dependent Children had been removed. Child neglect was found to predict significantly both auditory comprehension and verbal ability. Neither child abuse nor the interaction between abuse and neglect significantly predicted either dependent variable. These findings suggest that child neglect may be the critical type of maltreatment associated with language delay.
AN ITERATIVE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE IMPLICIT NONLINEAR FILTER

Implicit sampling is a sampling scheme for particle filters, designed to move particles one-by-one so that they remain in high-probability domains. We present a new derivation of implicit sampling, as well as a new iteration method for solving the resulting algebraic equations.