cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Metacontingencies in Walden Two

I distinction is made between contingencies of reinforcement (contingent relations between a class of responses and a common consequence) and metacontingencies (contingent relations between a class of operants and a long-term cultural outcome). The fictional utopia portrayed in Walden Two is examined in terms of the kinds of metacontingencies characteristic of that culture. It is suggested that if a culture is to approximate utopia, attention must be paid to the metacontingencies and to their supporting contingencies of reinforcement.
Police social work and community policing

Social work as a discipline has made progress in many areas, including school social work, military social work, and mental health, to name a few. Conversely, police social work has seen a reductio...
The Evolving Trade Relations of the E.E.C.

At the time the G.S.P. was being negotiated international trade was ‘considered’ to be governed by the most-favoured-nation (M.F.N.) principle of GATT. However, in reality there were a number of preferential arrangements in operation, for example the European Customs Union (E.E.C), the European Free Trade Area (EFTA), the British Commonwealth Area, and the E.E.C. association agreement with eighteen African countries (Yaounde Convention). Each of these exceptions to the M.N.F. principle provided for preferential tariff treatment on a reciprocal basis. In essence each party to an agreement discriminated against imports from third countries and in favour of imports from other members of its respective agreement. Thus the Commonwealth developing countries discriminated in favour of U.K. exports and received preferential access for their exports in U.K. markets; similarly the African states associated with the E.E.C. granted special access to E.E.C. exports and received special access to E.E.C. markets. The major tool of discrimination was preferential tariff rates.
The Why and What of Integrative Pain Medicine

Integrative medicine (IM) and integrative pain medicine (IPM) involve the coordination of the services provided, collaboration among the disciplines involved, a patient-centered focus with acceptance of the patient as a member of the team, attention to predictive and preventative models of care, and, finally, inclusion of social, psychological, and physical factors into the assessment of patients.
Endothelial Wnt/β-catenin signaling reduces immune cell infiltration in multiple sclerosis

Disruption of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) is a defining and early feature of multiple sclerosis (MS) that directly damages the central nervous system (CNS), promotes immune cell infiltration, and influences clinical outcomes. There is an urgent need for new therapies to protect and restore BBB function, either by strengthening endothelial tight junctions or suppressing endothelial vesicular transcytosis. Although wingless integrated MMTV (Wnt)/β-catenin signaling plays an essential role in BBB formation and maintenance in healthy CNS, its role in BBB repair in neurologic diseases such as MS remains unclear. Using a Wnt/β-catenin reporter mouse and several downstream targets, we demonstrate that the Wnt/β-catenin pathway is up-regulated in CNS endothelial cells in both human MS and the mouse model experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE). Increased Wnt/β-catenin activity in CNS blood vessels during EAE progression correlates with up-regulation of neuronal Wnt3 expression, as well as breakdown of endothelial cell junctions. Genetic inhibition of the Wnt/β-catenin pathway in CNS endothelium before disease onset exacerbates the clinical presentation of EAE, CD4+ T-cell infiltration into the CNS, and demyelination by increasing expression of vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 and the transcytosis protein Caveolin-1 and promoting endothelial transcytosis. However, Wnt signaling attenuation does not affect the progressive degradation of tight junction proteins or paracellular BBB leakage. These results suggest that reactivation of Wnt/β-catenin signaling in CNS vessels during EAE/MS partially restores functional BBB integrity and limits immune cell infiltration into the CNS.
The antecedents and outcomes of food safety motivators for restaurant workers: An expectancy framework

Abstract Individual food handlers’ motivations to comply with established guidelines in restaurant organizations were explored in this national study of 755 restaurant managers and employees in the United States. Using expectancy theory, workers’ motivations to comply with stated food safety regulations were measured. Overall, the results indicated support for expectancy theory and the proposed extension of this framework to restaurant employees’ perceptions of food safety and sanitation. However, there was no support in the model for restaurant workers to follow food sanitation regulations in the relationship between extrinsic valence and motivation. It was determined that this relationship is moderated by the length of time the employee has worked in the restaurant industry.
Validation of the NSABP neoadjuvant rectal score (NAR) in a prospective phase II study evaluating an experimental regimen and a standard chemoradiation cohort with molecular genotyping.

3599 Background: NSABP recently proposed replacing pCR with a new neoadjuvant rectal score (NAR) based on clinical downstaging from pre to post-treatment, pathologic (yp) stage. The NAR formula yields values from 0-100; higher scores indicate poor prognosis. In NSABP R04 (n=1479), the mean NAR = 15.61 with SD of 14.37, and OS hazard ratio/unit (HR) = 1.04 (p<0.0001). NAR showed a stronger association with OS than pCR, and was proposed as a new endpoint for phase II trials. We sought to evaluate the prognostic significance of NAR in two previously published datasets. Methods: Patient (pt) data from 2 IRB approved, previously published studies were used. Study 1 was a phase I/II study evaluating bevacizumab (bev) and erlotinib (erl) with neoadjuvant chemoradiation (CRT) (Ann Oncol 2014;25:121-6). Study 2 was a retrospective review of pts receiving 5-FU/RT (J Gastrointest Canc epub 2013, PMID24006244), with mutational analysis. All pts had pretreatment M0 and T3/4 or node + disease by MRI. Study 1 had 32 pts...
An Interactive Robot-based Vocational Assessment Game using Lego Assembly

Lego construction task paradigms are utilized in order to develop logico-mathematical abilities through visuospatial memory. This study aims to assess the relationship between cognition and performance in a simulated industrial environment by employing humanoid robots to assess the stated metrics. This system proposes to develop a smart vocational assessment and intervention service system that assesses a worker's needs for training and rehabilitation in an experimental setup that simulates a factory. The proposed approach collects and analyzes multi-sensing data and recommends personalized interventions that can improve the performance of and individual worker. In our implementation, Aldebaran's NAO robot gradually learns the features and thresholds needed to construct a decision tree that gradually learns the expected Lego model by interacting with the user. The results from 615 test samples show that the NAO robot is able to correctly identify the Lego blocks configuration assembled by the user with an accuracy 81% of the time. Finally, we discuss the limitations of the proposed solution and we suggest future contributions that can overpass these limitations and boost the accuracy of our proposed solution.
Stability of the human ankle in relation to environmental mechanics

This paper presents quantification of multidimensional ankle stability in relation to mechanical environments having different levels of stability. This study, for the first time, explores the range of stiffness-defined haptic environments over which young healthy individuals can maintain stability despite aggressive perturbation. Ankle stability was quantified in 2 degree-of-freedom (DOF) of the ankle, in both the sagittal and frontal planes. Importantly, the magnitude of negative environmental stiffness that the subjects could maintain stability is 4 times as great in the sagittal plane as in the frontal plane. In addition to managing a wider range of unstable environments in the sagittal plane, subjects were also more efficient at regaining stability after perturbation and less sensitive to changes in the environmental stiffness. Outcomes of this study would be beneficial to the design and control of robots physically interacting with human lower extremities, such as lower-limb exoskeletons and powered ankle-foot orthoses.
An “On-Site Transformation” Strategy for Treatment of Bacterial Infection

To date, numerous nanosystems have been developed as antibiotic replacements for bacterial infection treatment. However, these advanced systems are limited owing to their nontargeting accumulation and the consequent side effects. Herein, transformable polymer-peptide biomaterials have been developed that enable specific accumulation in the infectious site and long-term retention, resulting in enhanced binding capability and killing efficacy toward bacteria. The polymer-peptide conjugates are composed of a chitosan backbone and two functional peptides, i.e., an antimicrobial peptide and a poly(ethylene glycol)-tethered enzyme-cleavable peptide (CPC-1). The CPC-1 initially self-assembles into nanoparticles with pegylated coronas. Upon the peptides are cleaved by the gelatinase secreted by a broad spectrum of bacterial species, the resultant compartments of nanoparticles spontaneously transformed into fibrous nanostructures that are stabilized by enhanced chain-chain interaction, leading to exposure of antimicrobial peptide residues for multivalent cooperative electrostatic interactions with bacterial membranes. Intriguingly, the in situ morphological transformation also critically improves the accumulation and retention of CPC-1 in infectious sites in vivo, which exhibits highly efficient antibacterial activity. This proof-of-concept study demonstrates that pathological environment-driven smart self-assemblies may provide a new idea for design of high-performance biomaterials for disease diagnostics and therapeutics.
Multi-objective analysis of multi-layered core-shell nanoparticles

Multi-layered spherical nanoparticles are known to be able to achieve large electric field enhancements via highly resonant electrically small geometries. While the resonant properties of these nanoparticles can be tailored by altering their material geometries, their scattered far-fields can subsequently be tailored as well. This is accomplished through a fortuitous superposition of electric and magnetic multipoles that yield the desired far-field patterns. In this study, the tradeoffs between traditional far field quantities, directivity and gain, are analyzed for a representative multi-layer configuration.
Risk of health-related quality of life events from pain and fatigue among patients with hormone receptor-positive HER-2 negative metastatic breast cancer treated with CDK 4/6 inhibitor.

215Background: Molecular heterogeneity in breast cancer has led to increasing attention in the role of cell cycle signaling especially the cyclins and their associated proteins, cycle-dependent kinases (CDK), in carcinogenesis and treatment resistance in hormone receptor-positive metastatic breast cancer. Many CDK 4/6 agents have been proven beneficial. Nevertheless, health-related quality of life from pain and fatigue remains a concern. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCT) to determine these risks. Methods: MEDLINE, EMBASE databases and meeting abstracts from inception through June 2017 were queried. RCTs that mention back pain, pain in arms and legs, arthralgia and fatigue as adverse effects were incorporated in the analysis. Mantel-Haenszel method was used to calculate the estimated pooled risk ratio with 95% confidence interval (CI). Random effects model was applied. Results: A total of 2671 patients with hormone receptor-positive HER2-negative metas...
Emotional Hormones and Memory Modulation

Extensive evidence from both animal and human research indicates that epinephrine and glucocorticoid hormones, released from the adrenal glands during emotionally arousing experiences, facilitate the consolidation of newly acquired memories. These adrenal stress hormone effects are integrated through noradrenergic activation within the basolateral amygdala, which regulates memory consolidation via interactions with many other brain regions. In contrast to their enhancing effects on consolidation, adrenal stress hormones impair memory retrieval and working memory. This phenomenon, which is usually highly adaptive, provides also some understanding of the neurobiological processes that might underlie the formation and persistence of very strong emotional or traumatic memories in patients with posttraumatic stress disorder, phobias and other anxiety disorders as well as some possible implications for therapeutic intervention.
Overcoming Bias: Cognitive Control Reduces Susceptibility to Framing Effects in Evaluating Musical Performance

Prior expectations can bias evaluative judgments of sensory information. We show that information about a performer’s status can bias the evaluation of musical stimuli, reflected by differential activity of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC). Moreover, we demonstrate that decreased susceptibility to this confirmation bias is (a) accompanied by the recruitment of and (b) correlated with the white-matter structure of the executive control network, particularly related to the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC). By using long-duration musical stimuli, we were able to track the initial biasing, subsequent perception, and ultimate evaluation of the stimuli, examining the full evolution of these biases over time. Our findings confirm the persistence of confirmation bias effects even when ample opportunity exists to gather information about true stimulus quality, and underline the importance of executive control in reducing bias.
Vegetation Phenology in Global Change Studies

Changes in the character of the vegetated land surface are frequently expressed in terms of temporal trends in the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) retrieved from spaceborne sensors. In the past these change studies were typically based upon AVHRR data. By the end of 2011, we acquired 11 full years of NASA MODIS data which is a greatly improved dataset compared to extant AVHRR datasets. In this chapter, we present a change analysis based on a global NASA MODIS product (MCD43C4) at a 0.05° (~5.6 km) spatial resolution and a 16-day temporal resolution from 2001 through 2011. This new change map based on 11 years of data presents statistically significant positive and negative changes resulting from both direct and indirect impacts of climatic variability and change, disturbances, and human activity. We found significant negative changes in 8.7 % of the global land area (or 11.8 × 106 km2), with hotspots in Canada, southeastern USA, Kazakhstan, and Argentina. Significant positive changes appeared in 6.0 % of the global land area (8.0 × 106 km2) with hotspots in Turkey, China and Western Africa. Attribution is the key challenge in any change analysis. We provide several examples attributable to major modes of change, focusing both on natural disturbances arising from climatic variability and change, and also on changes arising directly from human actions.
Reproductive System, Male

This article is a revision of the previous edition article by Marion G. Miller and Shelley Brown DuTeaux, volume 3, pp 650–661, © 2005, Elsevier Inc.
Quantifying the Thermodynamics of Ligand Binding to CsPbBr 3 Quantum Dots.

Cesium lead halide perovskites are an emerging class of quantum dots (QDs) that have shown promise in a variety of applications; however, their properties are highly dependent on their surface chemistry. To this point, the thermodynamics of ligand binding remain unstudied. Herein, 1 H NMR methods were used to quantify the thermodynamics of ligand exchange on CsPbBr3 QDs. Both oleic acid and oleylamine native ligands dynamically interact with the CsPbBr3 QD surface, having individual surface densities of 1.2-1.7 nm-2 . 10-Undecenoic acid undergoes an exergonic exchange equilibrium with bound oleate (Keq =1.97) at 25 °C while 10-undecenylphosphonic acid undergoes irreversible ligand exchange. Undec-10-en-1-amine exergonically exchanges with oleylamine (Keq =2.52) at 25 °C. Exchange occurs with carboxylic acids, phosphonic acids, and amines on CsPbBr3 QDs without etching of the nanocrystal surface; increases in the steady-state PL intensities correlate with more strongly bound conjugate base ligands.
Incidence, risk factors, and clinical impact of non-home discharge following surgical management of proximal humerus fractures.

IntroductionThere has been a reported increase in the number of proximal humerus fractures being surgically managed. In an attempt to manage increasing costs associated with increasing volume, ther...
RNA Transcription and Splicing Errors as a Source of Cancer Frameshift Neoantigens for Vaccines.

The success of checkpoint inhibitors in cancer therapy is largely attributed to activating the patient’s immune response to their tumor’s neoantigens arising from DNA mutations. This realization has motivated the interest in personal cancer vaccines based on sequencing the patient’s tumor DNA to discover neoantigens. Here we propose an additional, unrecognized source of tumor neoantigens. We show that errors in transcription of microsatellites (MS) and mis-splicing of exons create highly immunogenic frameshift (FS) neoantigens in tumors. The sequence of these FS neoantigens are predictable, allowing creation of a peptide array representing all possible neoantigen FS peptides. This array can be used to detect the antibody response in a patient to the FS peptides. A survey of 5 types of cancers reveals peptides that are personally reactive for each patient. This source of neoantigens and the method to discover them may be useful in developing cancer vaccines.
Modélisation des transferts thermiques dans les dépôts d'encrassement des générateurs de vapeur

La majorite des produits de corrosion transportes par le circuit secondaire se deposent sur la paroi externe des tubes des Generateurs de Vapeur (GV) pour former des depots d’encrassement. Sur le parc nucleaire EDF, le suivi de l’evolution de l’encrassement repose, en partie, sur l’evolution de la pression de vapeur dans le dome du GV. L’effet de l’encrassement sur cet indicateur reste encore difficile a predire. Sur le long terme, le suivi de cette mesure a mis en evidence des evolutions generalement a la baisse, mais avec des cinetiques variables selon les tranches nucleaires. Par ailleurs, differents evenements de la vie d’une tranche (les arrets en cours de cycle ou les nettoyages chimiques par exemple) engendrent des evolutions encore mal maitrisees de la pression dome. L’ensemble de ces elements rend difficile une prediction de l’evolution de la pression dome sur le long, voire le moyen terme. Or celle-ci est essentielle a l’exploitant pour mieux maitriser le pilotage des marges en pression, et ajuster, si besoin, la strategie de maintenance du GV. L’objectif de ces travaux de these est de disposer d’une methodologie globale multi-echelle predisant l’evolution de cette pression vapeur au cours du temps. La methodologie repose sur quatre modeles complementaires : (1) un logiciel de thermohydraulique tri-dimensionnel qui modelise l’ecoulement diphasique dans le GV; (2) son module de depot de matiere qui modelise la croissance des depots; (3) un modele de caracterisation qui modelise la microstructure poreuse des depots; et (4) un modele thermique monodimensionnel qui modelise les transferts thermiques dans ces depots. Le modele de caracterisation, base sur une approche fractale statistique innovante, reproduit avec precision la distribution statistique des pores, la conductivite thermique et la permeabilite des depots. A partir de ces parametres, le modele de transfert thermique modelise la conduction thermique et les mecanismes d’ebullition dans la structure poreuse des depots. Les caracteristiques les plus influentes des depots sur ces mecanismes sont evidemment l’epaisseur mais egalement son profil de porosite. Les estimations du modele thermique sont en accord avec les resultats experimentaux disponibles, et en different par une erreur moyenne en valeur absolue de 12%. La methodologie globale simule l’evolution des depots et leur morphologie au cours des annees d’exploitation du GV, ainsi que leur impact sur la pression dome. Les predictions sont proches des observations realisees sur des GV en exploitation : apres une phase d’amelioration ou de stagnation de la pression dome durant les premieres annees, celle-ci tend a diminuer au cours de la croissance du depot. Par une approche simplifiee, la methodologie peut egalement tenir compte des effets des nettoyages chimiques et des arrets de tranche. Si les premiers resultats sont encourageants, des travaux sont encore a mener pour demontrer le caractere predictif de la methodologie. Les limites de la methodologie sont detaillees et des perspectives sont proposees.
An evaluation of a cooperative learning method in Programming and Problem Solving I

Cooperative learning [1--3]is a successful teaching strategy in which small teams, each with students of different levels of ability, use a variety of learning activities to improve their understanding of a subject. This paper presents a cooperative learning method in Programming and Problem Solving I and compares two groups of students' responses on a survey after the cooperative learning method has been applied. The results show that the cooperative learning method is perceived to be effective (improve by 56%) in teaching programming classes. The results indicate no statistically significant difference between the two groups in terms of the overall opinion of this method.
The Design, Implementation, and Evaluation of a Health-Themed Residential Learning Community for Undergraduate Students.

College students face significant health concerns. In recent years, there has been an emergence of health-related residential learning communities (RLCs) at institutions of higher education, which ...
Pharmacological Basis for use of Calcium Antagonists in Dementia

Calcium overload is thought to be one of the processes contributing to neuronal death. Pathological enhancement of calcium transients can lead to disruption of cytoskeletal and membrane structures, adversely altering cellular function (1). Cytosolic free calcium increases in ischemic brain (2) and certain neurotoxins are known to elevate cytosolic calcium prior to the death of neurones (3,4).
Collaboration of Healthcare Professions to Provide Interprofessional Experiences through the Eyes of Learners

Interprofessional education encourages collaboration between several student healthcare professionals to provide experiences crucial to their success after graduation. Incorporating interprofessional education into the curriculum can be challenging, however it strengthens students’ skills to work in a team and establishes understanding of roles and responsibilities. An interprofessional course, created by faculty from multiple institutions, effectively taught students through online learning modules as well as hands-on experiences such as simulations and communication activities. Activities included an identification questionnaire, TeamStepps paper chain, ambulatory care simulation, and a poverty simulation day. Throughout this course students learned about their roles, other professionals' roles, the importance of verbal and nonverbal communication, and the impact effective teamwork has on patient care.
The Explosion of Artificial Intelligence in Antennas and Propagation: How Deep Learning Is Advancing Our State of the Art

The rise and proliferation of artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to influence and disrupt many aspects of society as we currently know it. While it has been a long-held belief that robots are limited to physical tasks and therefore only capable of replacing blue collar workers, many concerns exist that continued developments will yield artificial minds capable of replacing knowledge workers. These advancements have led people to ask the question, "What will our society look like when AI is everywhere?" [1].
The influence of family cohesion and relational maintenance strategies on stress in first semester college students

This study examined the influence of family cohesion and relational maintenance strategies on students’ experiences of stress in their first semesters of college. One hundred and ninety-eight first...
Who Goes First? Government Leaders and Prioritization of SARS-CoV-2 Vaccines.

Who Goes First? Top government officials were among the first people vaccinated against Covid-19 in the United States. But prioritization frameworks do not grant government leaders special status, ...
Nurturing Kindergarteners’ Early STEM Academic Identity Through Makerspace Pedagogy

Children’s attitudes about STEM are formed early. As such, the ecology of early childhood classrooms can either afford or deny access to relevant experiences that help children nurture early self-understandings and ways of positioning themselves in relation to STEM. This early positioning and the funds of identity they afford are critical to early STEM academic identity development. While Fasso and Knight (2020) offer Makerspace Pedagogy for fostering identity development, Marsh et al. (2017) note a lack of wide-spread application and related research on deliberate employment of Makerspace Pedagogy in early childhood classrooms. To address this gap and to explore the adoption of Makerspace pedagogy in an early public-school setting, a university research team joined with a kindergarten teacher to pilot an emergent curriculum focused on tinkering and making. Initial findings suggest that design-based activities may support kindergartners taking on the role of STEM practitioners, that Makerspace activities seem to help produce a syncretism of early STEM and multimodal literacy practices and that Makerspace Pedagogy may offer a unique opportunity to explore the intersection of various aspects of children’s early identity formation.
An Adaptive Learning Agent Approach to Interbank Market Liquidity Hoarding Risk

This paper investigates how learning agents perform in inter-bank lending markets. Using policy gradient reinforcement learning agents, we demonstrate the adaptive learning banks can endogenously form liquidity hoarding phenomenon under an exogenous shock to the system. We also simulate the relationship lending using temporal difference, finding enhanced inter-bank lending relationship during financial crisis. Then we incorporate fire sales and study how fire sales would affect inter-bank lending market dynamics, and the results show that fire sales amplify liquidity hoarding under a distressed shock.
Fertility responses of melatonin-treated gilts before and during the follicular and early luteal phases when there are different temperatures and lighting conditions in the housing area

Abstract This study was conducted to determine whether exogenous melatonin affected gilt fertility when there were different housing temperature and lighting conditions. Prepubertal gilts (n = 72) were fed (MEL, 5 mg/day) or not fed (CON) melatonin while housed in rooms where temperatures (31.0 ± 1 °C) and daily lighting (240 lx) duration differed: 8 (8 H); 16 (16 H); or 24 (24 H) h in winter and summer replicates. Gilts were moved into rooms (day 1) and administered PG600 on day 6. Gilts detected in estrus were inseminated and slaughtered on day 33 of gestation to determine pregnancy and litter responses. There was no treatment x room effect on estrus (77.8 %), follicle sizes, or number of corpora lutea, but MEL-treated gilts had a longer (P = 0.02) estrous duration (2.0 d) than gilts of the CON (1.7 d) group. Pregnancy rate (92.6 %) and embryo number (13.5) were not affected by treatment or room conditions. There was a treatment x room effect, however, with embryo survival being less (P = 0.01) by ∼23 % in gilts of the CON-24H than CON-16H, MEL-8H, and MEL-24H groups. In the summer replicate, there were also fewer large follicles, a lesser estrous detection percentage, viable embryos, and embryo survival rate than during the winter (P
Tips for Using Open Educational Resources to Reduce Textbook Costs in Computing and IT Courses

In this paper, we describe tips for employing open educational resources (OERs) to reduce and most often eliminate textbook costs in information technology (IT) courses. These techniques and resources have been mined from our fifteen years of experience of including OERs in our IT online and face-to-face courses at both the undergraduate and graduate level. In addition to describing them, we provide our outcomes and implementation advice for OERs.
A new classification of mammalian uni-male multi-female groups based on the fundamental principles governing inter- and intrasexual relationships

Polygyny is the most common mating system in mammals, and many species form uni-male multi-female groups (UM-MF units). Polygynous systems are traditionally distinguished according to male reproductive strategies, such as “resource defense” or “female defense,” both of which are often described in the literature as forming “harems.” However, this focus on male strategies, and the use of umbrella terms to describe them, lumps together societies that fundamentally differ in their ontogeny, stability, and relationships. Integrating foundational theories of mating strategies with the principles governing relationship dynamics, driven by both male and female strategies and modulated by male-female conflicts of interest, we propose a new framework for classifying the diversity of UM-MF units. We differentiate UM-MF groups in terms of average female kinship within the group and length of male tenure to define general classes with distinct predictions for the nature of inter- and intrasexual relationships. We propose a narrower definition for the “true harem” along with new terminology to describe the other three classes: “benign consortship,” “coterie,” and “coercive consortship.” Using socioecological data for 40 mammalian species from 27 families, we found our framework was able to successfully predict patterns of female-female cooperation and the presence of coercive male-female relationships. Finally, we refine our framework, identifying subclasses of the main four classes and propose hypotheses about the underlying causes of observed patterns. By focusing on the nature of within group relationships, this framework provides a powerful lens for asking broad, comparative evolutionary questions about social evolution and socioecology.
High-Tc Superconducting Memory Cell

In this paper, operational principles of a cryogenic memory cell that utilizes high-temperature superconductors (high-Tc) are presented. Such a cell consists of three inductively coupled Josephson junctions coupled via inductors. Design and operational logic of this type of cell were recently introduced and demonstrated for low temperature 4 K environment. The basic memory cell operations (read, write, reset) can be implemented on the same simple circuit and both destructive and non-destructive memory cell operations can be realized. Here, we present the design principles and computational validation of basic memory cell operations (write, read, and reset) for the high-Tc memory cell. Our results for the high-Tc memory cell operations show very good resemblance with the previously presented low-temperature 4 K memory cell operations.
Asia in Japan's Embrace: Flying Geese: An Unequal Alliance in Asia

In the late 1950s, Japanese investment in East and Southeast Asia was designed almost exclusively to extract raw materials for the home market. Firms in labor-and capital-intensive industries – textiles, chemicals, and steel – shifted some of their production to the region in the 1960s and 1970s, when wage rates, land prices, and environmental regulations in Japan began to pinch their domestic operations. These manufacturers had another motive, namely, to continue to supply markets that host governments in Asia had begun to protect. That was the “old wave” of Japanese FDI. Conventional wisdom suggests that, beginning in the mid 1980s, three factors conspired to create a “new wave” of export-oriented investment in Asia. The first was the deliberate effort by a number of Southeast Asian states to jump-start their sluggish economies by adopting policies to attract foreign investment and stimulate exports. Firms from Japan, as well as the United States, Europe, and the Asian NICs, responded enthusiastically. The second factor was the equally deliberate effort by some of Japan's most important trading partners, principally the United States, to erect new barriers to Japanese exports. To circumvent those barriers, Japanese firms not only invested heavily in the United States and Europe, but also scurried to construct export platforms in Asia. The third and most frequently cited factor was the Plaza Accord, which triggered a chain reaction that ultimately led to an eruption of Japanese capital.
Newfoundland seeks solution to MD turnover

In Newfoundland and Labrador, the turnover of international medical graduates is so severe that for every IMG who arrives in the province, another leaves. Now, a new outreach program of the Newfoundland and Labrador Medical Association aims to keep foreign-trained physicians in the province.
Recent Results from Nuclear Pumped Laser Studies: Gain Measurements in XeF

Rare-gas halogen (RGH) excimer lasers have generated considerable interest since their discovery in 1975. The utility for this class of lasers stems from their short wavelength and, particularly, their generally high efficiency. The most effective pump sources have been fast electron-beam controlled discharges or direct electron-beam pumping, where one can expect megawatt/cc specific pump rates. In spite of the attractive efficiency for RGH’s, typical systems tend to be dwarfed by the capacitor storage banks necessary for their operation, dictated by the rather low specific energy storage capability of electrical systems (typically 1J/gm for capacitors).
βc Cytokine Receptor-Induced Stimulation of cAMP Response Element Binding Protein Phosphorylation Requires Protein Kinase C In Myeloid Cells: A Novel Cytokine Signal Transduction Cascade

We have recently shown that IL-3R occupancy activates a phosphatidylcholine-specific phospholipase C, and the sustained diacylglycerol accumulation subsequently activates protein kinase C (PKC). In human IL-3-dependent myeloid cells (TF-1), the novel PKCepsilon isoform regulates bcl-2 expression and cell survival. The report of a PKC activatable cAMP response element (CRE) in the bcl-2 promoter and a role for PKC in bcl-2 expression in B cells led us to the hypothesis that PKC phosphorylation activates transcription factor CREB after IL-3R engagement. We found that IL-3 and GM-CSF induced phosphorylation of CREB on Ser(133) in TF-1 cells, and this phosphorylation was blocked by two structurally unrelated classes of PKC inhibitors. An inhibitor of cyclic nucleotide-dependent kinases did not block this phosphorylation. IL-4, which is biologically active in these cells but does not use the beta common subunit, did not phosphorylate CREB on Ser(133). Inhibition of mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase activity also inhibited IL3-induced CREB phosphorylation. The PKC inhibitors, but not a cyclic nucleotide-dependent kinase inhibitor, blocked IL-3 activation of CRE-dependent transcription from an egr-1 promoter/chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) reporter construction transiently transfected into TF-1 cells. Finally, TF-1 cells stably overexpressing PKCepsilon, but not the delta isoform of PKC, enhanced CRE-dependent CAT expression from the promoter/reporter construction. Therefore, it is likely that a PKCepsilon kinase cascade resulting in CREB phosphorylation represents a novel signal transduction cascade for regulating cellular gene expression through the beta common cytokine receptor.
Knowledge management and knowledge sharing: A review

Knowledge Management is one of the major issues in the management of contemporary organizations and enterprises. A review of the knowledge management KM literature reveals many different definitions and perspectives on knowledge and knowledge management. Here, we provide an overview of some of this discourse along with descriptions of KM models and frameworks that can be used to guide KM initiatives. Knowledge sharing, critical to creation of knowledge and organizational performance, is often addressed under the umbrella of KM. We provide a survey of recent literature and progress in both of these areas.
Capacitative Ca2+ entry in agonist-induced pulmonary vasoconstriction

Agonist-induced increases in cytosolic Ca2+ concentration ([Ca2+]cyt) in pulmonary artery (PA) smooth muscle cells (SMCs) consist of a transient Ca2+ release from intracellular stores followed by a...
Mothers in U.S. academia: Insights from lived experiences

Synopsis Despite emerging changes in U.S. colleges and universities, mothers continue to struggle for a voice in an academic landscape that privileges students and scholars who are able to commit long hours to their areas of study under the increasing pressures of the corporatization of education within a global marketplace. In order for women who are parents to have agency and viable career choices in academia, a broad and specific organizational change must occur that emphasizes people's personal and emotional needs as well as their professional obligations and aspirations. Drawing on examples from the Mothers in Academia (2013) anthology, the authors demonstrate both the struggles and strategies of navigating academia as mothers, arguing for a culture of care where professional and personal lives can be integrated in meaningful and gratifying ways. Personal testimonials act as critical interventions in the social, political, and cultural life of academia.
WSBen: A Web Services Discovery and Composition Benchmark Toolkit1

In this article, a novel benchmark toolkit, WSBen, for testing web services discovery and composition algorithms is presented. The WSBen includes: (1) a collection of synthetically generated web services files in WSDL format with diverse data and model characteristics; (2) queries for testing discovery and composition algorithms; (3) auxiliary files to do statistical analysis on the WSDL test sets; (4) converted WSDL test sets that conventional AI planners can read; and (5) a graphical interface to control all these behaviors. Users can fine-tune the generated WSDL test files by varying underlying network models. To illustrate the application of the WSBen, in addition, we present case studies from three domains: (1) web service composition; (2) AI planning; and (3) the laws of networks in Physics community. It is our hope that WSBen will provide useful insights in evaluating the performance of web services discovery and composition algorithms. The WSBen toolkit is available at: http://pike.psu.edu/sw/wsben/.
Testing the optimality of a performance evaluation measure for a gainsharing contract

. Recent attention on labor productivity has resulted in many manufacturing concerns negotiating incentive contracts with the labor force. Such incentive contracts provide for management and the work force to share monetary benefits generated by productivity gains. These gain-sharing contracts require a benchmark level of labor productivity from which to assess productivity gains. This paper examines gain-sharing contracts in an agency setting, deriving conditions under which contracts using a performance evaluation measure of a ratio of total labor hours to standard direct labor hours might be optimal. These optimality conditions are characterized in terms of the fixed and variable cost components of the total labor requirement and the standard direct labor requirements. An observed gain-sharing contract based on such a measure is then evaluated using actual production data. The generalized method of moments is employed to estimate the key production parameters, indicating that the optimality conditions are violated. The characterization of optimal gain-sharing contracts thus clarifies the manner in which productivity must be measured if these programs are to provide the proper incentives to the work force. Resume. L'attention recemment accordee a la productivite de la main-d'oeuvre a donne lieu a la negociation de contrats de remuneration au rendement dans de nombreuses entreprises de fabrication. Ces contrats de remuneration au rendement prevoient un partage des benefices monetaires resultant des gains de productivite, entre la direction et la main-d'oeuvre. Les contrats de participation aux benefices necessitent la determination d'un point de repere en ce qui a trait a la productivite de la main-d'oeuvre a partir duquel on puisse evaluer les gains de productivite. Les auteurs analysent les contrats de participation aux benefices dans le contexte d'une relation de mandataire, en derivant les conditions dans lesquelles le contrat prevoyant une mesure du rendement fondee sur le rapport des heures de main-d'oeuvre totales aux heures de main-d'oeuvre directe standard peut etre optimal. Ces conditions d'optimalite sont definies sous forme d'elements de couts fixes et de couts variables des besoins en heures de main-d'oeuvre totales et en heures de main-d'oeuvre directe standard. Les auteurs analysent un contrat de participation aux benefices base sur ce genre de mesure et l'evaluent ensuite a partir des donnees reelles de production. Ils recourent a la methode generalisee des moments pour estimer les principaux parametres de production indiquant que les conditions d'optimalite sont transgressees. La definition du contrat optimal de participation aux benefices eclaire ainsi la maniere dont la productivite doit etre mesuree pour que de tels contrats offrent a la main-d'oeuvre les stimulants appropries.
The capacity of α-amylases to catalyze the nonhydrolytic degradation of starch and glycogen with formation of novel glycosylation products

Abstract α-Amylases have been found to convert starch and glycogen, in part, to products other than hemiacetal-bearing entities (maltose, maltodextrins, etc.)—hitherto, the only products obtained from natural α-glucans by α-amylolysis. Glycosides of maltosaccharides were synthesized by purified α-amylases acting on starch or bacterial glycogen in the presence of p-nitrophenyl α- or β- d -glucoside. From a digest with crystallized B. subtilis var. amyloliquefaciens α-amylase, containing 4 mg/ml of [14C]glycogen and 40 m m p-NP β- d -glucoside, three pairs of correspondingly labeled glycosides and sugars were recovered: p-NP α- d -[14C]glucopyranosyl (1 → 4) β- d -glucopyranoside, and [14C]glucose; p-NP α-[14C]maltosyl (1 → 4) β- d -glucopyranoside, and [14C]maltose; p-NP α-[14C]maltotriosyl (1 → 4) β- d -glucopyranoside, and [14C]maltotriose. The three glycosides accounted for 11.4% of the [14C]glycogen donor substrate; the three comparable sugars, for 30.4%; higher maltodextrins, for 58.2%. Calculations based on the molar yields of all reaction products show that [14C]glycosyl moieties were transferred from donor to p-NP β- d -glucoside with a frequency of 0.234 relative to all transfers to water. This is a very high value considering the minute molar ratio (0.0007) of β- d -glucoside-to-water concentration. Less striking but similar findings were obtained with cryst. hog pancreatic and Aspergillus oryzae α-amylases. The results extend earlier findings (Hehre et al., Advan. Chem. Ser. (1973) 117, 309) in showing that α-amylases have a substantial capacity to utilize the C4-carbinols of certain d -glucosyl compounds as acceptor sites.
Simulation of the Impact of Dams and Fishing Weirs on Reproductive Potential of Silver-Phase American Eels in the Kennebec River Basin, Maine

Abstract I modeled the cumulative impact of hydroelectric projects with and without commercial fishing weirs and water-control dams on the production, survival to the sea, and potential fecundity of migrating female silver-phase American eels Anguilla rostrata in the Kennebec River basin, Maine. This river basin has 22 hydroelectric projects, 73 water-control dams, and 15 commercial fishing weir sites. The modeled area included an 8,324 km2 segment of the drainage area between Merrymeeting Bay and the upper limit of American eel distribution in the basin. One set of inputs (assumed or real values) concerned population structure (i.e., population density and sex ratio changes throughout the basin, female length-class distribution, and drainage area between dams). Another set concerned factors influencing survival and potential fecundity of migrating American eels (i.e., pathway sequences through projects, survival rate per project by length-class, and length–fecundity relationship). Under baseline conditio...
On a table of the product-sum partition function p ( n, m )

A recurrence relation for the restricted partition functionp(n,m) which denotes the number of partitions of a positive integern such that the product of all the summands in each partition ism is given. The functionp(n,m) is tabulated forn andm in the range 1,2,..., 100.
Engraftment syndrome in breast cancer patients after stem cell transplantation is associated with poor long-term survival

An autoaggression graft-versus-host (GVHD)-like syndrome or engraftment syndrome (ES) presenting with skin rash, fever, and other clinical findings can accompany the early phase of engraftment after autologous peripheral blood stem cell (PBSC)/bone marrow (BM) transplantation. Because ES was suggested to be analogous to GVHD, we have investigated whether ES was associated with any graft-versus-tumor effect that would affect disease progression and survival in breast cancer patients. Eighty-five consecutive patients who received BM/PBSC transplantation for breast cancer (stages II-IV) between July 1991 and July 1997 with minimum 2-year follow-up were studied. Median follow-up time was 892 days (range, 106-2913 days). Thirty-three patients (39%) developed ES. The incidence of relapse/progressive disease for the whole cohort was 61% and was similar in patients who developed ES compared with those who did not. However, there was an increased rate of mortality observed among the patients who had developed ES versus those who had not, although it was statistically not significant, (52% versus 31%, respectively; log rank, P = .08). Increased mortality rates due to disease progression were seen in all patients with ES regardless of their disease stage. In relapsed patients, median survival time after transplantation was 586 days for those with ES versus 847 days for those without ES, and the mortality rate was 85% (17/20) versus 51% (16/31) (P = .008) for those with or without ES, respectively. Visceral (lung, liver, brain, adrenal) or multiple-site relapses were observed in 85% of patients with ES versus 52% without ES (P = .01). In conclusion, whereas there was no effect of ES on relapse rate, a surprisingly significant increase in disease-related mortality rates among relapsed breast cancer patients with ES was found. Thus, patients with ES should be considered for close follow-up and further therapy posttransplantation.
A selective and tin-free Pd-catalyzed phenylselenylation of aryl bromides

The first selective palladium-catalyzed phenylselenylation of aryl bromides using a tin-free phenylselenolate source is reported. High selectivity for the desired asymmetric diaryl selenide is achieved using a catalyst derived from palladium and a Josiphos-type ligand with (PhSe)2/NaBH4 as the phenylselenylating agent. Aryl bromides are phenylselenylated at 100°C using low catalyst loadings to give the desired asymmetric diaryl selenides in high yield and >95% selectivity. Phenylselenoborane adducts formed by the reduction of diphenyl diselenide with sodium borohydride are more selective phenylselenylating reagents than sodium phenylselenolate.