cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Selection of automated office systems: a case study

Abstract Recent technological advances have made possible the automation of traditional office functions such as document preparation, storage, retrieval, inter-personal communication, etc. With the increased pervasiveness of office systems technology, selection of the appropriate technology components can be a complex and difficult task. There is a need for a methodology to aid in selecting office systems components based on the needs of the particular operating environment. In this paper, we propose to structure the selection problem in a hierarchical fashion, with the top level representing the single overall objective, the intermediate level(s) representing the users' needs, and the lowest level representing the viable candidate set of alternative office systems to be evaluated. A recently developed technique termed analytical hierarchies is employed, and a case study is presented to illustrate how the technique can be used in the selection of office systems components.
Ideological polarization in a decentralized party system: Explaining interstate differences

Abstract During the past decade scholars have noted growing ideological polarization between Democratic and Republican Party elites in the United States. This trend has occurred in a party system traditionally characterized as decentralized. This paper examines whether the trend towards partisan polarization noted by scholars at the national level has affected state party systems in similar ways. Are some state party systems more polarized than others? The paper uses a classification scheme of state party systems developed by David Mayhew to try to explain interstate differences in partisan polarization. The paper concludes that states with political environments that supported pragmatic and non-ideological traditional party organizations are less polarized in the modern era than states without such environments.
Ad libitum feeding decreases hospital stay for neonates after pyloromyotomy

Abstract Purpose: The optimal feeding regimen for neonates after pyloromyotomy for hypertrophic pyloric stenosis (HPS) remains controversial. This study sought to compare ad libitum feeding to a Conventional feeding regimen with regard to time to full diet, length of hospital stay, and readmission rates. Methods: A 6-month review of 36 consecutive patients who underwent pyloromyotomy for HPS was undertaken. Patients were fed in 1 of 2 ways according to specific surgeon preference. Conventional Regimen patients (n = 19) were kept nothing by mouth (NPO) for 6 hours after surgery and incrementally advanced to full feedings. ad libitum (n = 17) patients were kept NPO until fully reversed from anesthesia and then given full strength formula or breast milk. Discharge was considered when 2 feedings of 60 mL were tolerated. Results: Twenty-eight males and 8 females with a mean age of 5.0 [plusmn] 1.7 (SD) weeks, gestational age of 39 [plusmn] 2.1 weeks, weight of 4.0 [plusmn] 0.9 kg, and operating time of 56 [plusmn] 12 minutes were studied. The interval from operating room to full diet was significantly less with ad libitum feeding than on the conventional regimen (20.3 [plusmn] 5.0 v . 25.4 [plusmn] 8.3 hours, P [lt ] .05). The Ad Libitum group also had a significantly decreased length of hospital stay (28.5 [plusmn] 8.9 hours v . 35.8 [plusmn] 11 hours; P [lt ] .05). There were no readmissions in either group. Conclusions: Ad libitum feedings decrease time to full diet and discharge without an increase in readmission rates. The estimated potential savings per patient using ad libitum feedings were $392.00. Thus, the use of ad libitum feedings after pyloromyotomy for HPS appears indicated.
Dielectric and mechanical relaxation in liquids and glasses; transition from effective medium to percolation treatments

Abstract The general proportionality of the dielectric relaxation peak frequency to the dc conductivity in glasses implies the relevance of the “percolation” of pair processes; the critical rate defining percolation of pair processes is proportional to both the loss peak frequency, ω c , and the dc conductivity. The critical rate w c = ω c is that rate at which interconnected pathways of macroscopic length appear such that relaxation between all individual pairs on the path occurs within times τij ≤ w −1 c . The physics of mechanical relaxation that surfaces slip past one another requires a separation of such “percolation” paths of order r o where r o is a typical hopping length. This requires inclusion of rates significantly slower than w c = ω c (past critical percolation) making the dc viscosity and (by analogy with dielectric response) the relaxation peak frequency ω p involve a slower relevant relaxation time. Consequently the viscosity rises more rapidly than the resistivity, and the mechanical relaxation peak is broader than the dielectric relaxation peak in the percolation regime (after the viscosity has risen about 5 orders of magnitude).
GLOBAL STOCK MARKETS IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

Long-term estimates of expected return on equities are typically derived from U.S. data only. There are reasons to suspect that these estimates are subject to survivorship, as the United States is arguably the most successful capitalist system in the world. We collect a database of capital appreciation indexes for 39 markets going back to the 1920s. For 1921 to 1996, U.S. equities had the highest real return of all countries, at 4.3 percent, versus a median of 0.8 percent for other countries. The high equity premium obtained for U.S. equities appears to be the exception rather than the rule.
The Framework of Plasma Physics

There have been relatively few good textbooks on plasma physics. Most become simple reference books that might be titled, “Plasma Physics Recipes.” Despite their utility such books do not make good textbooks. For teaching, one needs a book that shows how the basic results and models are part of a coherent whole. Richard Hazeltine and Francois Waelbroeck have written such a textbook: The Framework of Plasma PhysicsAn this book, plasma physics is developed carefully and logically from basic physics principles. The book is not, however, overly formal; physical arguments are used to reduce mathematical complexity.
Welcome back? Frequent attenders to a pediatric primary care center

This study examines frequent attenders of a pediatric primary care clinic at a large urban children's hospital--who they are and their reasons for frequent attendance to the clinic. The literature suggests that some visits by frequent attenders may not be medically necessary, and these additional appointments may impair others' access to medical care within the same system. The key to eliminating excessive primary care visits is to determine if it is a problem in the primary care practice (quantify the problem), explore the reasons for the visits (from the patients' perspective), and then provide educational interventions that address the various causes for the extra visits and encourage the use of available resources, either ancillary services in the practice itself or resources and agencies available in the community (e.g. social service, legal aid).
Thermal regulation of membrane lipid fluidity in bacteria

Abstract Bacteria regulate the fluidity of their membrane phospholipids in response to temperature. In Escherichia coli this regulation is an intrinsic property of a soluble enzyme, β-ketoacyl-acyl carrier protein synthase II, of the fatty acid biosynthetic pathway.
Local-field enhancement in metal-dielectric nanocylinders with complex cross sections

Numerical simulations are used to study the near-field properties of nanocylinders. Specific attention is given to surface-plasmon-polariton resonances and field localization in dielectric cylinders with partial metal coating. Conditions for observing local-field enhancement are investigated as well as the degrees of freedom that are available to customize the wavelength response of the nanosystem.
Comparative Anatomy: A Beginning Course in Architectural Design

The goals, methodology, and content of a beginning course in design are presented here as an approach to the teaching of the fundamental principles of making architecture. In the course the pedagogical how has equal standing with the what of content. Concepts from educational theory and practice are applied, including working with a hierarchy of educational goals and employing the idea of “scaffolding” to help the student learn and use the material. Taught by different people in different schools for more than 30 years, the course makes use of established building types, progressive sequencing of assignments, multiple iterations, and ongoing comparisons between projects, which allow students to develop a rigorous foundation in their training as future architects.
Positive effects of afforestation efforts on the health of urban soils

Large-scale tree planting projects in cities are increasingly implemented as a strategy to improve the urban environment. Trees provide multiple benefits in cities, including reduction of urban temperatures, improved air quality, mitigation of storm-water run-off, and provision of wildlife habitat. How urban afforestation affects the properties and functions of urban soils, however, is largely unknown. As healthy soils are critical for vigorous tree growth, our study explores the impact of soil restoration as part of a large-scale urban afforestation project. We collected data on multiple soil variables over the first three years of the New York City Afforestation Project (NY-CAP). The study consists of 56 plots of 225 m 2 arrayed across an urban parkland in Queens, NYC. Each plot contains 56 trees made up of two (low richness) versus six (high richness) native species. The richness treatment was crossed with stand complexity (with shrubs and herbs versus without), and soil amendment (with compost versus without). We sampled soils in 2009 prior to project establishment, in 2010 following site preparation but just prior to planting, and again in 2011 one year after the 3–5 year old saplings were planted and plot treatments were put in place. We present results for the effects of site preparation on soil properties over time from baseline conditions in 2009 through the first year of afforestation in 2011. We also explore the impact of plot treatments (listed above and implemented right after our 2010 soil sampling) on soil parameters in 2011. Overall, site preparation improves soil conditions for the native tree saplings across time, with reductions in bulk density from � 1.4 to 0.72 g cm � 3 , acidification of the soil from pH 7.36 to 7.03, a 4-fold increase in microbially-available carbon and a 1.3-times increase in microbial biomass. Furthermore, soil carbon concentrations increased by 1.33-times between 2009 and 2011. Exploring plot treatments in 2011, compost had the largest effect, with 1.23-times more microbial biomass in composted plots, more acidic pH values (6.66 versus 7.37 in non-composted plots) and increased water holding capacity (35% versus 31% in non-composted plots). The observed changes in soil physical, chemical and biological properties suggest that site preparation and management improves traits of urban soils that are critical for infiltration, decomposition, mineralization and nutrient retention. The initial trajectories of change in these soil properties provide support for the expectation that urban afforestation – and specifically the preparation of urban soils for tree planting – will improve the health of urban soils and consequently the urban environment.
An explicit relationship between time‐domain noise correlation and spatial autocorrelation (SPAC) results

SUMMARY The success of recent ambient noise tomographic studies is now understood to arise due to cross-correlation properties documented in the acoustics community since the 1950s. However, despite the fact that Aki’s 1957 spatial autocorrelation (SPAC) work yields identical analytical results to certain noise correlation results, the precise relationship between SPAC and time-domain cross-correlation remains not entirely transparent. Here, we present an explicit comparison of the two approaches and clarify that SPAC theory is indeed equivalent to the cross-correlation theory used for recent noise tomography studies. This equivalence allows theoretical work from each field to be applied to the other, and we illustrate a few examples of this.
Repeatability of the multifocal visual evoked potentials in a clinical glaucoma setting.

Abstract Background: To determine the reproducibility of the multifocal visual evoked potentials (mfVEP) test results in a clinical glaucoma setting, and the factors that affect variability. Methods: This was an observational case series study. The monocular mfVEP test, having a 58-sector, pattern-reversal dartboard array, was performed twice within 4 weeks in both eyes of 29 adult open-angle glaucoma (OAG) patients and suspects, using AccuMap Opera Software (ObjectiVision Pty Ltd, Sydney, Australia). The AccuMap severity index (ASI), the mean amplitude, and the individual amplitudes in each sector were compared between the 2 tests using intraclass correlations (ICCs).The effects of the severity of mfVEP field defects and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) on the reproducibility of these variables were determined using the McNemar test and the Spearman rank correlation, respectively. Results: The average ICCs of the ASI and amplitudes in the 2 tests were 0.84 and 0.87, respectively. Two sectors in the right eye and 6 in the left eye had significant differences between the 2 tests (Wilcoxon signed-rank p p = 0.022). Forty-six of the 58 eyes stayed within the same diagnosis category on repeating the test (i.e., within normal limits or outside normal limits). Interpretation: Although there were some isolated examples of clinically significant differences on repeating the mfVEP test in our patients, our results suggest overall good repeat reliability. The variability of the test was higher in patients having high noise levels during the test.
Volatile fluxes through the Big Bend section of the San Andreas Fault, California: Helium and carbon-dioxide systematics

Abstract To investigate the source of volatiles and their relationship to the San Andreas Fault System (SAFS), 18 groundwater samples were collected from wells near the Big Bend section of the SAFS in southern California and analyzed for helium and carbon abundance and isotopes. Concentrations of 4 He, corrected for air-bubble entrainment, vary from 4.15 to 62.7 (× 10 − 8 ) cm 3 STP g − 1 H 2 O. 3 He/ 4 He ratios vary from 0.09 to 3.52 R A (where R A = air 3 He/ 4 He), consistent with up to 44% mantle helium in samples. A subset of 10 samples was analyzed for the major volatile phase (CO 2 ) — the hypothesized carrier phase of the helium in the mantle–crust system: CO 2 / 3 He ratios vary from 0.614 to 142 (× 10 11 ), and δ 13 C (CO 2 ) values vary from − 21.5 to − 11.9‰ (vs. PDB). 3 He/ 4 He ratios and CO 2 concentrations are highest in the wells located in the Mil Potrero and Cuddy valleys adjacent to the SAFS. The elevated 3 He/ 4 He ratios are interpreted to be a consequence of a mantle volatile flux though the SAFS diluted by radiogenic He produced in the crust. Samples with the highest 3 He/ 4 He ratios also had the lowest CO 2 / 3 He ratios. The combined helium isotope, He–CO 2 elemental relationships, and δ 13 C (CO 2 ) values of the groundwater volatiles reveal a mixture of mantle and deep crustal (metamorphic) fluid origins. The flux of fluids into the seismogenic zone at high hydrostatic pressure may cause fault rupture, and transfer volatiles into the shallow crust. We calculate an upward fluid flow rate of 147 mm a − 1 along the SAFS, up to 37 times higher than previous estimates ( Kennedy et al., 1997 ). However, using newly identified characteristics of the SAFS, we calculate a total flux of 3 He along the SAFS of 7.4 × 10 3 cm 3 STP a − 1 (0.33 mol 3 He a − 1 ), and a CO 2 flux of 1.5 × 10 13 cm 3 STP a − 1 (6.6 × 10 8 mol a − 1 ), ~ 1% of previous estimates. Lower fluxes along the Big Bend section of the SAFS suggest that the flux of mantle volatiles alone is insufficient to cause the super hydrostatic pressure in the seismogenic zone; however, results identify crustal (metamorphic) fluids as a major component of the CO 2 volatile budget, which may represent the additional flux necessary for fault weakening pressure in the SAFS.
Changing and evolving relationships between two- and four-year colleges and universities: they're not your parents' community colleges anymore.

This paper describes a summit on Community Colleges in the Evolving STEM Education Landscape organized by a committee of the National Research Council (NRC) and the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and held at the Carnegie Institution for Science on December 15, 2011. This summit followed a similar event organized by Dr. Jill Biden, spouse of the Vice President, and held at the White House in October 2010, which sought to bring national attention to the changing missions and purposes of community colleges in contemporary American society.1 The NRC/NAE event built on the White House summit, while focusing on the changing roles of community colleges in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. An in-depth summary of the summit was prepared by the NRC and NAE for publication in late Spring 2012 by the National Academies Press (NRC and National Academy of Engineering, 2012 ). This paper provides a synopsis of that report, which is available at www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=13399, and emphasizes how we can use the report to improve STEM education for our students, but also how much progress still needs to be made to realize this ideal.
In vitro flowering and production of viable pollen of cucumber

Flowers were produced on sterile cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) plants grown in vitro from seed and micropropagated shoots from stem fragments. The highest numbers of flowers on plants from both sources were produced on Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium without plant growth regulators (PGR), as well as with 6 μM of kinetin (Kin). Plants cultured on MS medium supplemented with 8.9 μM benzyladenine (BA) and 1.1 μM 1-naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA) did not flower. In vitro grown plants produced fewer, smaller flowers compared with greenhouse-grown plants. Male and female flowers developed on plants grown in vitro from seed and were morphologically similar to flowers on greenhouse grown plants. Micropropagated shoots produced male flowers with altered morphology. The highest viability (72.9 ± 4.2%) and germination (69.5 ± 4.1%) of pollen were observed for plants grown from seed on MS medium supplemented with 6 μM Kin. Cytological observations of meiosis in anthers of male flowers from in vitro grown plants revealed abnormalities, such as monads, dyads, triads, polyads, microcytes and degeneration of tetrads, causing reduced viability and germination of pollen. The fewest meiotic irregularities in pollen mother cells were observed in plants grown on MS medium that was PGR-free (12.1 ± 0.9%) or with 6 μM Kin (20.9 ± 1.7%).
The relevance of rules to a critical social science

The aim of this article is to argue for a conception of critical social science based on the model of constitutive rules. The author argues that this model is pragmatically superior to those models that employ notions like “illusion” and “ ideology,” as it does not demand a specification of the “real (but hidden) interests” of social actors.
The oxygenation of the atmosphere and oceans

The last 3.85Gyr of Earth history have been divided into five stages. During stage 1 (3.852.45Gyr ago (Ga)) the atmosphere was largely or entirely anoxic, as were the oceans, with the possible exce...
Extensions and evaluations of a general quantitative theory of forest structure and dynamics

Here, we present the second part of a quantitative theory for the structure and dynamics of forests under demographic and resource steady state. The theory is based on individual-level allometric scaling relations for how trees use resources, fill space, and grow. These scale up to determine emergent properties of diverse forests, including size-frequency distributions, spacing relations, canopy configurations, mortality rates, population dynamics, successional dynamics, and resource flux rates. The theory uniquely makes quantitative predictions for both stand-level scaling exponents and normalizations. We evaluate these predictions by compiling and analyzing macroecological datasets from several tropical forests. The close match between theoretical predictions and data suggests that forests are organized by a set of very general scaling rules. Our mechanistic theory is based on allometric scaling relations, is complementary to "demographic theory," but is fundamentally different in approach. It provides a quantitative baseline for understanding deviations from predictions due to other factors, including disturbance, variation in branching architecture, asymmetric competition, resource limitation, and other sources of mortality, which are not included in the deliberately simplified theory. The theory should apply to a wide range of forests despite large differences in abiotic environment, species diversity, and taxonomic and functional composition.
Distribution of 2-carboxyarabinitol among plants

Abstract The level of 2-carboxyarabinitol (2-C-hydroxymethyl ribonic acid) was measured in leaves of numerous plants and its phylogenetic distribution then eval
Distribution and mixing of old and new nonstructural carbon in two temperate trees.

We know surprisingly little about whole-tree nonstructural carbon (NSC; primarily sugars and starch) budgets. Even less well understood is the mixing between recent photosynthetic assimilates (new NSC) and previously stored reserves. And, NSC turnover times are poorly constrained. We characterized the distribution of NSC in the stemwood, branches, and roots of two temperate trees, and we used the continuous label offered by the radiocarbon (carbon-14, (14) C) bomb spike to estimate the mean age of NSC in different tissues. NSC in branches and the outermost stemwood growth rings had the (14) C signature of the current growing season. However, NSC in older aboveground and belowground tissues was enriched in (14) C, indicating that it was produced from older assimilates. Radial patterns of (14) C in stemwood NSC showed strong mixing of NSC across the youngest growth rings, with limited 'mixing in' of younger NSC to older rings. Sugars in the outermost five growth rings, accounting for two-thirds of the stemwood pool, had a mean age 5 yr. Our results are thus consistent with a previously-hypothesized two-pool ('fast' and 'slow' cycling NSC) model structure. These pools appear to be physically distinct.
CELLUAR PATHOPHYSIOLOGY OF PORTAL HYPERTENSION AND PROSPECTS FOR MANAGEMENT WITH GENE THERAPY

In summary, regulation of sinusoidal blood flow in normal and injured liver involves structural, cellular, and humoral components. Available data suggest that stellate cells, resident perisinusoidal mesenchymal cells with a histologic orientation in the sinusoid analogous to [figure: see text] vasoregulatory pericytes, modulate sinusoidal blood flow. This regulation by stellate cells is most evident in the context of liver injury but may apply also to the normal liver. The endothelin and NO systems are important in modulating stellate cell contractility, and their degree of equilibrium is significant in determining the level of local intrahepatic resistance, especially in the injured liver. Manipulation of either or both of these systems is feasible and effective in experimental models. Such findings have obvious clinical implications and are expected to set the [figure: see text] stage for novel gene therapy approaches for treatment of patients with portal hypertension.
Quantum global structure of de Sitter space

I study the global structure of de Sitter space in the semi-classical and one-loop approximations to quantum gravity. The creation and evaporation of neutral black holes causes the fragmentation of de Sitter space into disconnected daughter universes (``proliferation''). If the black holes are stabilized by a charge, I find that the decay leads to a necklace of de Sitter universes (``beads'') joined by near-extremal black hole throats. For sufficient charge, more and more beads keep forming on the necklace, so that an unbounded number of universes will be produced. In any case, future infinity will not be connected. This may have implications for a holographic description of quantum gravity in de Sitter space.
Combined Treatment with Interleukin-12 and Indomethacin Promotes Increased Resistance in BALB/c Mice with Established Leishmania major Infections

Following infection of susceptible BALB/c mice with Leishmania major, early production of interleukin-4 (IL-4) is associated with the development of a nonprotective Th2 response and the development of progressive disease. Treatment of mice with IL-12 at the time of infection can promote the activation of a protective Th1 response; however, IL-12 treatment of mice with established infections has little effect on the progress of lesion development. This may be due to a down-regulation of the IL-12 receptor β2 chain (IL-12Rβ2) that accompanies the expansion of IL-4-producing Th2 cells. We have examined whether prostaglandins function to regulate in vivo responsiveness to IL-12. Mice treated with indomethacin are responsive to treatment with exogenous IL-12 through at least the first 2 weeks of infection and, unlike control mice treated with IL-12, develop an enhanced Th1-type response associated with increased enhanced resistance to infection. Cells from indomethacin-treated mice also exhibit enhanced production of gamma interferon (IFN-γ) following in vitro stimulation with IL-12. Although in vivo indomethacin treatment did not appear to influence IL-12 production in infected mice, cells from indomethacin-treated mice did express higher levels of IL-12Rβ2, suggesting that prostaglandins may play a role in the loss of IL-12 responsiveness observed during nonhealing L. major infections.
Genetic modifiers of hypertension in sGC-deficient mice

Background Hypertension is an important modifiable risk factor for coronary heart disease, congestive heart failure, stroke, end-stage renal disease, and peripheral vascular disease. Many of the molecular mechanisms and genetic factors underlying the development of the most common forms of human hypertension remain to be defined. Nitric oxide (NO) and one of its primary targets, the cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) generating enzyme soluble guanylate cyclase (sGC), play an essential role in regulating blood pressure, in part by by modulating relaxation of vascular smooth muscle. Results Male mice deficient in the a1 subunit of soluble guanylate cyclase (sGCa1-/- mice) are prone to hypertension in some, but not all, mouse strains, suggesting that additional genetic factors contribute to the onset of hypertension associated with sGCa1-deficiency. Using linkage analyses, we discovered quantitative trait loci (QTL) that were linked to mean arterial pressure (MAP) in sGCa1-/- mice. One locus is syntenic with previously identified blood pressure–related QTLs in the human and rat genome and contains the genes coding for renin. Hypertension in sGCa1-/- mice was associated with increased activity of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) and RAAS inhibition normalized MAP and improved endothelium-dependent vasorelaxation in sGCa1-/- mice. Conclusion
Nonlinear models for representation, compression, and visualization of fluid flow images and velocimetry data

Nonlinear phase portraits are employed to represent the streamlines of scalar flow images generated by particle tracing experiments. The flow fields are decomposed into simple component flows based on the critical point behavior. A Taylor series model is assumed for the velocity components, and the model coefficients are computed by considering both local critical point and global flow field behavior. A merge and split procedure for complex flows is presented, in which patterns of neighboring critical point regions are combined and modeled. The concepts are extended to the compression of vector field data by using orthogonal polynomials derived from the Taylor series model. A critical point scheme and a block transform are presented. They are applied to velocity fields measured in particle image velocimetry experiments and generated by computer simulations. >
The Thermodynamic Conjugation Stabilization of 1,3-Butadiyne Is Zero

Many textbooks point out that the thermodynamic stabilization enthalpy of 1 mol of 1,3-butadiene relative to 2 mol of 1-butene or to 1 mol of 1,4-pentadiene is slightly less than 4 kcal mol−1, owing to conjugation between the double bonds in the 1,3 configuration. It is reasonable to suppose that the analogous thermochemical stabilization enthalpy of 1,3-butadiyne would be somewhat greater than 4 kcal mol−1, perhaps as high as 7 or 8 kcal mol−1. Thus it was with some surprise that we discovered, as subsequently verified by other groups, that the thermodynamic stabilization enthalpy of 1,3-butadiyne is zero.
Afrezza: An inhaled approach to insulin delivery

AbstractPurpose:The purpose of this article is to educate nurse practitioners about Afrezza.Data sources:A comprehensive literature search was conducted using MEDLINE for clinical trial data. Information from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, World Health Organization, clinical guidelin
Application of hyperspectral remote sensing reflectance data to photochemical rate calculations in the Duplin River, a tidal river on the coast of Georgia, USA

Estuaries are photochemically dynamic environments with high carbon loads and relatively small areas. The small area poses problems for large-scale satellite-based remote sensing calculations, where the resolution is too coarse to distinguish land from water. Airborne remote sensing instruments have the potential to reveal the dynamics of these areas with fine-scale resolution. In June 2006, hyperspectral remote sensing imagery, using an AISA Eagle instrument, was collected over the tidal Duplin River, Georgia, USA. A dark-water updated version of the SeaUV algorithm was applied to the AISA remote sensing image to determine diffuse attenuation constants in the ultraviolet and calculate surface photochemical production rates of two inorganic products – carbon monoxide (CO) and carbon dioxide (CO2). For an average day in June at the study site, the modeled photoproduction rates for CO2 and CO averaged ~7 × 10−1 nmol C/day/cm3 and ~3.5 × 10−2 nmol C/day/cm3, respectively.
Comparison of international standards for lossless still image compression

This overview focuses on a comparison of lossless compression capabilities of the international standard algorithms for still image compression known as MH, MR, MMR, JBIG, and JPEC. Where the algorithms have parameters to select, these parameters have been carefully set to achieve maximal compression. Compression variations due to differences in data are illustrated and scaling of these compression results with spatial resolution or amplitude precision are explored. These algorithms are also summarized in terms of the compression technology they utilize, with further references given for precise technical details and the specific international standards involved. >
A New Description of the Process of Identification of Plant-Parasitic Nematode Genera

Accurate identification is a prerequisite to an understanding of the effect of nematodes as parasites of plants. It is obvious that no significant study on plant pests should be initiated until the identity of the parasite has been accurately established. For example, members of the genus Rotylenchulus in the past have been erroneously classified in the genus Helicotylenchus (H. elisensis, H. parvus), or they were proposed as new genera (Spyrotylenchus, Leiperotylenchus). In the first case, potentially dangerous parasites were wrongly identified as members of a relatively innocuous genus. In the second example, costly studies may have been initiated to define the biology of a supposedly new parasite, whereas the biology of Rotylenchulus is well known.
Placement and routing tools for the Triptych FPGA

Field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) are becoming an increasingly important implementation medium for digital logic. One of the most important keys to using FPGAs effectively is a complete, automated software system for mapping onto the FPGA architecture. Unfortunately, many of the tools necessary require different techniques than traditional circuit implementation options, and these techniques are often developed specifically for only a single FPGA architecture. In this paper we describe automatic mapping tools for Triptych, an FPGA architecture with improved logic density and performance over commercial FPGAs. These tools include a simulated-annealing placement algorithm that handles the routability issues of fine-grained FPGAs, and an architecture-adaptive routing algorithm that can easily be retargeted to other FPGAs. We also describe extensions to these algorithms for mapping asynchronous circuits to Montage, the first FPGA architecture to completely support asynchronous and synchronous interface applications.
Design tools for reliability analysis

Recent progress in EDA tools allows IC designs to be accurately verified with consequent improvements in yield and performance through reduced guard bands. This paper will present a tools perspective, including the primary effects such as HCI, NBTI and EM for which EDA tools are available, types of tools (dynamic simulation vs. static rule checking) and necessary reliability infrastructure and flows that have been working in practice. Finally, developing areas and future opportunities will be addressed.
Primary Commodity Exports and Civil War

Collier and Hoeffler reported that countries with a higher percentage of national income from primary commodity exports have been more prone to civil war, an interesting finding that has received much attention from policy makers and the media. The author shows that this result is quite fragile, even using Collier and Hoeffler’s data. Minor changes in the sample framing and the recovery of missing data undermine it. To the extent that there is an association, it is likely because oil is a major component of primary commodity exports and substantial oil production does associate with civil war risk. The author argues that oil predicts civil war risk not because it provides an easy source of rebel start-up finance but probably because oil producers have relatively low state capabilities given their level of per capita income and because oil makes state or regional control a tempting “prize.” An analysis of data on government observance of contracts and investor-perceived expropriation risk is consistent with this hypothesis.
The Elusive Functions of Proteoglycans: In Vivo Veritas

Proteoglycans: cell biologists have had a love-hate relationship with these molecules almost since their discovery. Their biochemical properties, dominated by heterogeneous and highly charged glycosaminoglycan (GAG) chains, can make purification challenging and structural analysis painful. Their
Rapid Establishment of Chemical and Mechanical Properties during Lamellar Bone Formation

The development of prophylaxes and treatments of bone diseases that can effectively increase the strength of bone as a structure necessitates a better understanding of the time course by which chemical properties define the stiffness of the material during primary and secondary mineralization. It was hypothesized that these processes would be relatively slow in the actively growing skeleton. Seven-week-old Sprague-Dawley female rats (n = 8) were injected with multiple fluorochrome labels over a time span of 3 weeks and killed. Chemical and mechanical properties of the tibial mid-diaphysis were spatially characterized between the endocortical and periosteal surface by in situ infrared microspectroscopy and nanoindentation. The phosphate-to-protein ratio of bone 2–6 days old was 20% smaller at the periosteal surface and 22% smaller at the endocortical surface (P < 0.05 each) compared to older intracortical regions. The ratios of carbonate to protein, crystallinity, type A/type B carbonate, collagen cross-linking, and bone elastic modulus did not differ significantly between bone 2–6, 10–14, and 8–22 days old and intracortical regions. Intracortical properties of 10-week-old rats, except for the carbonate-to-protein ratio which was 23% smaller (P < 0.01), were not significantly different from intracortical matrix properties of young adult rats (5 months, n = 4). Spatially, the phosphate-to-protein ratio (R2 = 0.33) and the phosphate-to-carbonate ratio (R2 = 0.55) were significantly correlated with bone material stiffness, while the combination of all chemical parameters raised the R2 value to 0.83. These data indicate that lamellar bone has the ability to quickly establish its mechanical and chemical tissue properties during primary and secondary mineralization even when the skeleton experiences rapid growth.
Using convoys of social relations to understand culture and forgiveness from an Arab American perspective

This chapter examines how convoys of social relations influence the experience of forgiveness among Arab American college students in the Metro Detroit area. Data are drawn from three focus group discussions held at three different types (small, medium, and large) of area colleges. Grounded analysis uncovered themes related to how understandings of ethnic culture inform attitudes and experiences of forgiveness in social relations. In particular, we consider how an individual’s convoy of social relations influences within-group articulations of what it means to be Arab and shape explanations concerning strategies these college students reported using when faced with difficult or hurtful situations. Results contribute to the growing recognition that forgiveness is a complex, multidimensional phenomenon involving individual-specific traits that vary by social relations and context.
Adverse Selection and the Required Return

An important feature of financial markets is that securities are traded repeatedly by asymmetrically informed investors. We study how current and future adverse selection affect the required return. We find that the bid-ask spread generated by adverse selection is not a cost, on average, for agents who trade, and hence the bid-ask spread does not directly influence the required return. Adverse selection contributes to trading-decision distortions, however, implying allocation costs, which affect the required return. We explicitly derive the effect of adverse selection on required returns, and show how our result differs from models that consider the bid-ask spread to be an exogenous cost.
Internet control points as LGBT rights mediation

ABSTRACTConflicts over lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights, similar to other social struggles, are increasingly materializing within technical functions of Internet governance and architecture rather than at the surface level of content. This paper examines how various functional areas of Internet governance, such as the assignment of domain names, the policy-making role of private information intermediaries, and intellectual property rights enforcement mechanisms serve as control points over LGBT speech, identity expression, and community formation. This turn to Internet governance control points to mediate LGBT rights has implications for public policy, for scholarship at the intersection of Internet governance and human rights, and for media companies and activists in their work of shaping infrastructures that can promote free expression and human rights.
Life History of Phrydiuchus topiarius (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) on Salvia verbenacea (Labiatae)

The life history of a small ceutorhynchid weevil, Phrydiuchus topiarius (Germar), was studied to help in the possible introduction of an unidentified species of Phrydiuchus into the United States to control Mediterranean sage ( Salvia aethiopis L.). At Rome, Italy, adults of P. topiarius aestivate during the summer but feed on the basal leaves of Salvia verbenacea L. from October to December. Eggs are deposited around the base of the plant; the larvae tunnel into the leaf petioles and crown, overwinter there, and enter the soil to pupate in March. Adult weevil feeding is synchronized with the periods of active vegetative growth of the host. Adults emerge in May, feed briefly on the basal foliage, and then aestivate. Larval feeding blocks the translocation of materials to and from the roots and destroys a number of young vegetative buds. The effect of the weevils on the population of S. verbenacea is obscured by the grazing of various animals on the plant in its native habitat, and by the action of other insects.
The recovery education center: an integrated health promotion and wellness program.

TOPIC This brief report describes a recovery education program that is designed to develop health as a foundation for recovery from psychiatric illnesses. PURPOSE Using readiness to change theory, health promotion, and psychiatric rehabilitation processes that are bundled in an adult education model of service, participants learn the knowledge, skills, and supports they want and need to increase their domains of wellness that will support their recovery. SOURCES USED Author's relevant knowledge and citations of health and behavioral health evidence. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE Health promotion that is delivered in a healthy environment enhances people's quality of life, promotes readiness for role change and in the end, works to ensure that people with mental illnesses have a right to optimal health. To support rehabilitation and recovery, practitioners are encouraged to review this program model and select elements described to replicate in various mental health settings.
Architectural support for improving security and performance of memory sub-systems

Computer users are becoming increasingly aware of and concerned for the security of their computer systems. While many security software packages are available, they are ineffective in protecting against an emerging class of security attacks that involve directly tampering with the physical operation of the system. Such hardware attacks have been demonstrated to be feasible and relatively easy to perform in breaking the Digital Rights Management features in game consoles, and in breaking the security features of a version of a secure processor DS5002FP. These hardware attacks may involve inserting a device on the communication path between the microprocessor and other chips to passively snoop their communication, or to actively modify data communication between the processor and other chips. Various schemes were proposed in prior work to provide architectural support for data security and to protect against such hardware attacks. However, such protection schemes usually come with high performance overhead and prohibit the wide adoption of the secure systems. In particular, cryptographic latency was added directly to the memory access latency and introduced significant degradation of the system performance for memory intensive applications. In more recent work, schemes were proposed to reduce the performance overhead through parallelizing the cryptographic operations with memory accesses. However, such schemes usually require a significant on-chip storage area for storing additional security related data. Although these schemes realized performance improvement for secure architectural support, the additional cost of on-chip storage area still is a big obstacle to the wide adoption of the secure systems. We believe secure architectural support can be provided efficiently and effectively without either significant performance degradation or noticeable increase in on-chip area cost. This thesis explores architectural level optimizations to make secure systems more efficient, secure and affordable. It extends prior work for secure architecture in several areas. It proposes a new combined memory encryption and authentication scheme which uses very small on-chip storage area and incurs much less performance overhead compared with prior work. In addition, the thesis studies the issues of applying architectural support for data security to distributed shared memory systems. It presents a scheme which is scalable with large-scale systems and only introduces negligible performance overhead for confidentiality and integrity protection. Furthermore, the thesis also investigates another source of reducing performance overhead in secure systems through optimizing on-chip caching schemes and minimizing off-chip communications.
Molten Zinc Alloys for Lower Temperature, Lower Cost Liquid Metal Batteries

A nontraditional liquid metal battery (LMB) is devised to address the drawbacks of molten salt-based batteries with a simple design that does not require fragile membranes and is not limited to materials of specific densities. This battery contains coaxial, coplanar liquid Sn and Bi electrodes and a ZnCl2:KCl eutectic electrolyte. Molten Sn serves as a high-capacity host material for depositing and stripping active Zn. In cells operating at 320 °C, the molten salt blankets the molten electrodes, isolating the half reactions while balancing charge with mobile Cl– ions. Even under exposure to ambient air and moisture, minimal capacity fade occurs during 30 days of cycling. The results indicate ZnCl2:KCl to be an excellent LMB electrolyte that functions without hermetic sealing when used at elevated temperatures. The findings contribute to the increasing interest in Zn-based electrical energy storage with a design concept that opens the door to many unexplored materials for use in lower temperature liquid metal batteries.
Cognitive subclinical markers in autism.

We conducted a pilot study of nonretarded autistic males and their first-degree relatives to identify potential cognitive subclinical markers in autism
New Pathways, New Targets: Visceral Hypersensitivity Pathogenesis in Irritable Bowel Syndrome.

New Pathways, New Targets: Visceral Hypersensitivity Pathogenesis in Irritable Bowel Syndrome
The Unfulfilled Promise of School-Centered Asthma Care

their implementation of the Step-Up Asthma program in the Denver Public School district. The program identified at-risk children, offered asthma education to students and school personnel, facilitated access to health insurance and/or medical care, and provided stop-gap medications until care was established. A community health worker (asthma counselor) served as the program’s lynchpin by connecting students, caregivers, and schools with the traditional health care system. The program was funded by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE). Schools typically lack the resources and expertise to independently implement health programs; therefore, collaborations with community agencies and researchers can help develop the needed infrastructure. These collaborations facilitate program evaluation, policy development, and long-term sustainability. 4 The most critical element is external funding because many of our nation’s schools are underfunded and understaffed. Public funding is difficult to obtain because disagreement exists between those who view health as an individual responsibility versus those