cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Ethnic diversity in policing: An application of quantile regression to the New York City Police Department

ABSTRACTThis study expanded on the use of Simpson's diversity index (D = 1 - ∑p2) to measure ethnic heterogeneity in policing and other criminal justice-related agencies. The index was applied to the police and civilian workforces of the New York City Police Department (NYPD) by using employment data for January 2015. Concomitantly, quantile regression was used to supplement the Tobit regression and to illustrate its ability to assess the effects of organization-based variables across the conditional distribution of the diversity scores. The quantile regression analysis found that ethnic diversity in the NYPD is affected differently by the type of workforce, the type of police and civilian positions, and by the number of employees in the police and civilian job titles and classifications. Statistically, the quantile regression detected significant relationships at various points of the conditional distribution while the Tobit regression analysis produced mixed results for the three models that were tested.
Optimization of fin profile and implant in bulk FinFET technology

A comprehensive analysis of fin profile effect on bulk FinFET device characteristics is described in this paper. Optimal fin profile and anti-punch-through (APT) implant profile are important to DC performance and multiple-Vt offering capability, which are essential for system-on-chip (SoC) applications. This study provides practical device design guidelines for bulk FinFET technology.
Tools for studying populations and timeseries of neuroanatomy enabled through GPU acceleration in the Computational Anatomy Gateway

The Computational Anatomy Gateway is a software as a service tool for medical imaging researchers to quantify changes in anatomical structures over time, and through the progression of disease. GPU acceleration on the Stampede cluster has enabled the development of new tools, combining advantages of grid based and particle based methods for describing fluid flows, and scaling up analysis from single scans to populations and timeseries. We describe algorithms for estimating average anatomies, and for quantifying atrophy rate over time. We report code performance on different sized datasets, revealing that the number vertices in a triangulated surface presents a bottleneck to our computation. We show results on an example dataset, quantifying atrophy in the entorhinal cortex, a medial temporal lobe brain region whose structure is sensitive changes in early Alzheimer's disease.
State-Sponsored ‘New’ White Flight through Public School Choice and its Impact on Contemporary Urban Schools: A Case Study of Milwaukee’s Open Enrollment Program

Abstract ‘White flight’ has largely come to mean exit from or avoidance of racially mixed public schools in urban neighborhoods. But the ‘new’ white flight is complicated by the fact that more whites who are often more affluent remain or relocate to desirable urban areas that are close to jobs and attractive city amenities. This paper describes how white flight can now happen without housing relocation with support from state-wide and municipal school choice policies resulting in the further re-segregation of regional schools. Using the Milwaukee Public School system’s Open Enrollment program as a case study, the authors demonstrate that this seemingly politically neutral school choice program supports the new white flight, enabling the children of white families to attend – and subsidize – the region’s suburban schools with declining enrollment, while further undermining the financial base of urban public schools. This study confirms earlier research indicating white students comprise the majority of participants in Open Enrollment programs, but with more non-white students participating in the Milwaukee program in the last five years. Extensive qualitative analysis of historical documents served as the primary research method for this study. Implications for other regions are discussed.
Effect of Promoters on Manganese-Containing Mixed Metal Oxides for Oxidative Dehydrogenation of Ethane via a Cyclic Redox Scheme

Ethylene is an important building block in the chemical industry; state of the art ethylene production (steam cracking) has multiple drawbacks, including high energy consumption, coke formation, and significant CO2 and NOx emissions. We propose a chemical looping oxidative dehydrogenation (CL-ODH) process to convert ethane into ethylene in a two-step, cyclic redox scheme. In this process, lattice oxygen in a metal oxide based redox catalyst is used to combust the hydrogen formed in ethane dehydrogenation, thereby enhancing ethylene formation while retarding coke formation. The oxygen-deprived redox catalyst is subsequently regenerated with air, releasing heat to balance the overall heat requirement. CL-ODH can realize a reduction of over 80% in primary energy consumption and pollutant emissions. The key to this process is an efficient redox catalyst with high selectivity and facile oxygen transport. Previously we determined that oxides with an Mg6MnO8 structure allow high lattice oxygen mobility and satis...
Affirmative action versus nonracialism in the New South Africa

ast year, a distant cousin, who also happens to be a white South African, sent me a fascinating article from her local newspaper. The article was about her husband's family, the Moores, and specifically about a claim the family made recently with South Africa's Commission on Restitution of Land Rights (see Segar 2003). The claim is remarkable, because it has been one of the few lodged by white South Africans to obtain compensation for land that was taken from them under the apartheid regime. It seems that in 1965, several trading stores that had been owned by the Moores since the 1880s were confiscated by the South African Bantu Trust because they stood on land that was to become part of the independent black homeland known as the Transkei. The confiscation and the family's eviction from the area were deeply traumatic-they were uprooted from their home, separated from friends and loyal customers (including Xhosa), and forced to witness the end of a family tradition. But the Moores had no choice, and the government offered them only one-third of the real value of the property as compensation. Today the family is seeking restitution, but as with most of the injustices perpetrated under apartheid, there is little that can be done to restore a way of life that was destroyed long ago. The story of this land claim attracted my attention because, as a historian of South Africa in the twentieth century, I only rarely come across evidence of ways in which whites were harmed by government policy, or ways in which blacks benefited. We all know that the usual "script" for South African histo-
Reexamining the frequency range of hearing in silver (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix) and bighead (H. nobilis) carp

Silver (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix) and bighead (H. nobilis) carp (collectively bigheaded carp) are invasive fish that threaten aquatic ecosystems in the upper Midwest United States and the Laurentian Great Lakes. Controlling bigheaded carp is a priority of fisheries managers and one area of focus involves developing acoustic deterrents to prevent upstream migration. For an acoustic deterrent to be effective however, the hearing ability of bigheaded carp must be characterized. A previous study showed that bigheaded carp detected sound up to 3 kHz but this range is narrower than what has been reported for other ostariophysans. Therefore, silver and bighead carp frequency detection was evaluated in response to 100 Hz to 9 kHz using auditory evoked potentials (AEPs). AEPs were recorded from 100 Hz to 5 kHz. The lowest thresholds were at 500 Hz for both species (silver carp threshold: 80.6 ± 3.29 dB re 1 μPa SPLrms, bighead carp threshold: 90.5 ± 5.75 dB re 1 μPa SPLrms; mean ± SD). These results provide fisheries managers with better insight on effective acoustic stimuli for deterrent systems, however, to fully determine bigheaded carp hearing abilities, these results need to be compared with behavioral assessments.
Uncovering the Security Implications of Cloud Multi-Tenancy with Bolt

Cloud providers routinely schedule multiple applications per physical host to increase efficiency. The resulting interference on shared resources often leads to performance degradation and, more importantly, security vulnerabilities. Interference can leak important information about an application, ranging from a services placement to confidential data, such as private keys. We present Bolt, a practical system that accurately detects the type and characteristics of applications sharing a cloud platform based on the interference an adversary sees on shared resources. Bolt leverages online data mining techniques that only require 2-5 seconds for detection. In a multi-user study on Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2), Bolt correctly identifies the characteristics of 385 out of a set of 436 diverse workloads. Extracting this information enables a wide spectrum of previously impractical cloud attacks, including denial of service (DoS) attacks that increase tail latency by 140X, as well as resource freeing attacks (RFAs), and co-residency attacks. Finally, we show that, while advanced isolation mechanisms such as cache partitioning lower detection accuracy, they are insufficient to eliminate these vulnerabilities altogether. To do so, one must either disallow core sharing or allow it only between threads of the same application, leading to significant inefficiencies and performance penalties.
CRITERIA FOR ANALYZING MORTALITY OF NECROTIZING ENTEROCOLITIS (NEC)

The mortality of 37 cases of NEC, between 1973 and 1976, were analyzed with reference to: Birth weight ≤ 2000 gm (Group 1) ≥ 2001 gm (Group 2); time of onset ≤ 7 days or ≥ 8days; medical or surgical management; relationship to X-change transfusion (Group 3); site of bowel involvement, small and large (S, L) or large (L) bowel only. Mortality is not significantly related to birth weight, age of onset or treatment modality. There is a trend for reduced mortality in Group 3 compared to Groups 1 and 2. There is a significant (p<.01) decreased mortality if large bowel only is involved compared to small and large bowel involvement.
Spherical Wave Propagation Through a Random Continuum

An earlier computation of the correlation functions of the components of the electric field resulting from the propagation of high-frequency spherical waves through an intermediate layer containing a weak dielectric random continuum is generalized so that the results hold for a Wide class of dielectric two-point correlation functions.
Language and Attitudes Toward Masculine and Feminine Sex Roles

The relationship between language and sex role concept is discussed. A review of research in which results indicate that gender generic language is, in reality, not perceived as such is presented. It is concluded that there can be no development of healthy attitudes toward masculine or feminine sex roles while language maintains the traditional stereotyped view of these roles.
First-line Chemotherapy Responsiveness and Patterns of Metastatic Spread Identify Clinical Syndromes Present Within Advanced KRAS Mutant Non–Small-cell Lung Cancer With Different Prognostic Significance

Abstract Background Unsuccessful KRAS-specific treatment approaches in non–small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) might reflect underlying disease heterogeneity. We sought to define clinical “syndromes” within advanced KRAS mutant NSCLC to improve future clinical trials and create a clinical framework for future molecular development. Patients and Methods To test a series of a priori hypotheses regarding KRAS-mutant NSCLC clinical syndromes, we conducted a multi-institutional retrospective medical record review. Survival probabilities were estimated using the Kaplan-Meier model. Between-group differences were assessed using the log-rank test. Multivariate Cox regression analyses and Wilcoxon rank sum testing were used to assess progression-free survival and overall survival (OS) differences. Results Among 218 patients with advanced KRAS-mutant NSCLC, OS and progression-free survival with first-line chemotherapy did not differ by intrathoracic versus extrathoracic spread, smoking intensity, or the specific KRAS mutation. Metastatic disease at diagnosis resulted in significantly worse OS than recurrent, unresectable disease (median OS, 14.6 vs. 40.9 months; P = .001). Among the patients with metastatic disease at diagnosis, nonscalp, soft tissue metastases (syndrome X; 6% of cases; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.5%-10.1%) signified a poor prognosis (median OS, 7.5 vs. 15.9 months for the controls; P = .021). The response to first-line chemotherapy (syndrome Y; 41% of cases; 95% CI, 32.3%-50.6%) signified a good prognosis (median OS, 26.7 vs. 11.9 months; P = .002). The overlap between these 2 syndromes was minimal (2 of 111). Multivariate analysis confirmed these observations. The hazard ratio for death for syndromes X and Y was 2.64 (95% CI, 1.13-6.14) and 0.45 (95% CI, 0.28-0.76), respectively. Conclusion Chemotherapy-responsive disease and nonscalp, soft tissue spread might represent distinct clinical syndromes within KRAS-mutant NSCLC. The molecular biology underlying this heterogeneity warrants future studies.
Rapid crystallization and controllable growth of perovskite thin films via a seeded approach

Organic–inorganic hybrid perovskite solar cells (PVSCs) have attracted extensive attention due to high efficiency, easy fabrication, and low-cost solution processes. One of the keys to achieve high-performance cost-effective PVSCs is to attain rapid crystallization with controlled morphology of the perovskite films. Herein, the authors report a technique for the rapid crystallization of perovskite with tunable crystal grain size and morphology via a seeded approach. Specifically, a solution of lead iodide (PbI2) was spin coated on a substrate, and a low-concentration solution of methylammonium iodide (MAI) was dropped onto the PbI2 film to form perovskite seeds prior to introducing high-concentration solution of MAI. The seeded nucleation and growth lead to dense and uniform perovskite thin films with controllable crystal grains. This seeded crystallization technique offers an effective way to boost the low-cost manufacture of efficient and reproducible PVSCs.
Electronic structure in the transition metal block and its implications for light harvesting.

Transition metal–based chromophores play a central role in a variety of light-enabled chemical processes ranging from artificial solar energy conversion to photoredox catalysis. The most commonly used compounds include elements from the second and third transition series (e.g., ruthenium and iridium), but their Earth-abundant first-row analogs fail to engage in photoinduced electron transfer chemistry despite having virtually identical absorptive properties. This disparate behavior stems from fundamental differences in the nature of 3d versus 4d and 5d orbitals, resulting in an inversion in the compounds’ excited-state electronic structure and undermining the ability of compounds with first-row elements to engage in photoinduced electron transfer. This Review will survey the key experimental observations establishing this difference in behavior, discuss the underlying reasons for this phenomenon, and briefly summarize efforts that are currently under way to alter this paradigm and open the door to new opportunities for using Earth-abundant materials for photoinduced electron transfer chemistries.
Asians without Blacks and Latinos in San Francisco: Missed Lessons of the Common Good

Lowell High School represents a lot to Chinese American families in San Francisco. Lowell is the academic high school in the city. Lowell is regarded as one of the top academic high schools in California and enjoys a prestigious national reputation. If your child gets in, this means that he or she has done very well in middle school. It means that your child is a high academic achiever. It means that your child will be exposed to the challenging academic programs offered at Lowell. If your child gets in, hopefully this means that he or she is on the right path to getting into a great college. And of course that means a better education, more prestige, a better chance at a professional school, a better job, success in life, etc. You get the picture.
Lane change rates at freeway weaving sites: Trends in HCM6 and from NGSIM trajectories

Concerns have been raised about the HCM6 weaving method’s lack of sensitivity to weaving segment length. This study explores the trends in HCM6 as they relate to lane change estimates and their imp...
Solid-State 13C NMR Evidence for Long Multicenter Intradimer Bonding in Zwitterion-like Structures

The principal values of the 13 C chemical shift tensor for the β and δ polymorphs of π-[TTF⋅⋅⋅TCNE] (TTF=tetrathiafulvalene; TCNE=tetracyanoethylene) have been analyzed to understand the abnormally long intra-dimer bonding of singlet π-[TTFδ+ ⋅⋅⋅TCNEδ- ]. These structures possess 12 intradimer contacts <3.40 A, with the shortest intra π-[TTF⋅⋅⋅TCNE] separations involving 2-center (2c) C-S and 3c C-C-C orbital overlap contributions between the [TTF]δ+ and [TCNE]δ- . This solid-state NMR study compares the [TTF⋅⋅⋅TCNE] 13 C tensor data against previously reported π-[TTF]22+ and π-[TCNE]22- homo-dimers to determine how the tensor principal values change as a function of electronic structure for both TTF and TCNE moieties. In the β and δ phases of [TTF⋅⋅⋅TCNE], the TCNE ethylenic 13 C shift tensors predict TCNE oxidation states of -0.46 and -0.73, respectively. The TTF sites are less similar to benchmark 13 C data with the β-phase differing primarily in the ethylenic π-electrons. The δ form differs significantly from the homo-dimer data at all principal values at both the ethylenic and CH sites, indicating changes to both the π-electrons and σ-bonds. In both hetero-dimer phases, the NMR changes supports long bond formation at nitrile and CH sites not observed in homo-dimers.
Prediction of perioperative transfusions using an artificial neural network.

Background Accurate prediction of operative transfusions is essential for resource allocation and identifying patients at risk of postoperative adverse events. This research examines the efficacy of using artificial neural networks (ANNs) to predict transfusions for all inpatient operations. Methods Over 1.6 million surgical cases over a two year period from the NSQIP-PUF database are used. Data from 2014 (750937 records) are used for model development and data from 2015 (885502 records) are used for model validation. ANN and regression models are developed to predict perioperative transfusions for surgical patients. Results Various ANN models and logistic regression, using four variable sets, are compared. The best performing ANN models with respect to both sensitivity and area under the receiver operator characteristic curve outperformed all of the regression models (p < .001) and achieved a performance of 70–80% specificity with a corresponding 75–62% sensitivity. Conclusion ANNs can predict >75% of the patients who will require transfusion and 70% of those who will not. Increasing specificity to 80% still enables a sensitivity of almost 67%. The unique contribution of this research is the utilization of a single ANN model to predict transfusions across a broad range of surgical procedures.
Plant 3D (P3D): a plant phenotyping toolkit for 3D point clouds

Motivation Developing methods to efficiently analyze 3D point cloud data of plant architectures remain challenging for many phenotyping applications. Here, we describe a tool that tackles four core phenotyping tasks: classification of cloud points into stem and lamina points, graph skeletonization of the stem points, segmentation of individual lamina and whole leaf labeling. These four tasks are critical for numerous downstream phenotyping goals, such as quantifying plant biomass, performing morphological analyses of plant shapes and uncovering genotype to phenotype relationships. The Plant 3D tool provides an intuitive graphical user interface, a fast 3D rendering engine for visualizing plants with millions of cloud points, and several graph-theoretic and machine-learning algorithms for 3D architecture analyses. Availability and implementation P3D is open-source and implemented in C++. Source code and Windows installer are freely available at https://github.com/iziamtso/P3D/. Contact iziamtso@ucsd.edu or navlakha@cshl.edu. Supplementary information Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
3.12 – Automotive Applications

Indicative of the rapid technological progress in automotive sensors, the automobile has advanced greatly and changed to environmentally friendly cars that are capable of obtaining higher gas mileage and are safer and more comfortable. The same thing can be described from the viewpoint of the number of sensors used in a vehicle. A current luxury car contains approximately 100 sensors whereas cars in the early 50s had none. This chapter explains how automotive systems are used in cars, how the system control automotive functions, how sensors are used in the system, and how they are made.
Sentiment Informed Timeseries Analyzing AI (SITALA) to curb the spread of COVID-19 in Houston

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has evolved into a pandemic with many unknowns. Houston, located in the Harris County of Texas, is becoming the next hotspot of this pandemic. With a severe decline in international and inter-state travel, a model at the county level, as opposed to the state or country level, is needed. Existing approaches have a few drawbacks. Firstly, the data used is the number of COVID-19 positive cases instead of positivity. The former is a function of the number of tests carried out while the latter is normalized by the number of tests. Positivity gives a better picture of the spread of this pandemic as with time more tests are being administered. Positivity under 5% has been desired for the reopening of businesses to almost 100% capacity. Secondly, the data used by models like SEIRD lacks information about the sentiment of people with respect to coronavirus. Thirdly, models that make use of social media posts might have too much noise. News sentiment, on the other hand, can capture long term effects of hidden variables like public policy, opinions of local doctors, and disobedience of state-wide mandates. The present study introduces a new AI model, viz., Sentiment Informed Timeseries Analyzing AI (SITALA), that has been trained on COVID-19 test positivity data and news sentiment from over 2750 news articles for the Harris county. The news sentiment was obtained using IBM Watson Discovery News. SITALA is inspired by Google-Wavenet architecture and makes use of TensorFlow. The mean absolute error for the training dataset of 66 consecutive days is 2.76 and that for the test dataset of 22 consecutive days is 9.6. The model forecasts that in order to curb the spread of coronavirus in Houston, a sustained negative news sentiment will be desirable. Public policymakers may use SITALA to set the tone of the local policies and mandates.
Tax Policy: Pay the Price

Metaeconomics clarifies that a tax is actually the price paid to better ensure reasonable levels of attainment of the shared Other-interest, in such things as public research and education; public health (pandemic, anyone?); food and drug standards and safety; and, yes, the traditionally accepted price paid for roads, police, fire, and military. So, taxes that reflect said value V, coming out the other decision forms (especially the Administrative, Legislative, and Judicial Branches of Government) often priceless in nature, are essential. Taxes are not a distortion in the market forum, which produces the price p. Rather, taxes hold the potential to help the market work more effectively at representing the value V of things held in the shared Other-interest. Taxes are essential to efficiency and happiness.
When the Weak are Mighty: A Two-Sided Matching Approach to Alliance Performance Outcome

In many industries, firms with asymmetric status form alliances in order to gain new resources. We use a unique setting of equity alliances in the Thoroughbred Horse Industry to study the effects of two underlying dimensions of status, resource quality and network position. We find that firms select each other based on the quality of their resources and on the network closure higher status firm. Once the selection is controlled for, the performance outcome of the alliance is affected by the quality of the resources and the network closure of both partners. Our results indicate that firms seek overlapping assurance (from the equity alliance and the high-status partner’s network closure) to prevent opportunism in their alliance for the high-status partner and to promote reputational benefits for the low-status partner. The paper uses a two-sided matching model with Bayesian estimation to account for endogeneity of the mutual selection in the alliance.
Developing best practices for the restoration of massive corals and the mitigation of predation impacts: influences of physical protection, colony size, and genotype on outplant mortality

Coral reefs have undergone drastic declines due to anthropogenic and natural disturbances. In response, restoration efforts were developed to recover lost ecosystem services. Restoration in the Caribbean has focused almost exclusively on branching Acropora but declines of corals with massive morphologies highlight the need to develop a multi-species approach. Recent studies have reported high mortality rates (> 50%) of outplanted fragments of massive coral taxa because of predation by fish, creating a restoration bottleneck. We conducted targeted experiments aimed at mitigating predation and understanding factors driving fish predation impacts on fragments of Orbicella faveolata. Fragment mortality due to predation was extremely high (> 80% average across all experiments). By limiting physical access to newly outplanted corals, Acropora cervicornis proved to be an effective predator deterrent, providing a predation refuge for susceptible species like O. faveolata. Protecting outplanted corals using metal spikes and cages was effective at reducing predation impacts while protection remained in place, but benefits declined immediately after barrier removal, with predation causing an average of 84% mortality one week after removal. We identified a size threshold where larger colonies (25 cm2) are less susceptible to predation than smaller corals (5 cm2). Coral genotype influenced predation impacts, with the most susceptible coral genotype experiencing 86% mortality compared to the least susceptible genotype experiencing 29% mortality after 4 weeks. The genotype most impacted by predation had significantly higher lipid and protein content, suggesting prey selectivity by fish may be driven by coral tissue characteristics. Fish impacts were driven by consumption activities and not the removal or targeting of “novel” objects within parrotfish territories as dead coral controls were not impacted while adjacent live corals experienced 100% mortality. These results suggest that outplanting genotypically diverse assemblages of large, massive morphology fragments in combination with fast growing, branching species, and utilizing physical barriers will limit predation impacts and improve the efficiency of reef restoration activities.
Seasonal abundance, distribution, and growth of the early life stages of polar cod (Boreogadus saida) and saffron cod (Eleginus gracilis) in the US Arctic

Polar cod and saffron cod are dominant components of the fish community in the Chukchi Sea and are ecologically important forage fishes linking plankton to upper-level consumers. In 2017, we conducted a study as part of the Arctic Integrated Ecosystem Research Program to characterize the distribution, abundance, and growth of polar cod and saffron cod early life history stages (ELHS) in late spring and late summer in the Chukchi Sea. Ship-based plankton tows showed that polar cod and saffron cod larvae were centered in Kotzebue Sound in the late spring. By late summer, polar cod juveniles were most abundant in the offshore areas of the northern Chukchi Sea, whereas saffron cod were distributed nearshore in the southern Chukchi Sea around Cape Lisburne. Empirical fish collections were paired with an individual-based biophysical transport model to examine connectivity and relate changes in seasonal distribution to potential environmental variables. Modeled drift trajectories and growth in spring for polar cod and saffron cod matched well with empirical observations, especially along the northern coastline of Kotzebue Sound, offshore of Point Hope/Cape Lisburne. Given the coherence between modeled and observed distributions, Kotzebue Sound is likely a source of gadid ELHS in the nearshore areas of the Chukchi Sea and offshore of Cape Lisburne/Point Hope, although it is not the likely source of polar cod over Hanna Shoal in the late summer. This is the first study to examine seasonal distribution, abundance, and growth of polar cod and saffron cod in the US Arctic and provides data necessary to evaluate the impacts of climate change on forage fishes in the Arctic.
Control of autoimmune CNS inflammation by astrocytes

Multiple sclerosis is a neurologic disease caused by immune cell infiltration into the central nervous system, resulting in gray and white matter inflammation, progressive demyelination, and neuronal loss. Astrocytes, the most abundant cell population in the central nervous system (CNS), have been considered inert scaffold or housekeeping cells for many years. However, recently, it has become clear that this cell population actively modulates the immune response in the CNS at multiple levels. While being exposed to a plethora of cytokines during ongoing autoimmune inflammation, astrocytes modulate local CNS inflammation by secreting cytokines and chemokines, among other factors. This review article gives an overview of the most recent understanding about cytokine networks operational in astrocytes during autoimmune neuroinflammation and highlights potential targets for immunomodulatory therapies for multiple sclerosis.
Heat Shock Proteins, Exercise, and Aging

Age-associated losses in muscle mass and strength and greater susceptibility to muscle injury may be attenuated or reversed by exercise training. Increased heat shock protein (HSP) expression is one adaptation in skeletal muscle to exercise which may subsequently protect muscles against stressors. Eccentric loading, treadmill running, resistance training, and functional overload have been shown to increase Hsp72 and Hsp25 content in muscle. Evidence suggests that the muscles of older individuals can respond to exercise with increased HSP expression; however, the responses may be attenuated compared to younger muscles. A sufficient exercise stimulus may be necessary to induce up-regulation of protective HSP in muscle such that even modest reductions in muscle activity and loading that occur with aging may contribute to reduced basal or stress-induced HSP responses in aged muscle. This could contribute to some of the deleterious changes in muscle function since HSP potentially protect muscles against contractile damage, accelerate recovery from injury and reduce activation of inflammatory pathways such as NF-κB and the caspase cascade. The prospect that exercise may increase expression of HSP in aged muscle could have important implications for increasing muscle strength and function and improving quality of life
Nondialyzable peptide-bound hydroxyproline in human amniotic fluid: An indicator of fetal growth

Abstract The nondialyzable peptide-bound hydroxyproline content of human amniotic fluid was studied in 151 patients at varying gestational ages. The data establish that nondialyzable peptide-bound hydroxyproline is present(in extremely high concentrations in human amniotic fluid. The total content progessively increases during the first two trimesters, whereas the concentration remains relatively constant. During the last trimester, the concentration of nondialyzable peptide-bound hydroxyproline falls progessively. Thus, the nondialyzable peptide-bound hydroxyproline content in amniotic fluid during the first two trimesters might provide a marker for fetal growth. At present, we are hypothesizing that the fetus swallows and hydrolyzes the material during the third trimester, causing a drop in nondialyzable peptide-bound hydroxyproline and an increase in small peptide fraction. These smaller molecules then cross the placenta and are excreted in maternal urine, perhaps providing a marker for fetal growth during the third trimester in maternal urine.
Effect of phosphorothioate homo-oligodeoxynucleotides on herpes simplex virus type 2-induced DNA polymerase.

Effects of phosphorothioate oligodeoxynucleotides of different chain length and base composition on herpes simplex virus (HSV) type 2 (strain 333)-induced DNA polymerase have been examined in vitro. The anti-HSV-2 DNA polymerase activity was related to the base composition of the analogs, with the order of potency: deoxycytidine greater than thymidine greater than deoxyadenosine, for compounds with equal chain length. The potency was also related to oligomer chain length, since it was observed that the longer the chain length, the more potent the inhibition exerted. Among all the compounds tested, the phosphorothioate oligodeoxycytidine 28-mer (S-(dC)28) was the most potent inhibitor of HSV-2-induced DNA polymerase. This inhibition was competitive with an activated DNA template with a Ki value of 7 nM. It was also a competitive inhibitor of the DNA polymerase-associated exonuclease activity with a Ki value of 5 nM. In contrast, this compound showed less inhibition of human DNA polymerase alpha, beta, and gamma, as well as HSV-1 (strain KOS) and Epstein-Barr virus-induced DNA polymerase. The possibility that S-oligomers can serve as primers for DNA elongation was also investigated. Poly(dG).S-(dC)28 and poly(dA).S-(T)28 are poor substrates for DNA elongation catalyzed by HSV-2 DNA polymerase. In summary, phosphorothioate oligonucleotides could be anti-template inhibitors of HSV DNA polymerase. This information may lead to the development of a new class of selective anti-HSV agents.
Stochastic Methods for Practical Global Optimization

Engineering design problems often involve global optimization of functions that are supplied as ’black box‘ functions. These functions may be nonconvex, nondifferentiable and even discontinuous. In addition, the decision variables may be a combination of discrete and continuous variables. The functions are usually computationally expensive, and may involve finite element methods. An engineering example of this type of problem is to minimize the weight of a structure, while limiting strain to be below a certain threshold. This type of global optimization problem is very difficult to solve, yet design engineers must find some solution to their problem – even if it is a suboptimal one. Sometimes the most difficult part of the problem is finding any feasible solution. Stochastic methods, including sequential random search and simulated annealing, are finding many applications to this type of practical global optimization problem. Improving Hit-and-Run (IHR) is a sequential random search method that has been successfully used in several engineering design applications, such as the optimal design of composite structures. A motivation to IHR is discussed as well as several enhancements. The enhancements include allowing both continuous and discrete variables in the problem formulation. This has many practical advantages, because design variables often involve a mixture of continuous and discrete values. IHR and several variations have been applied to the composites design problem. Some of this practical experience is discussed.
CUNY Librarians and Faculty Status: Past, Present, and Future

Librarians in the City University of New York system have held faculty ranks since 1965, but their faculty status dates back two decades further. How did they achieve faculty status and faculty ranks? What role did their professional association (LACCNY, later known as LACUNY) play? Is their status secure?
Sensible heat measurements indicating depth and magnitude of subsurface soil water evaporation.

[1] Most measurement approaches for determining evaporation assume that the latent heat flux originates from the soil surface. Here, a new method is described for determining in situ soil water evaporation dynamics from fine-scale measurements of soil temperature and thermal properties with heat pulse sensors. A sensible heat balance is computed using soil heat flux density at two depths and change in sensible heat storage in between; the sensible heat balance residual is attributed to latent heat from evaporation of soil water. Comparisons between near-surface soil heat flux density and Bowen ratio energy balance measurements suggest that evaporation originates below the soil surface several days after rainfall. The sensible heat balance accounts for this evaporation dynamic in millimeter-scale depth increments within the soil. Comparisons of sensible heat balance daily evaporation estimates to Bowen ratio and mass balance estimates indicate strong agreement (r2 = 0.96, root-mean-square error = 0.20 mm). Potential applications of this technique include location of the depth and magnitude of subsurface evaporation fluxes and estimation of stage 2–3 daily evaporation without requirements for large fetch. These applications represent new contributions to vadose zone hydrology.
Experiments on Time Reversal Symmetry and Parity

Some symmetry tests are sensitive to both time reversal symmetry (T) and parity (P) while others are sensitive to P alone. The present report is concerned with two groups of experiments of the first kind and one of the second.
A Review of Forensic Mass Spectrometry

According to the editor, the purpose of this book is “to bring together the available information on the use of mass spectrometry in forensic science.” The book certainly achieves this aim but at the expense of critical evaluation of the approaches used to solve several of the analytical problems commonly faced by forensic scientists.
Properties of a ribonucleoprotein particle isolated from Nonidet P-40-treated Rous sarcoma virus.

Abstract A ribonucleoprotein particle containing about 20% ribonucleic acid (RNA), and containing little if any phospholipid or glucosamine, was recovered in high yield after treatment of Schmidt-Ruppin strain of Rous sarcoma virus and B77 virus with the nonionic detergent Nonidet P-40. This structure, which probably derives from the internal ribonucleoprotein filament described in electron microscopy studies, contained 80 to 90% of the viral 60 to 70S RNA and only about 10% of the protein present in intact virions. It sedimented in glycerol density gradients at approximately 130S and had a buoyant density in sucrose of about 1.34 g/ml. Studies with 32P-labeled virus indicated that the ribonucleoprotein particle contained approximately 30 4S RNA molecules per 107 daltons of high-molecular-weight viral RNA. Intact virions contained about 70 4S RNA molecules per 107 daltons of high-molecular-weight RNA. Electrophoretic studies in dodecyl sulfate-containing polyacrylamide gels showed that the ribonucleoprotein particle contained only 5 of the 11 polypeptides found in the virion; of these the major component was a polypeptide weighing 14,000 daltons.
Architectural Engineering Approach to Building Façade Design, Construction, and Evaluation

Whether you are looking at high performance facade components as part of building “green” or more traditionally from a weather barrier perspective, facade systems remain one of the most important aspects of a building design, and often one of the most problematic. Building facades involve a unique combination and integration of manufacturing, design, construction, and maintenance to perform as expected. Advances in technology and materials have made available an expanded number of system options that provide the owner and designer with additional cost and performance choices. While new choices are welcomed by the industry, the importance of proper design and execution remains as important as ever. This is true for all building types from single family residential construction with siding or brick cavity walls, to commercial and institutional construction with traditional masonry facades and punch through windows, to modern high performance curtain walls. While new buildings are important because they set the tone for the future, existing structures and their facades are subjected to a multitude of factors including aging, weathering, structural damage from severe environmental impacts, and, unfortunately, in some cases, mistakes of the past such as inadequate design and construction. Those who believe in an integrated architectural engineering AE approach to building design and construction will likely agree that AE as a profession is well situated to advance the art and science of design and construction of facades for new buildings, as well as investigation and repair of existing building facades. Unfortunately, as a profession, we do not always take full advantage of that potential. In addition to meeting the general requirements of model codes such as the International Building Code IBC and the required structural loads from ASCE-7 and similar standards, proper facade design for new or retrofit/repair situations necessitates a review of a number of important issues including, but not limited to, the following: 1. Overall energy issues including heat gain and loss and how they impact the design and control of the building’s mechanical systems. 2. Acoustics and sound control, especially in urban environments. 3. Natural ventilation as appropriate to the climate and location of the building. 4. Indoor air quality and the relationship to items such as ventilation quantities, vapor drive, and tightness of the envelope leakage rates . 5. Incorporation of a properly designed and constructed envelope including roof system that integrates best practice
Interaction of D2O with the Fe3O4(111) and the biphase ordered structures on α-Fe2O3(0001)

Abstract The interactions of D 2 O with the Fe 3 O 4 (111) and the biphase ordered structures on α-Fe 2 O 3 (0001) were studied with X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), low energy electron diffraction, thermal desorption, and mass spectroscopy of recoiled ions. These studies indicate that D 2 O is weakly bound to the surface and that virtually none exists at the surface after a 10 Langmuir dose at 300 K. However, XPS indicates that when the sample is dosed with 3 Langmuirs at 85 K, a significant amount of molecular D 2 O is bound to the surface, with a lesser amount of hydroxyls present as well.
Positive feedback between transcriptional and kinase suppression in nematodes with extraordinary longevity and stress resistance.

Insulin/IGF-1 signaling (IIS) regulates development and metabolism, and modulates aging, of Caenorhabditis elegans. In nematodes, as in mammals, IIS is understood to operate through a kinase-phosphorylation cascade that inactivates the DAF-16/FOXO transcription factor. Situated at the center of this pathway, phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) phosphorylates PIP2 to form PIP3, a phospholipid required for membrane tethering and activation of many signaling molecules. Nonsense mutants of age-1, the nematode gene encoding the class-I catalytic subunit of PI3K, produce only a truncated protein lacking the kinase domain, and yet confer 10-fold greater longevity on second-generation (F2) homozygotes, and comparable gains in stress resistance. Their F1 parents, like weaker age-1 mutants, are far less robust—implying that maternally contributed trace amounts of PI3K activity or of PIP3 block the extreme age-1 phenotypes. We find that F2-mutant adults have <10% of wild-type kinase activity in vitro and <60% of normal phosphoprotein levels in vivo. Inactivation of PI3K not only disrupts PIP3-dependent kinase signaling, but surprisingly also attenuates transcripts of numerous IIS components, even upstream of PI3K, and those of signaling molecules that cross-talk with IIS. The age-1(mg44) nonsense mutation results, in F2 adults, in changes to kinase profiles and to expression levels of multiple transcripts that distinguish this mutant from F1 age-1 homozygotes, a weaker age-1 mutant, or wild-type adults. Most but not all of those changes are reversed by a second mutation to daf-16, implicating both DAF-16/ FOXO–dependent and –independent mechanisms. RNAi, silencing genes that are downregulated in long-lived worms, improves oxidative-stress resistance of wild-type adults. It is therefore plausible that attenuation of those genes in age-1(mg44)-F2 adults contributes to their exceptional survival. IIS in nematodes (and presumably in other species) thus involves transcriptional as well as kinase regulation in a positive-feedback circuit, favoring either survival or reproduction. Hyperlongevity of strong age-1(mg44) mutants may result from their inability to reset this molecular switch to the reproductive mode.
Predicting Children’s Blood Lead Levels From Exposure to School Drinking Water in Seattle, Washington, USA

Objective Lead exposure through drinking water is of increasing interest with little known about its potential childhood health impact. In 2004, school testing in Seattle, Washington, found lead concentrations in drinking water that exceeded national guidelines (>20 ppb). On the basis of these data, we estimated potential blood lead levels (BLLs) in elementary school children to better understand the potential health risks posed by these exposures. Methods We used the US Environmental Protection Agency Integrated Uptake Biokinetic Model for Lead in Children to predict geometric mean BLLs. We modeled typical-case and worst-case scenarios for children in 71 elementary schools on the basis of drinking water lead concentrations results from 2004. Results The estimated geometric mean BLLs under a typical scenario for each school ranged from 1.6 to 2.5 μg/dL. The worst-case scenario predicted geometric mean BLLs ranging from 1.7 to 5.0 μg/dL. All modeling yielded predicted BLLs well below the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s public health goal of Conclusions Our modeling suggests drinking water exposures up to 10–15 times the Environmental Protection Agency guideline are unlikely to result in BLLs exceeding the current guidelines of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the absence of other significant exposure sources. In Seattle, elevated school drinking water lead concentrations are not a significant source of lead exposure in school-age children. Further characterization of drinking water impacts are merited only if younger-age children are consuming water or if water lead concentrations are higher than those in this study.