cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
On the Denseness of Rational Systems

This note characterizes the denseness of rational systemsPn?1(a1,?,an)?P(x)?nk=1(x?ak),P?Pn?1(n=1, 2, ?),in C?1, 1], where the nonreal poles in {ak}∞k=1?C\?1, 1] are paired by complex conjugation. This extends an Achiezer's result.
Explore-By-Example: A New Database Service for Interactive Data Exploration

Traditional DBMSs are suited for applications in which the structure, meaning and contents of the database, as well as the questions (queries) to be asked, are all well-understood. However, this is no longer true when the volume and diversity of data grow at an unprecedented rate, while the user ability to comprehend data remains (as limited) as before. To address the increasing disparity in the "big data - same humans" problem, our project explores a new approach of system-aided exploration of a big data space and automatic learning of the user interest in order to retrieve all objects that match the user interest -- we call this new service "interactive data exploration", which complements the traditional querying interface of a database system.In this talk, I introduce a new framework for interactive data exploration, called "Explore-by-Example", which iteratively seeks user relevance feedback on database samples and uses such feedback to finally predict a query that retrieves all objects of interest to the user. The goal is to make such exploration converge fast to the true user interest model, while minimizing the user labeling effort and providing interactive performance in each iteration. I discuss a range of techniques and optimizations to do so for linear patterns and complex non-linear patterns. Our user study indicates that our approach can significantly reduce the user effort and the total exploration time, compared with the common practice of manual exploration. I finally conclude the talk by pointing out a host of new challenges, ranging from application of active learning theory, to database optimizations, to visualization.
Modeling the evolution of channel shape: Balancing computational efficiency with hydraulic fidelity

[1] The cross-sectional shape of a natural river channel controls the capacity of the system to carry water off a landscape, to convey sediment derived from hillslopes, and to erode its bed and banks. Numerical models that describe the response of a landscape to changes in climate or tectonics therefore require formulations that can accommodate evolution of channel cross-sectional geometry. However, fully two-dimensional (2-D) flow models are too computationally expensive to implement in large-scale landscape evolution models, while available simple empirical relationships between width and discharge do not adequately capture the dynamics of channel adjustment. We have developed a simplified 2-D numerical model of channel evolution in a cohesive, detachment-limited substrate subject to steady, unidirectional flow. Erosion is assumed to be proportional to boundary shear stress, which is calculated using an approximation of the flow field in which log-velocity profiles are assumed to apply along vectors that are perpendicular to the local channel bed. Model predictions of the velocity structure, peak boundary shear stress, and equilibrium channel shape compare well with predictions of a more sophisticated but more computationally demanding ray-isovel model. For example, the mean velocities computed by the two models are consistent to within ∼3%, and the predicted peak shear stress is consistent to within ∼7%. Furthermore, the shear stress distributions predicted by our model compare favorably with available laboratory measurements for prescribed channel shapes. A modification to our simplified code in which the flow includes a high-velocity core allows the model to be extended to estimate shear stress distributions in channels with large width-to-depth ratios. Our model is efficient enough to incorporate into large-scale landscape evolution codes and can be used to examine how channels adjust both cross-sectional shape and slope in response to tectonic and climatic forcing.
Anxiety and Intergroup Bias: Terror Management or Coalitional Psychology?:

Contemplation of death increases support of ingroup ideologies, a result explained by proponents of terror management theory (TMT) as an attempt to buffer existential anxiety. While TMT claims that...
The usefulness of electrophysiological monitoring during resection of central nervous system vascular malformations.

Goal : The purpose of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of electrophysiological monitoring during the resection of vascular malformations. Methods : Between September 1994 and April 1996, we surgically resected vascular malformations (31 arteriovenous malformations, 22 angiographically occult vascular malformations) from 53 patients (56 procedures) and used intraoperative evoked potential monitoring. Somatosensory evoked potentials (SSEPs) were monitored in 54 procedures (96%), and brain stem auditory evoked potentials (BAEPs) in 17 (30%). The neurological status of the patients was evaluated before and after surgery. Findings : Five of the 54 patients (9%) monitored with SSEPs had SSEP changes (4 transient, 1 persistent) coinciding with new clinical neurological deficits in 4 patients (all transient). In all 4 patients who had transient SSEP changes, the changes resolved with adjustment or removal of clips on feeding vessels (2 patients) or with elevating mean arterial pressure (MAP) (2 patients). Forty-seven patients (91%) had neither SSEP or neurological examination alterations. One of 17 patients (6%) monitored with BAEPs had neurological and persistent BAEP changes, 15 (88%) had neither BAEP or neurological changes, and 1 (6%) had a neurological change despite no change in BAEP (false negative). The sensitivity of SSEP and BAEP for predicting a new postoperative deficit (transient or prolonged) in this series was 86% (6/7); specificity was 98% (55/56). Clinical outcome was excellent in 41 patients, good in 11 and poor in 1 (no patients died) and was largely related to pretreatment grade. Conclusion : SSEPs and BAEPs predict the likelihood of clinical neurological injury during resection of vascular malformations with high sensitivity and specificity and may prove a useful adjunct in treating these lesions.
A thermomechanical fracture modeling and simulation for functionally graded solids using a residual-strain formulation

This paper addresses mixed-mode crack growth in two-dimensional functionally graded solids under thermomechanical loads, and investigates the effect of mechanical and thermal loads as well as the T-stress on their crack growth behavior. A novel residual strain-based formulation in the interaction integral method is developed and used for the accurate evaluation of mixed-mode stress intensity factors and/or the T-stress. Simulation of mixed-mode crack propagation in functionally graded materials including solid oxide fuel cells under thermomechanical loads is performed by means of the finite element method and the generalized interaction integrals in conjunction with a remeshing algorithm. An iterative procedure is used for crack growth simulation including the calculation of mixed-mode stress intensity factors and/or the T-stress by means of the generalized interaction integral method, determination of crack growth direction and crack initiation condition based on selected fracture criteria, and local automatic remeshing along the crack path. The present approach employs a user-defined crack increment at the beginning of the simulation. Crack trajectories and fracture parameters obtained by the present simulation for thermomechanical loads are assessed for some numerical examples in comparison with those for mechanical loads.
Ability of HIV/AIDS patients to self‐diagnose oral opportunistic infections

Abstract –Objectives: To assess the accuracy of HIV/AIDS patients’ self-diagnosis of common HIV-related oral opportunistic infections. Methods: 245 HIV/AIDS patients were interviewed regarding the current presence of oral candidiasis (OC), oral hairy leukoplakia (OHL), and oral ulcers prior to an oral examination by an oral medicine trained dentist examiner. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV) are reported for the patient's oral lesion diagnosis compared to the dentist's diagnosis based on established presumptive clinical criteria as the gold standard. Results: Self-diagnosis accuracy was greatest for pseudomembraneous OC (PPV 42.9%; NPV 93.5%), followed by oral ulcers (PPV 35.7%; NPV 98.3%) and OHL (PPV 23.5%; NPV 86.4%). Past experience with the lesion improved diagnostic accuracy, and bothersome symptoms accompanying the lesion had significant impact only for pseudomembraneous OC and oral ulcers. Conclusions: Moderate accuracy of patient self-assessment of oral lesions, with tendency to under rather than over report lesion presence, supports the use of patient self-assessment of these lesions to augment clinician diagnosis in clinical trials. Additionally, HIV/AIDS patients are unlikely to believe they have active OC that would lead to on-demand antifungal use, unless they have had prior experience with the lesion or it is at least moderately bothersome.
Concentration dependence of the mechanism of glucose oxidation at gold electrodes in alkaline media

Abstract The catalytic oxidation of glucose in alkaline solution at a gold electrode was studied by cyclic voltammetry at a rotating disc electrode as a function of glucose concentration and rotation velocity. Concentrations M produced mass transport limited currents at a potential of ca. 0.4 V versus SHE with n = ca. 8. Concentrations > 30 m M produced currents limited by a kinetic step involved in the electron transfer reaction with n = ca. 2. From comparison of the voltammetric responses of glucose and glucose derivatives, the mass transport limited reaction was believed to proceed by the pairing of the enediol conformation of glucose, via hydrogen bridges, to the catalytic hydrous gold oxide, followed by oxidative cleavage of the enediol and oxidation of the primary hydroxyl group. The kinetically limited reaction for large glucose concentrations was concluded to effect only the oxidation of the aldehyde or hemi-acetal group producing gluconic acid or gluconolactone. The rate determining step for this process was concluded to be the transfer of an electron from an adsorbed carbohydrate radical species to the electrode. The concentration dependence of the mechanism of glucose oxidation is explained by a decrease in the number of interactions between each glucose molecule and the catalytic hydrous gold oxide as the glucose concentration is increased.
Domestic Violence Against Married Women in Egypt

We estimated the associations of social learning in childhood, marital resources and constraints, and community gender stratification and norms with women’s risk of physical domestic violence in a national sample of 5,272 married Egyptian women. Women who experienced corporal punishment or maltreatment as children had higher odds of such violence. An increase in women’s household-standard-of-living was associated with lower odds of such violence. Wives with unusually less and unusually more schooling than their spouse had higher odds of such violence, and the wives of paternal cousins had lower odds of such violence. Measures of community gender stratification and norms were inconsistently and weakly associated with such violence. Women’s marital resources and constraints accounted for most of their risk of experiencing physical domestic violence.
Homogeneous enzyme-linked competitive binding assay for biotin based on the avidin-biotin interaction

Abstract A homogeneous enzyme-linked competitive-binding assay for biotin with glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PDH), is described. This assay is based on the interaction between a G6PDH/biotin conjugate with avidin, a natural binder for biotin. In the absence of biotin in the assay mixture, this interaction results in 100% inhibition of the enzyme conjugate. In the presence of biotin, the enzymatic activity of the conjugate is regained in an amount related to the concentration of the vitamin in the sample. Extremely steep, gate-like dose/response curves, attributable to the relative binding affinities of avidin for biotin and the conjugate, are observed. The detection limits of the system vary with the amounts of avidin and enzyme/biotin conjugate used. The method is rapid and sensitive and is evaluated for the direct determination of biotin in vitamin tablets.
The Mistaken Dimensionality of CAD

Abstract Computer Aided Design software has an unfortunate tendency to suppress the rich dimensions of computational complexity in favor of a feeble representation of dimension appropriately labeled D. 3D and 4D software applications categorically manifest either the three geometric axes of Cartesian space or the four axes of Minkowskian space-time in spatial dimensions. But all that these dimensional representations can portray are geometric simulations of objects in space. Computational multi-dimensionality as expressed in the mechanisms of numeric manipulation offers designers more: a space for design parallel to that space within which architects have traditionally designed.
Opioid antagonists. II: Clinical effects in the treatment of self-injury in individuals with developmental disabilities

Two hypotheses have been proposed linking dysfunctions of the endogenous endorphin system with the origin and maintenance of self-injury in some individuals. This has spurred interest in the use of opioid antagonists, most commonly naloxone and naltrexone, to treat self-injury. Although many of the studies have reported positive findings, these data must be interpreted wit caution because the majority of the studies were typically anecdotal case reports or were methodologically flawed. We present a clinical and methodological review of the research on the efficacy of both naloxone and naltrexone in the treatment of self-injury in individuals with developmental disabilities. Taken in their best light, seven of nine studies using naloxone showed a positive effect on self-injury and 16 of 18 studies using naltrexone showed a positive effect. The implications of these data are discussed in terms of future research.
Vitamins and other metabolites in various sera commonly used for cell culturing

Many cell culture media use different sera to enhance growth. We assayed vitamins and some related metabolites in different sera and identified the concentration of: thiamin, biotin, folates, riboflavin, pantothenates, nicotinates, vitamins B6, B12, A, E. C, and carotenes and some related metabolites: biopterins, free inositol, free and total choline, total carnitines in chicken, horse, rabbit, goat, pig, calf, newborn calf, fetal calf and human sera. Results indicate that vitamin and metabolite concent of different sera vary. Such variations could produce fluctuant effects on cell culturings if the metabolite content of the serum is not documented.
On the distribution of the studentized maximum of equally correlated normal random variables

Let X1,…X,k have a joint k-variate normal distribution with zero means, common unknown varianceσ2and known correla- tion matrix (ρij) where ρi j = ρ for all i ≠ j. Let s2 be distributed independently of the X1 such that vs2/σ2 has a chisquared distribution with v degrees of freedom. New tables with wider coverage and more accuracy than the previously published ones are given for the percentage points of . Some basic theoretical results are given in Section.
Antennal proteins of Saturniid moths-their possible rôle in olfaction.

Reception of female sex pheromone is reversibly blocked by exposing male silkmoths (Antheraea pernyi) to formaldehyde vapours or by bathing their antennae in saline solution. Electrophoretograms of proteins eluted from the male antennae show two major bands. One of these may correspond to the ‘receptor protein’ for the female sex pheromone. An analogous component is present in electrophoretograms of the proteins eluted from the male antennae of two other species, Antheraea polyphemus and Hyalophora cecropia.
New Dimensions in Gompertzian Growth

The Gompertz function was formulated to represent an actuarial curve, yet it often fits growth of organisms, organs and tumors. Despite numerous attempts, no consensus has been forged about the biological foundation of the broad applicability of the model. Here we revisit the Gompertzian notion of the “power to grow” and equate it with growth fraction. Aside from conferring biological interpretability to the model, this approach allows leading to the possibility of exploring the behavior of Gompertzian growth with fractal kinetics. Significantly, we found that empirical models such as the logistic model, the von Bertalanffy model and the von Bertalanffy Richards model, together with the originative Gompertz model, are special cases of Gampertzian growth in fractal space. This finding permits an analysis of the growth kinetics of tumors which might affect model based design of Chemotherapy protocols.
Bound states in NRQCD/NRQED and the renormalization group

Abstract The application of renormalization group techniques to bound states in non-relativistic QED and QCD is discussed. For QED bound states like Hydrogen and positronium, the renormalization group allows large logarithms of the velocity, ln ν (or equivalently ln α's), to be predicted in a universal and simple way. The series of (α ln α)'s are shown to terminate after a few terms. For QCD one can systematically sum infinite series of the form [αs ln αs]k, and answer definitively the question “αs at what scale?”.
Implications of Pharmacogenetic Testing for Patients Taking Warfarin or Clopidogrel

Our knowledge of the pharmacogenetics of warfarin and clopidogrel continues to expand as we learn more about the individual genetic variations that contribute to the drugs’ efficacy and toxicity. We aim to review the recent developments in the field and discuss the clinical implications for the treatment of ischemic stroke patients. Despite recent advances, there is still insufficient data to suggest that routine genetic testing improves outcomes in patients treated with warfarin or clopidogrel for prevention of stroke.
Telling Them What They Know: Organizational Change, Defensive Resistance, and the Unthought Known

The author explores the psychological dynamics of feedback to clients by examining the method and processes of organizational diagnosis and change. In so doing, the concept of the unthought known is introduced along with several other psychological concepts to help explain the clients' initial response to consultant feedback. In particular, the author submits that it is not so much that clients do not know what consultants tell them at this stage of the process of organizational change as much as it is the case that they had not thought of it. This understanding of the change process and feedback to clients has important implications for working effectively with clients' inevitable defensive resistances and anxieties. Two case vignettes are offered as illustrations of defensive resistance and the unthought known in organizational change consultations.
Vertical movement of water in a High Plains Aquifer induced by a pumping well

Field observation and numerical simulations were carried out to evaluate the hydraulic relationship between the shallow and deep aquifer of a High Plains Aquifer system, in which shallow and deep aquifers are separated by an aquitard. Pumping from the lower aquifer resulted in a small drawdown in the upper aquifer and a larger drawdown in the aquitard; pumping from the shallow aquifer caused a small drawdown in the aquitard and the deep aquifer. Analysis of pumping test data gives the values of the hydraulic conductivity of the aquitard and the deep aquifer. Long-term observation of groundwater levels in the shallow and deep aquifers showed that a strong downward hydraulic gradient was maintained during an irrigation season. Numerical simulations were used to calculate the induced leakage of water from the shallow to the deep aquifer. Water budget analyses suggested that after pumping continues for a couple of days, the leakage from the overlying layers begins to supply the majority of the withdrawal from the deep aquifer. However, the induced leakage from the upper shallow aquifer can travel only a few meters into the aquitard, and it can not reach the lower aquifer during a 90 day pumping period. The major portion of the induced leakage occurred during the pumping period, but a small leakage can continue as a residual effect after the pumping period. The vertical hydraulic conductivity of the aquitard plays a major role in partitioning the ratio of the induced leakage for the pumping and after-pumping periods.
Characterization of drop impact survivability of a 3D CSP stack module

Chip scale packages (CSPs) are widely used in miniaturized electronic systems, and the performance advantages and reliability of single layer packages have been well studied for consumer applications. Three dimensional stacked modules allow for further miniaturization while retaining manufacturability and performance advantages, but they are not yet as widely used or investigated as single layer packages. Of particular concern is the survivability of a board mounted, stacked module under board level drop impact and shock loading, which may soon be of great importance in consumer, industrial and military applications. A CSP stack module is fabricated by stacking several CSPs to achieve high-density 3D systems without increasing the package's footprint. But it also introduces more probabilities of mechanical failure including drop impact-induced malfunction in solder interconnections. In order to evaluate the survivability of a stacked package, we have developed a model for a two level CSP stack module attached to a FR-4 board following the JEDEC standard. With this assembly undergoing drop impact in the 0deg orientation (horizontal drop) under two types of impulse loads, we discuss the results of board-level impacts theoretically and numerically. Our results suggest that (1) the solder balls at the first CSP level are the determining factor in package reliability, (2) the first CSP level is most susceptible to damage and failure for the horizontal drop, and (3) damages in the higher level solder joints are due to a combination of vibration induced and stress wave induced stresses.
Making Gender Fit and “Correcting” Gender Misfits Sex Segregated Employment and the Nonsearch Process

This article highlights the extent to which finding a job without actively searching (“nonsearching”) sustains workplace sex segregation. We suspect that unsolicited information from job informants that prompts fortuitous job changes is susceptible to bias about gender “fit” and segregates workers. Results from analyses of 1,119 respondents to the 1996 and 1998 waves of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth are generally consistent with this expectation. Gender “misfits”—individuals employed in gender-atypical work groups— are more likely to move into gender-typical work groups than neutral ones. Women misfits are more likely to move into male-dominated than neutral work groups without a job search, but they join mostly desegregated occupations and receive lower job rewards than men misfits who change jobs without searching. We conclude that the nonsearch process serves as an important mechanism that sustains sex segregation and workplace inequality.
Improved performance of coded digital FM

The performance of convolutionally encoded narrow-band digital FM with Viterbi decoding was considered in some detail by Simon (1983) for a noncoherent limiter/discriminator (L/D) with integrate and dump (I&D) bit detection. Employing a new threshold receiver which averages the output of the I&D detector with the output of a sample and hold (S&H) detector, a 3-dB improvement over Simon's results for the bit error probability with FM clicks is shown to be achievable. At low error rates, the performance of this new receiver is, moreover, comparable to that obtained when the clicks are exactly removed by Simon's hypothetical "genie".
Effect of chronic elevated carbon dioxide on the expression of acid-base transporters in the neonatal and adult mouse.

Several pulmonary and neurological conditions, both in the newborn and adult, result in hypercapnia. This leads to disturbances in normal pH homeostasis. Most mammalian cells maintain tight control...
Changing Revenue Policy in the United States: An Overview of the Record and Perennial Puzzles

The past quarter century has produced little change in the government revenue share of gross domestic product in the United States. The federal share has fallen, but the state and local share has increased. There has been no great change among revenue sources, certainly nothing like the flight from the property tax that characterized the prior decade. Several issues have dominated revenue policy discussions over the last quarter century. These include the role of the property tax, realignment of the federal tax base away from income, tax simplification, and base broadening. There have been no definite solutions to date.
Improving Multi-million Virtual Rank MPI Execution in [MUPI]

MUPI is a parallel discrete event simulator designed for enabling software-based experimentation via simulated execution across a range of synthetic to unmodified parallel programs using the Message Passing Interface (MPI) with millions of tasks. Here, we report work in progress in improving the efficiency of E . Among the issues uncovered are the scaling problems with implementing barriers and intertask message ordering. Preliminary performance shows the possibility of supporting hundreds of virtual MPI ranks per real processor core. Performance improvements of at least 2~ are observed, and enable execution of benchmark MPI runs with over 16 million virtual ranks synchronized in a discrete event fashion on as few as 16,128 real cores of a Cray XT5.
Observational learning in hooded rats

Three groups of rats, six Ss to a group, were tested to determine the effect of reinforced and nonreinforced observation on the learning of a leverpressing response. Group 1 observed a leverpressing response while receiving food contingent on the model’s responses; Group 2 observed the leverpressing response without receiving food; and Group 3, the control group, did not observe the model’s performance. The three groups were subsequently tested in an operant conditioning situation. Group 1 proved significantly superior to Groups 2 and 3 in time to acquisition of the observed response (p <.004). The difference between Group 2 and the control group was not significant. The results were interpreted in terms of Mowrer’s two-factor theory.
Optimal Auctioning and Ordering in an Infinite Horizon Inventory-Pricing System

We consider a joint inventory-pricing problem in which buyers act strategically and bid for units of a firm's product over an infinite horizon. The number of bidders in each period as well as the individual bidders' valuations are random but stationary over time. There is a holding cost for inventory and a unit cost for ordering more stock from an outside supplier. Backordering is not allowed. The firm must decide how to conduct its auctions and how to replenish its stock over time to maximize its profits. We show that the optimal auction and replenishment policy for this problem is quite simple, consisting of running a standard first-price or second-price auction with a fixed reserve price in each period and following an order-up-to (basestock) policy for replenishing inventory at the end of each period. Moreover, the optimal basestock level can be easily computed. We then compare this optimal basestock, reserve-price-auction policy to a traditional basestock, list-price policy. We prove that in the limiting case of one buyer per period and in the limiting case of a large number of buyers per period and linear holding cost, list pricing is optimal. List pricing also becomes optimal as the holding cost tends to zero. Numerical comparisons confirm these theoretical results and show that auctions provide significant benefits when: (1) the number of buyers is moderate, (2) holding costs are high, or (3) there is high variability in the number of buyers per period.
Influence of small-scale fluvial architecture on CO 2 trapping processes in deep brine reservoirs

A number of important candidate CO2 reservoirs exhibit sedimentary architecture reflecting fluvial deposition. Recent studies have led to new conceptual and quantitative models for sedimentary architecture in fluvial deposits over a range of scales that are relevant to CO2 injection and storage. We used a geocellular modeling approach to represent this multiscaled and hierarchical sedimentary architecture. With this model, we investigated the dynamics of CO2 plumes, during and after injection, in such reservoirs. The physical mechanism of CO2 trapping by capillary trapping incorporates a number of related processes, i.e., residual trapping, trapping due to hysteresis of the relative permeability, and trapping due to hysteresis of the capillary pressure. Additionally, CO2 may be trapped due to differences in capillary entry pressure for different textural sedimentary facies (e.g., coarser-grained versus finer-grained cross sets). The amount of CO2 trapped by these processes depends upon a complex system of nonlinear and hysteretic characteristic relationships including how relative permeability and capillary pressure vary with brine and CO2 saturation. The results strongly suggest that representing small-scale features (decimeter to meter), including their organization within a hierarchy of larger-scale features, and representing their differences in characteristic relationships can all be critical to understanding trapping processes in some important candidate CO2 reservoirs.
Skewed pipelining for parallel simulink simulations

Modern automotive and aerospace embedded applications require very high-performance simulations that are able to produce new values every microsecond. Simulations must now rely on scalable performance of multi-core systems rather than faster clock frequencies. Novel parallelization techniques are needed to satisfy the industrial simulation demands that are essential for the development of safety-critical systems. Simulink formalism is the industrial de facto standard, but current state-of-the-art simulation and code generation techniques fail to fully exploit the parallelism in modern multi-core systems. However, closed-loop and dynamic system simulations are very difficult to parallelize because of the loop-carried dependencies. In this paper we introduce a novel skewed pipelining technique that overcomes these difficulties and allows loop-carried Simulink applications to be executed concurrently in multi-core systems. By delaying the forwarding of values for a few iterations, we can break some data dependencies and coarsen the granularity of programs. This improves the concurrency and reduces the high cost of inter-processor communication. Implementation studies to demonstrate the viability of our method on a commodity multi-core system with 2, 3, and 4 processors show a 1.72, 2.38, and 3.33 fold speedup over uniprocessor execution.
Assets and tactics in a mating market: Economic models of negotiation offer insights into animal courtship dynamics on the lek

Economists study negotiation as a series of events—partner choice, information gathering, bargaining, etc.—with each step of the process affecting the outcome of the next, and the optimal decision at each stage depending on the player's bar- gaining power. The context in which these negotiations occur—the market—is critical, since players can adjust their behaviors in response to outside offers. Animals similarly are faced with sequential decisions regarding courtship: who to court, how to ap- proach a potential mate, at what level to display, when to give up, etc. Thus economic models of negotiation in a market provide a framework in which we can view not just the outcome of courtship (assortative mating), but also the process, where each sex can use tactics to improve their negotiating outcome, using the assets that they have available. Here we propose to use negotiation as a conceptual framework to explore the factors promoting tactical adjustments during sequential stages of courtship in lekking spe- cies. Our goal is to discuss the utility of negotiation as a heuristic tool, as well as the promise and peril of co-opting game theo- retic models from economics to understand animal interactions. We will provide a brief overview of a few areas where we see promise for using negotiation as a framework to understand animal courtship dynamics: choice of a display territory, tactical partner choice for negotiation, approaching a potential partner and courtship haggling (Current Zoology 57 (2): 225-236, 2011).
Decision Risk in the Use of Convective Weather Forecasts for Trajectory-Based Operations 1

This paper presents a framework for the assessment of decision risk in the forecast of the feasibility of flight trajectories through convective weather-impacted airspace. Decision risk arises from the significant uncertainty in both the forecast of severity, location, scale, and timing of operationally significant convective weather and the response of pilots and air traffic controllers to weather impacts in the airspace. A method is described to translate the characteristics of convective weather forecasts into metrics that estimate the impacts of weather on the feasibility of flight trajectories through impacted airspace. Decision criteria that determine whether or not to assign flight trajectories through impacted airspace are defined, based on the impact metrics, and the airspace is classified according to the feasibility of traversing the airspace. The weather translation and airspace classification based on true weather are validated against the observed operational use of impacted airspace. The use of airspace classification for risk assessment is illustrated for two forecast horizons: strategic planning (2 – 8 hour forecast horizon) of traffic management initiatives (TMI), and tactical management of trajectories through impacted airspace in NASA’s Dynamic Weather Reroute (DWR) tool (10 – 40 minute forecast horizon).
On image and template false alarm rates when using target templates for target detection

The letter studies how the image false alarm rates are related to the target template false alarm rates when target templates are used for target detection. The authors show with both the analytical and simulated examples that when the image size is much larger than the target template size and the image false alarm rate is small, the image false alarm rate is approximately equal to the target template false alarm rate multiplied by the number of pixels in the image. >
The blues of minocycline.

A 74-year-old female patient with a history of coronary artery disease, hypertension and peripheral vascular disease was admitted with an upper gastrointestinal bleed. She also had a long history of rheumatoid arthritis with the characteristic features of the hands (Figure 1A). She was on minocycline for her rheumatoid arthritis for ∼8 years. Her skin examination revealed diffuse blue–green discoloration of normal tissue and scar sites of distal legs (Figure 1B). There was no scleral or mucous membrane involvement.
Ecophysiological responses of two dominant grasses to altered temperature and precipitation regimes

Ecosystem responses to climate change will largely be driven by responses of the dominant species. However, if co-dominant species have traits that lead them to differential responses, then predicting how ecosystem structure and function will be altered is more challenging. We assessed differences in response to climate change factors for the two dominant C4 grass species in tallgrass prairie, Andropogon gerardii and Sorghastrum nutans, by measuring changes in a suite of plant ecophysiological traits in response to experimentally elevated air temperatures and increased precipitation variability over two growing seasons. Maximum photosynthetic rates, stomatal conductance, water-use efficiency, chlorophyll fluorescence, and leaf water potential varied with leaf and canopy temperature as well as with volumetric soil water content (0–15 cm). Both species had similar responses to imposed changes in temperature and water availability, but when differences occurred, responses by A. gerardii were more closely linked with changes in air temperature whereas S. nutans was more sensitive to changes in water availability. Moreover, S. nutans was more responsive overall than A. gerardii to climate alterations. These results indicate both grass species are responsive to forecast changes in temperature and precipitation, but their differential sensitivity to temperature and water availability suggest that future population and community structure may vary based on the magnitude and scope of an altered climate.
Peptide functionalized nanoparticles for nonviral gene delivery

Much attention has been directed toward improving nonviral gene delivery in order to replace viral vectors and overcome the barriers to clinical gene therapy. Specifically targeting nonviral gene delivery vehicles to the disease tissue can significantly improve their delivery efficiency. Targeting peptides have been developed for growth factor receptors, integrins and tumor vasculature to target cancer, neurotrophin or neurotoxin receptors aiming to give specificity for neurodegenerative disease, airway epithelial cells to target cystic fibrosis and other tissue specific cells and receptors in bone tissue, cornea and dendritic cells. These highly specific, high-affinity peptides were identified using phage display or through rational design, and were evaluated within this review for their potential and ability to improve transfection, highlighting the successful applications of this technology and discussing the features of the design that contribute to this success. It was found that effective peptide targeting of gene delivery relied both on peptide ligand performance and on nonviral vectors that exploit the appropriate intracellular trafficking mechanisms.
Flow of slurries in pipelines

Pressure drop correlations for flow of slurries in pipelines were developed for each of the following four flow regimes: flow with a stationary bed, saltation flow, heterogeneous flow, and homogeneous flow. A total number of 2 848 data points, comprised of 1 912 collected from the published literature together with 936 taken using our own test pipelines and relating to ranges of the pertinent variables extensive enough to span all four flow regimes were used as the basis of these correlations. Also, these data were used in developing an associated quantitative regime delineation scheme. The correlations provide an improved predictive capability over previously available procedures and are also broader in scope. The delineation procedure developed here permits straightforward classification of the data according to the flow regime prevailing, and it is moreover inclusive of all the data and is self-consistent.
Placebo: Feeling Better, Getting Better, and the Problems of Mind and Body

Over its history, medicine has vacillated between acknowledging placebo effects as important and trying to overcome them. Placebos are controversial, in part, because they appear to challenge a biocentric view of the scientific basis of medical practice. At the very least, research should distinguish between the effects of placebos on subjective and objective endpoints. Theoretically, placebos are of interest because they underscore the other side of the mind-body problem: how mental states can affect physical conditions.
Death and Tax Breaks:Comparing the Survival Rates of Tax Expenditures and Direct Spending Programs

Recent research in political science, public administration, and public policy has shown that the post-enactment life of federal programs, agencies and initiatives bears further study. Most quantitative work on the survival or elimination of federal initiatives after enactment emphasizes characteristics of the political environment, while relevant qualitative work suggests that characteristics of the initiative itself (e.g., delivery mechanism) and the institutional environment also play an important role. To explore the importance of such factors, I replicate and extend Berry, Burden and Howell’s (2010) study of the survival rates of federal programs by adding tax expenditures to their dataset of federal programs and comparing them to direct spending programs. I further augment their analysis by studying the effect of the PAYGO congressional budgeting rule on program survival. I find that, counter to the arguments of the qualitative literature on tax expenditures, these programs are only more durable than direct spending programs over the short term (about 15 years); over the long term, they are much more vulnerable to elimination. Additionally, I find that PAYGO has the expected effect of increasing the risk of elimination for all types of programs. Counter to expectations, however, there is no evidence that this effect is especially pronounced for tax expenditures.
Prediction of the Viscosities of "Soda-Lime" Silica Glasses.

Published data are used to develop factors for predicting the viscosity-temperature relationship from the compositions of "soda-lime" type silicate glasses at specific temperatures in the range of 600 to 1300 °C. The effects of Na2O, K2O, CaO, MgO, Al2O3 and their interactions are evaluated. The influence of minor amounts of BaO, B2O3, Li2O, and F2, in the temperature range of 700 to 1300 °C, is estimated.
Statistical crack growth in durability and damage tolerant analyses

Under well-controlled laboratory conditions, test results of the fatigue crack growth rate exhibit considerable statistical scatter when specimens are subjected to design loading spectra. Test results of the crack growth rate for 7475-T7351 aluminum specimens under fighter loading spectra have been analyzed statistically and presented herein. It is shown that two crack growth rate parameters are higly correlated statistical variables, and they can be fitted reasonably well by the lognormal distribution. Two different approaches are presented to deal with the statistical crack growth damage accumulation in durability and damage tolerant analyses. It is demonstrated that the statistical approach provides a rational basis for the damage tolerant anelysis in which the crack growth variability is important. The effect of the crack growth variability on the economic life of a durability critical component has also been illustrated. The analysis results of crack growth damage accumulations are compared with the test results of the F-16 full-scale durability test article.
Evaluation of the E+V video image analysis system as a predictor of pork carcass meat yield.

This study was conducted to assess the ability of the VCS2001 (E+V, Oranienburg, Germany) video image analysis system to predict pork carcass composition. Pork carcasses (n = 278) were selected from a commercial packing plant to differ in weight, Fat-O-Meater (FOM) predicted percentage lean, and gender. Carcasses were imaged three times with the VCS2001, chilled overnight, and then sequentially fabricated into boneless subprimals. The VCS2001 accurately predicted the weight of total saleable product (R 2 = 0.88, root mean square error [RMSE] = 1.84) and fat-corrected lean (R 2 = 0.92, RMSE = 1.66), but autocorrelation existed between dependent and independent variables. The VCS2001 was acceptably accurate and precise in predicting weights of bone-in ham (R 2 = 0.83, RMSE = 0.80), bone-in loin (R 2 = 0.74, RMSE = 1.17), loin lean (R 2 = 0.77, RMSE = 0.82), belly (R 2 = 0.78, RMSE = 0.94), sparerib (R 2 = 0.55, RMSE = 0.28), and boneless shoulder (R 2 = 0.73, RMSE = 0.79). Weights were more accurately predicted than yields (as a percentage of hot carcass weight) of total saleable product (R 2 = 0.47, RMSE = 1.97) or total fat-corrected lean (R 2 = 0.44, RMSE = 1.89) using VCS2002, and it did not accurately predict percentages of bone-in ham (R 2 = 0.45, RMSE = 1.13), ham lean (R 2 = 0.32, RMSE = 1.46), bone-in loin (R 2 = 0.29, RMSE = 1.36), loin lean (R 2 = 0.56, RMSE = 0.90), belly (R 2 = 0.43, RMSE = 1.08), sparerib (R 2 = 0.08, RMSE = 0.32), or boneless shoulder (R 2 = 0.30, RMSE = 0.88). New prediction models and equations were developed using VCS2001 output variables plus hot carcass weight to predict weight of total saleable product (R 2 = 0.89, RMSE = 1.72) and fat-corrected lean (R 2 = 0.93, RMSE = 1.55) with very minimal increases in accuracy and precision over that achieved using E+V-programmed models and equations. Use of new prediction models and equations marginally improved accuracy and precision of estimations of total saleable product yield (R 2 = 0.56, RMSE = 1.81) and fat-corrected lean yield (R 2 = 0.57, RMSE = 1.67) over that achieved using E+V-programmed models and equations. The VCS2001 was not able to predict pork carcass composition more accurately than existing technology; therefore, further development is needed to assure commercial viability of this instrument.
pH in principal cells of frog skin (Rana pipiens): effects of amiloride and potential.

Intracellular pH (pHi) and apical cell membrane potential (Va) were determined in principal cells of frog skin (Rana pipiens) with double-barrel micro-electrodes. In the Northern and Southern varieties, respectively, pHi is 0.38 and 0.26 pH units below bath pH. Amiloride, applied apically, causes reversible intracellular acidification at concentrations of 10(-5) M or higher. Voltage clamp-induced hyperpolarization and depolarization of Va result in intracellular acidification and alkalinization, respectively. This response of pHi is inhibited or abolished when the apical side is treated with 10(-3) M 4,4'-diisothiocyanostilbene-2,2'-disulfonic acid (DIDS). Amiloride-induced intracellular acidification is not exclusively due to the hyperpolarization of Va that accompanies amiloride treatment since 1) amiloride causes greater acidification than equivalent voltage clamp-induced hyperpolarization of Va, 2) amiloride-induced acidification persists in DIDS-treated tissues, and 3) there is no correlation between...
First year pharmacy students as health coach in the management of hypertension

Introduction: Learning how to be a health mentor is an experience that can provide pharmacy students with skills necessary to adequately fulfil their role in prevention and wellness. Description: This paper describes a service-learning project that involved training 103 first year pharmacy students as health mentors for a pilot program designed to support the prevention or management of risks for heart disease in African Americans. Texas Southern University’s College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences partnered with the American Heart Association to implement the AHA’s Heart 360 (Get to Goal) program. Evaluation: Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected to assess students’ experiences. Although students were confident in their abilities to perform coaching skills (85%), they did not feel comfortable educating patients about hypertension (86%). Future Plans: Changing the structure of the skills-based portion of the training from a large to small group will allow faculty to observe each students’ readiness to serve as health coach. Including other health profession students will expand the impact of the Healthy People 2020 goals.