cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Neural network adaptive wavelet classification of radar targets

The impulse responses of ultra wideband radar (UWB) targets are being approximated as a weighted linear combination of dilated and translated replica of a mother wavelet. The weights, dilation, and translation parameters are being adaptively estimated to minimize an approximation error in a least mean square (LMS) sense. Morlet wavelet is used in this study, but the algorithms applied can be modified to include other types of wavelets. The adaptively estimated target representation parameters are then being used as features for target classification using a neural network. No assumptions regarding noise statistics, apriori probability of radar targets, or stationarity are required. Radar cross section (RCS) measurements of five commercial aircraft are used in the experimental phase of the study. The performance of the wavelet based neural network classifier is compared with that of parametric recognition techniques under different noise scenarios and assuming target azimuth uncertainty. >
Taxation, the Private Law, and Distributive Justice

We argue that for theorists with a post-institutional conception of property, e.g., Rawlsians, there is no principled reason to limit the domain of distributive justice to tax and transfer-both tax policy and the rules of the private law are constructed in service to distributive aims. Such theorists cannot maintain a commitment to a normative conception of private law independent of their overarching distributive principles. In contrast, theorists with a pre-institutional conception of property can derive the private law from sectors of morality independent of distributive justice. Nevertheless, we argue, this does not entail that the private law, for pre-institutional theorists, must be sanitized of equity-oriented values. Non-libertarian pre-institutional theorists holding principled commitments to equity-oriented values are free to invoke either tax and transfer or the rules of the private law to attain them.
Why the “View From Nowhere” Gets Us Nowhere in Our Moral Considerations of Sports

(2003). Why the “View From Nowhere” Gets Us Nowhere in Our Moral Considerations of Sports. Journal of the Philosophy of Sport: Vol. 30, No. 1, pp. 51-67.
New Executives and Audit Fees

The role of Chief Executive Officers [CEOs] and Chief Financial Officers [CFOs] in the financial reporting process has come under heightened scrutiny in recent years, such that SOX requires individual executives to certify the accuracy of their financial reports and the quality of their internal controls. Prior research has shown that the appointment of new executives is associated with higher levels of earnings management. We examine the association between firms hiring new CEOs or CFOs and audit fees, to determine if there is an audit fee premium associated with new CEOs (CFOs). Our results indicate that the presence of a new CEO (CFO) is associated with an audit fee premium of 10.5 (9.4) percent. This suggests that auditors are cognizant of, and price, the potential impact of new executives on financial reporting. We are not able, however, to identify the specific bases of the higher fees – greater audit effort or an increased risk premium.
Uranium on uranium collisions at relativistic energies

Deformation and orientation effects on compression, elliptic flow, and particle production in uranium on uranium collisions (UU) at relativistic energies are studied within the transport model ART. The density compression in tip-tip UU collisions is found to be about 30% higher and lasts approximately 50% longer than in body-body or spherical UU reactions. The body-body UU collisions have the unique feature that the nucleon elliptic flow is the highest in the most central collisions and remains a constant throughout the reaction. We point out that the tip-tip UU collisions are more probable to create the quark gluon plasma (QGP) at Alternating Gradient Synchrotron and Super Proton Synchrotron energies, while the body-body UU collisions are more useful for studying properties of the QGP at higher energies.
Naturalism and Causal Explanation

Semantic properties are not commonly held to be part of the basic ontological furniture of the world. Consequently, we confront a problem: how to naturalize semantics so as to reveal these properties in their true ontological colors? MoThis paper adresses that fundamental thesis, namely, that the non-semantic properties on which semantic properties depend belong to what are intuitively lower levels of description than the intentional level itself. I start by rehearsing the general order of explanation that characterizes typical naturalization projects. I show that, even when a full reduction to physics is avoided, some important assumptions inherited from the explanatory model of physics remain. I argue that even this residual reductionist demand is inappropriate. More positively, I suggest that, despite the irreductibility of the normative dimension of content, we need not consider that aspect either primitive or inexplicable. Instead, the normative aspects can be unpacked using a different, lower-to-higher, explanatory strategy in which the key explanatory relation is the notion of institution. A property is instituted, in this sense, if it is brought into being in part by practices of community. The naturalization of semantics, I argue, requires the extensive use of such non-reductionnist, institution-centered modes of explanation.
Growing Environmental Stewards: The Overall Effect of a School Gardening Program on Environmental Attitudes and Environmental Locus of Control of Different Demographic Groups of Elementary School Children

ADDITIONAL INDEX WORDS. environmental education, integrated education, experiential education SUMMARY. The objectives of this study were to examine an interdisciplinary and experiential approach to environmental education by use of a youth gardening program for third through fifth grade students. In addition, this study evaluated the gardening program’s effectiveness on promoting positive environmental attitudes and a high environmental locus of control with children. A questionnaire was developed from three existing instruments and was used to collect information concerning environmental attitudes, locus of control as it related to environmental actions, and demographic information of respondents. No statistically significant differences were found on either variable in comparisons of experimental and control group responses. However, students from both groups exhibited positive environmental attitudes. Demographic comparisons indicated that children with previous gardening experience scored significantly higher on the environmental attitude and environmental locus of control statements when compared with children without gardening experience. Girls scored significantly higher than boys on environmental attitude and environmental locus of control scores. Caucasians scored significantly higher when compared with African-Americans and Hispanics on environmental attitude scores, and Caucasians scored significantly higher when compared with African-Americans on environmental locus of control scores.
Sensitivity to UV-B Irradiation as Related to Bacterial Life Cycles

Although their life cycles may be relatively simple when compared to eukaryotic organisms, bacteria do have distinct stages of growth. Indeed, some bacterial (prokaryote) species have complex developmental life cycles (spore former, myxobacteria, cytophaga). However, even simple bacteria such as Escherichia coli have sharply different sensitivities to UV-B when they are in different stages of growth (Eisenstark 1970). The various stages in a bacterial growth cycle can be illustrated by the states of its chromosomal replication and cell division (Figure 1). In a resting state, the bacterial cell has a single chromosome, double stranded and circular, without any growing forks. The first stage of cell division is the initiation of DNA replication and the development of a chromosomal growing fork. DNA synthesis zippers along the chromosome until the replication cycle ends with two circular chromosomes, the formation of a cell wall partition and binary fission of the cell into two daughter cells. While this appears to be very simple, the total process is complex; it is highly orchestrated with a number of regulatory programs. In particular, cell division is coupled to chromosome replication. It is important to emphasize that there are vast differences in UV-B sensitivity and repair of UV-B damage depending on the stage of the cycle (Figure 2).
Intrusion recovery using selective re-execution

RETRO repairs a desktop or server after an adversary compromises it, by undoing the adversary's changes while preserving legitimate user actions, with minimal user involvement. During normal operation, RETRO records an action history graph, which is a detailed dependency graph describing the system's execution. RETRO uses refinement to describe graph objects and actions at multiple levels of abstraction, which allows for precise dependencies. During repair, RETRO uses the action history graph to undo an unwanted action and its indirect effects by first rolling back its direct effects, and then reexecuting legitimate actions that were influenced by that change. To minimize user involvement and re-execution, RETRO uses predicates to selectively re-execute only actions that were semantically affected by the adversary's changes, and uses compensating actions to handle external effects.An evaluation of a prototype of RETRO for Linux with 2 real-world attacks, 2 synthesized challenge attacks, and 6 attacks from previous work, shows that RETRO can often repair the system without user involvement, and avoids false positives and negatives from previous solutions. These benefits come at the cost of 35-127% in execution time overhead and of 4-150 GB of log space per day, depending on the workload. For example, a HotCRP paper submission web site incurs 35% slowdown and generates 4 GB of logs per day under the workload from 30 minutes prior to the SOSP 2007 deadline.
Types of Vertical Exchange Relationships: An Empirical Re-Examination of the Cadre/Hired-hand Distinction

Vertical Exchange theory, also known as Vertical Dyad Linkage theory and Leader-Member Exchange theory, describes the exchange relationship between a manager and subordinate. In the past, the type of relationship has been placed along a continuum with the extreme types labelled cadre and hired-hand. Recently, however, multi-dimensional approaches have been developed. These approaches lead the investigators of this study to re-examine the notion of a single continuum of relationship types. This paper presents the results of a study using a two-dimensional measure of quality of vertical exchange relationships along both dimensions. Three types of relationships were found and profiled using psychographic and demographic variables, and the influence of these relationship types on performance and satisfaction was explored.
Ovipositional Preference and Nymphal Performance of Trialeurodes vaporariorum (Homoptera: Aleyrodidae) on Dendranthema grandiflora Under Different Fertilizer Regimes

Chrysanthemum plants, Dendranthema grandiflora , were treated with different concentrations of a complete fertilizer and exposed to the greenhouse whitefly, Trialeurodes vaporariorum (Westwood). In choice tests, the number of eggs laid and the number ofreared adults increased in plants treated with high concentrations offertilizer, and were correlated with nitrogen content of leaves. In no-choice tests, oviposition increased only by doubling the fertilizer concentration. More adults were produced from plants that had been fertilized. However, neither adults produced nor oviposition was correlated with nitrogen content of leaves. In a choice test ovipositing females selected plants based on the plant’s nutritional condition, as indicated by total leaf nitrogen content. In no-choice tests, however, other plant characteristics may have influenced the female’s decision to oviposit, and the frequency of oviposition. Thus, plant selection and frequency of oviposition were correlated with the plant’s suitability to support survival and development of whitefly progeny.
High-temperature X-ray diffraction study of Co3O4: transition from normal to disordered spinel

A high-temperature x-ray powder diffraction structural refinement indicates that the room-temperature normal spinel, Co2+[Co 2 3+ ]O4, transforms to a disordered spinel at temperatures above 1150±30 K, as shown by the decrease of the oxygen u parameter. It is also shown that this transition between normal and disordered spinel is a high order one, where the degree of disordering increases with increasing temperature up to the highest temperature of this study, 1201 K.
Interactions of sapsuckers and Cytospora canker can facilitate decline of riparian willows

Drought has caused large-scale plant mortality in ecosystems around the globe. Most diebacks have affected upland forest species. In the past two decades, a large-scale decline of riparian willows (Salix L.) has occurred in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado. We examined whether climatic or biotic factors drive and maintain the willow community decline. We com- pared annual growth and dieback of willows inside and outside of 14-year-old ungulate exclosures and measured groundwater depth and predawn xylem pressures of stems as indicators of drought stress. We also performed an aerial photo analysis to determine the temporal dynamics of the decline. Aerial photo analysis indicated willow decline occurred between 2001 and 2005 and was best explained by an increase in moose population and a decrease in peak stream flows. A new mechanism for willow stem dieback was identified, initiated by red-naped sapsucker wounding willow bark. Wounds became infected with fungus that girdled the stem. DNA analyses confirmed Valsa sordida (Cytospora chrysosperma) as the lethal fungus. Captured sapsuckers had V. sordida spores on feet and beaks identifying them as one possible vector of spread. Predawn xylem pressure potentials remained high through the growing season on all study willows regardless of depth to ground water. Our results indicate that additional mechanisms may be involved in tall willow decline.
Ferromagnetic FePt/Au Core/Shell Nanoparticles Prepared by Solvothermal Annealing

We report a novel multistep process for the preparation of monodisperse ferromagnetic FePt/Au core/shell nanoparticles. Disordered face-centered cubic (fcc) FePt nanoparticles were first synthesized by a polyol method. FePt/Au core/shell superparamagnetic nanoparticles were then produced via a reductive decomposition of gold acetate in the presence of the FePt seed nanoparticles. The FePt/Au core/shell nanoparticles were annealed in benzyl ether using an autoclave reactor at a temperature of 470°C for 3 h at 7 MPa (1000 psi). Morphological, structural, and magnetic characterization of the FePt/Au core/shell nanoparticles was performed before and after the solvothermal annealing. The annealed monodisperse FePt/Au nanoparticles transformed from a disordered superparamagnetic fcc to a partially ordered ferromagnetic L1 0 phase with a coercivity up to 2.8 kOe at room temperature.
Design and implementation of Shandong electric power marketing technology supporting system

In order to implement the intensive, meticulous, real-time management for electric power marketing, Shandong Electric Power Corporation developed a marketing technology system, which combines the four business centers, the two virtual management centers and the five core businesses in a creative way. The system accords with the specification of SG186 project and covers all posts and work flow of provincial electric power marketing management. With running into operation successfully, the system has promoted the scientific marketing decision of Shandong Electric Power Corporation, optimized the business flow and organizing structure of the enterprise, improved the efficiency of marketing work and produced huge economical and social benefit.
The first-principle study on the structures and stabilities of LiNiO_2 and its doping compounds

The first-principle based on the local density functional theory has been used to study the crystal structures,band structures and densities of state of LiNiO2 and its doping compounds.The results indicate that LiNiO2 compounds are good conductors for electrons,have good stability during charge-discharge recycle processes and are promising cathode materials for Li-ion battery.In LiNiO2 crystal,the bonds mainly establish between O and Ni atoms,the interaction of Ni ions and O ions is strong,Li atoms will partly loss electrons when inserting layered structure materials and then exist as ions.
Coding by Choice: A Transitional Analysis of Social Participation Patterns and Programming Contributions in the Online Scratch Community

While massive online communities have drawn the attention of researchers and educators on their potential to support active collaborative work, knowledge sharing, and user-generated content, few studies examine participation in these communities at scale. The little research that does exist attends almost solely to adults rather than communities to support youths’ learning and identity development. In this chapter, we tackle two challenges related to understanding social practices that support learning in massive social networking forums where users engage in design. We examined a youth programmer community, called Scratch.mit.edu, that garners the voluntary participation of millions of young people worldwide. We report on site-wide distributions and patterns of participation that illuminate the relevance of different online social practices to ongoing involvement in the online community. Drawing on a random sample of more than 5000 active users of Scratch.mit.edu over a 3-month time period in early 2012, we examine log files that captured the frequency of three types of social practices that contribute to enduring participation: DIY participatory activities, socially supportive actions, and socially engaging interactions. Using latent transition analysis, we found (1) distinct patterns of participation (classes) across three time points (e.g., high networkers who are generally active, commenters who focus mainly on social participation, downloaders engaging in DIY participatory activities), (2) unique migration changes in class membership across time, (3) relatively equal gender representation across these classes, and (4) importance of membership length (or age) in terms of class memberships. In the discussion, we review our approach to analysis and outline implications for the design and study of online communities and tools for youth.
Vacuum Gaskets for Use at 20°K

The performance of any cryogenic storage and transfer system depends in no small measure on the vacuum-tightness of various joints. The workmanship which may be obtained in any assembly involving welding or soldering may well provide some uncertainty in the mind of the designer and can easily be responsible for poor performance of equipment. On the other hand, the assurance of high-quality workmanship may encourage the designer to try difficult assemblies both in the laboratory and on a larger scale.
Current surgical management of infected pancreatic necrosis.

Infected pancreatic necrosis (IPN) continues to be a challenging problem for the surgeon. We reviewed the experience on a hepatobiliary surgical service with patients who required operative intervention for IPN with emphasis on surgical approach, timing of surgery, and complications. Between 2002 and 2008, 21 patients underwent surgery for IPN. The initial surgical approach in these 21 patients included either direct pancreatic debridement (DPD, n=13) or transgastric debridement using cyst-gastrostomy (CG, n=8). Fifteen patients (71%) required only a single procedure, whereas three (14%) required two procedures and three (14%) required three procedures. The mean time from onset of pancreatitis to operation was 77 days. Patients requiring a single intervention had a longer interval from onset of pancreatitis to surgery compared with those requiring multiple interventions. When comparing CG and DPD groups, there was a longer interval from onset of pancreatitis to debridement, a lower chance of needing multiple debridements, and fewer pancreatic fistulae in the CG group. Overall survival was 95 per cent. Our results demonstrate that CG can be successfully used in select patients with IPN. Patients undergoing CG are less likely to require repeat surgical debridement and to develop pancreatic fistulae compared with patients undergoing DPD.
Fast turnaround multiresidue screen for pesticides in produce.

A rapid multiresidue screen for 110 pesticides was applied to 5628 produce samples. Samples were extracted, analyzed, and evaluated within 6 1/2 h of receipt. Analyses were confirmed within a 24 h period on those samples in which a potential residue was found above the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's tolerance level. A thorough yet quick chromatographic interpretation program is also described.
SPIHT Image Compression

Publisher Summary This chapter describes the process of mapping the image compression algorithm SPIHT onto reconfigurable logic architecture. It provides a discussion of why adaptive logic is required, as opposed to an ASIC, along with background material on SPIHT and analyzes and evaluates several discrete wavelet transform hardware architectures. The chapter also presents two major modifications to the original image compression algorithm, which are required to build a reconfigurable hardware implementation that includes the storage elements necessary for each wavelet coefficient, and a modification to the original SPIHT algorithm created to parallelize the computation. It discusses the effects these modifications have on the final compression results and the trade-offs involved and describes how the updated SPIHT algorithm is mapped onto the Annapolis Microsystems WildStar reconfigurable hardware system. This system is populated with three Virtex-E field-programmable gate array (FPGA) parts and several memory ports. The issues of how the modified algorithm is divided between individual FPGA parts and how data flows through the memories are also discussed in this study. It presents and evaluates the final results and speedups against a comparable microprocessor solution from the time the Annapolis Microsystems WildStar was released.
Using State Workforce Data to Examine Postgraduation Outcomes.

This chapter provides institutional researchers a foundation to understand workforce data and how they can be accessed and used within an institutional research operating culture. Specific wage methodologies, earnings reporting, and future directions for using wage data are provided.
Temporality and the Point: The Origins and Crisis of Continental Philosophy

Persuaded by the perspicacious critiques carried out by such figures as Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucault, Francois Lyotard, and a host of others, many theorists belonging to that catch-all field known as “contemporary continental philosophy, ” have forcefully challenged the traditional notions of origin, foundation, the absolute, teleology, essence, etc. This tendency is felt most poignantly today in the discourse of “post-modernism.”
Positive and Negative Impacts of Non-Native Bee Species around the World

Though they are relatively understudied, non-native bees are ubiquitous and have enormous potential economic and environmental impacts. These impacts may be positive or negative, and are often unquantified. In this manuscript, I review literature on the known distribution and environmental and economic impacts of 80 species of introduced bees. The potential negative impacts of non-native bees include competition with native bees for nesting sites or floral resources, pollination of invasive weeds, co-invasion with pathogens and parasites, genetic introgression, damage to buildings, affecting the pollination of native plant species, and changing the structure of native pollination networks. The potential positive impacts of non-native bees include agricultural pollination, availability for scientific research, rescue of native species, and resilience to human-mediated disturbance and climate change. Most non-native bee species are accidentally introduced and nest in stems, twigs, and cavities in wood. In terms of number of species, the best represented families are Megachilidae and Apidae, and the best represented genus is Megachile. The best studied genera are Apis and Bombus, and most of the species in these genera were deliberately introduced for agricultural pollination. Thus, we know little about the majority of non-native bees, accidentally introduced or spreading beyond their native ranges.
Negative Afterimages From Flicker-Augmented Colors:

A patch that alternates between two hues such as dark green and light blue looks greenish on a light gray surround and bluish on a dark gray surround ("flicker-augmented contrast"). Thus, when an edge alternates between two hues in the same location, the visual system selects the more salient hue-the one with the higher Michelson contrast. However, the afterimage is the same pink, driven by the time integral of the physical, not the perceptual, adapting hues and regardless of the surround luminance. So the process of edge biasing does not transfer to the mechanism that creates afterimages.
A comparison of column subset selection methods for hyperspectral band subset selection (Conference Presentation)

Observations from hyperspectral imaging sensors lead to high dimensional data sets from hundreds of images taken at closely spaced narrow spectral bands. High storage and transmission requirements, computational complexity, and statistical modeling problems combined with physical insight motivate the idea of hyperspectral dimensionality reduction using band subset selection. Many algorithms are described in the literature to solve supervised and unsupervised band subset selection problems. This paper explores the use of unsupervised band subset selection methods using column subset selection (CSS). Column subset selection is the problem (CSSP) of selecting the most independent columns of a matrix. A recent variant of this problem is the positive column subset selection problem (pCSSP) which restricts column subset selection to only consider positive linear combinations. Many algorithms have been proposed in the literature for the solution of the CSSP. However, the pCSSP is less studied. This paper will present a comparison of different algorithms to solve the CSSP and the pCSSP for band subset selection. The performance of classifiers using the algorithms as a dimensionality reduction stage will be used to evaluate the usefulness of these algorithms in hyperspectral image exploitation.
Social interaction modulates the neuroinflammatory response to global cerebral ischemia in male mice

Social isolation is a risk factor for cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, although the underlying mechanisms remain underspecified. Considering the potential of microglia to become sensitized by stressors and their role in neuroinflammation, we hypothesized that social isolation primes microglia, resulting in an exaggerated neuroimmune response to experimental cerebral ischemia. First, major histocompatibility complex II (MHC II) gene expression, an indicator of microglial priming, was compared between mice that were socially isolated or pair-housed. MHC II increased in the hippocampus and cortex of socially isolated mice, which is suggestive of isolation-induced microglial priming. In experiment 2, isolated and pair-housed mice underwent ∼8min of global cerebral ischemia. Hippocampal mRNA expression of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) and interleukin 6 (IL-6) was significantly increased among both isolated and pair-housed ischemia groups relative to sham controls. Hippocampal expression of interleukin 1 beta (IL-1β) and cortical TNF-α, IL-1β and IL-6, were significantly increased 24-h post ischemia in isolated mice, but not pair-housed mice, relative to controls. Ischemia-induced increases in microglial cell body area and percent area fraction of ionized calcium binding adaptor molecule 1 (Iba-1) positive staining were also observed in isolated, but not pair-housed mice, relative to controls. For experiment 3, brain sections from socially isolated and pair-housed mice underwent 15min of oxygen glucose deprivation (OGD), an ex vivo model of cerebral ischemia. IL-6 gene expression was significantly elevated following OGD only in hippocampi from mice that had been socially isolated, indicating that isolation prior to ischemia is sufficient to modulate the neuroinflammatory response. Together, these data suggest microglial priming as a possible mechanism underlying the detrimental effects of social isolation on cerebral ischemia outcome.
Therapeutic Implications of Angiogenesis in Cancer

Angiogenesis is one of the hallmarks of cancer. Many primed cells endowed with all cancer characteristics arise in our body but they cannot progress to become cancer-disease without activating angiogenesis. This chapter addresses the factors involved in tumor angiogenesis and the progress made to exploit this phenomenon. Tumors are very heterogeneous in their angiogenic pathways and drugs targeting angiogenesis are moderately effective in the metastatic setting with variable efficacy in different tumor types and within the same type. Antiangiogenic agents do not have any role in the adjuvant setting. The biggest challenge facing this discipline is the identification of biomarkers to select patients who are more likely to respond to these expensive treatments and those likely to suffer severe toxicity. Hence, the complexity of the task and the need to embed the study of these markers in the design of phase III randomized controlled trials.
Preflight Therapies to Minimize Medical Risk Associated with Commercial Air Travel

Airlines may require a physician to provide medical clearance if they suspect that a passenger is suffering from a condition that would be considered a potential hazard to the safety of the aircraft or adversely affect the welfare and comfort of the other passengers and/or crew. In addition, patients with a variety of medical disorders may be placed at greater risk of adverse health consequences unless preexisting conditions are stabilized prior to departure. The purpose of this chapter is to describe conditions that may place the patient at additional risk during flight, and outline steps to mitigate these risks.
Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopic Analysis of Phosphate Bound to the Aspartate Aminotransferase Isozymes

The band arising from the symmetric stretching of the dianionic 5′-phosphate group of pyridoxal phosphate has been identified in infrared spectra of cytosolic and mitochondrial aspartate aminotransferase. The integrated intensity of this band remains constant within the pH range 5–8.5. In addition, its value is close to the one given by free pyridoxal phosphate in solution at basic pH. These results suggest that the 5′-phosphate group remains dianionic throughout the above-mentioned pH range. It appears, therefore, that the phosphorus chemical shift/pH titration curves observed for both isozymes are due to the fact that the chemical shift can sense the ionization of nearby residues in the protein.
Sex Hormones and their Brain Receptors

Gonadal hormones exert a profound influence on brain development and function throughout the life span. Discoveries of estrogen and progesterone action on brain functions beyond reproduction has led to a resurgence of interest in these steroids and in their receptors. Recent advances in molecular genetics have led to the discovery of novel estrogen receptors and novel isoforms of both the estrogen and progesterone receptors. The emergence of compelling biochemical and electrophysiological data coupled with protein labeling have led to the identification of membrane receptors for sex steroids. These discoveries have greatly expanded our understanding of gonadal steroid hormone action in brain while also opening new avenues of exploration into the function of the novel genomic and membrane receptors for sex hormones in the nervous system. The understanding of gonadal steroid receptors will have direct impact on the development of therapeutics that will capitalize on the benefits of estrogens and progestins in sustaining cognitive function and preventing neuronal dysfunction.
Relaxations and Losses in a Photoacoustic Resonator

The photoacoustic resonant method has been applied to study the phenomenon of molecular relaxation in a cylindrical cavity. The profile of the acoustic resonance, excited by the vibrational mode v3 of a gas sample SF6 with a CO2 laser, was measured as a function of pressure between 1 ~ 800 Torr. A general theoretical treatment of the effects of molecular relaxation, surface and volume losses, and nonideality of gas on the spectral characteristics of the resonance, was worked out in detail and was used to frame the discussion of the relaxation processes following the vibrational excitation. The analysis of the experimental data yields a value of vibrational relaxation time (pτ)v-T = 0.21 ± 0.01 µs atm for the mode v3, and a value (pτ)R-T = 0.76 ± 0.13 ns atm for the rotational relaxation time of SF6 at T=295 K.
Racial disparities in the surgical treatment of rectal cancer.

e18080Background: Rectal adenocarcinoma is a major cause of cancer-related morbidity and mortality, with an estimated 39,610 cases to be diagnosed in 2015. Advances in neoadjuvant chemoradiation th...
What are you thinking? Acculturation as an activating event for negative evaluative beliefs among Latinos/as

Negative evaluative beliefs and other cognitive structures have been tied to psychological distress across various populations but have not been sufficiently incorporated into acculturation models....
Nrf2 Activation Promotes Lung Cancer Metastasis by Inhibiting the Degradation of Bach1

Approximately 30% of human lung cancers acquire mutations in either Keap1 or Nfe2l2, resulting in the stabilization of Nrf2, the Nfe2l2 gene product, which controls oxidative homeostasis. Here, we show that heme triggers the degradation of Bach1, a pro-metastatic transcription factor, by promoting its interaction with the ubiquitin ligase Fbxo22. Nrf2 accumulation in lung cancers causes the stabilization of Bach1 by inducing Ho1, the enzyme catabolizing heme. In mouse models of lung cancers, loss of Keap1 or Fbxo22 induces metastasis in a Bach1-dependent manner. Pharmacological inhibition of Ho1 suppresses metastasis in a Fbxo22-dependent manner. Human metastatic lung cancer display high levels of Ho1 and Bach1. Bach1 transcriptional signature is associated with poor survival and metastasis in lung cancer patients. We propose that Nrf2 activates a metastatic program by inhibiting the heme- and Fbxo22-mediated degradation of Bach1, and that Ho1 inhibitors represent an effective therapeutic strategy to prevent lung cancer metastasis.
The prime spectrum and representation theory of the 2 × 2 reflection equation algebra

The theory of generalized Weyl algebras is used to study the 2 × 2 reflection equation algebra A=Aq(M2) in the case that q is not a root of unity, where the R-matrix used to define A is the standar...
A co-curricular interprofessional education platform for campus-wide engagement

Abstract Background The University of Colorado Center for Interprofessional Practice and Education designed and implemented the co-curricular Interprofessional Open Campus Program (IOCP). Students were encouraged to select an activity of interest from a menu of offerings with a featured central theme of destigmatizing mental illness. Methods Students participating in the IOCP were asked to complete an electronic post-activity survey with qualitative and quantitative prompts to measure students’ engagement and their perceived value of the program. Descriptive statistics and analysis of comments were reviewed for evidence of successful implementation of the IOCP. Results Seven-hundred-fifty individual students participated in more than 25 co-curricular activities, submitting 810 evaluations. Students (95.3%) indicated they would recommend their chosen activity to peers. Students (65%) further agreed their participation positively contributed to their professional development. Conclusion The IOCP created opportunities for significant engagement with students, campus partners, and health profession programs and created new partnerships for the Center.
Photospheric Abundances of the Hot Stars in NGC 1399 and Limits on the Fornax Cluster Cooling Flow

We present far-UV spectroscopy of the giant elliptical galaxy NGC 1399, obtained with the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer. Of all quiescent ellipticals, NGC 1399 has the strongest known "UV upturn"—a sharp spectral rise shortward of 2500 A. It is now well established that this emission comes from hot horizontal branch stars and their progeny; however, the chemical composition of these stars has been the subject of a longstanding debate. For the first time in observations of any elliptical galaxy, our spectra clearly show photospheric metallic absorption lines within the UV upturn. The abundance of N is at 45% solar, Si is at 13% solar, and C is at 2% solar. Such abundance anomalies are a natural consequence of gravitational diffusion. These photospheric abundances fall in the range observed for subdwarf B stars of the Galactic field. Although NGC 1399 is at the center of the Fornax Cluster, we find no evidence for O VI cooling flow emission. The upper limit to λλ1032, 1038 emission is 3.9 × 10-15 ergs s-1 cm-2, equivalent to 0.14 M☉ yr-1 and less than the value predicted by simple cooling flow models of the NGC 1399 X-ray luminosity.
Prior pandemics. looking to the past for insight into the COVID-19 pandemic

COVID-19 is not the world's first pandemic, not its worst, or likely to be its last. In fact, there have been many pandemics throughout history with lessons for the current one. The most destructive pandemic of all time, at least in terms of the number of people killed in the shortest time, was the "Spanish flu" pandemic of 1918/1919. Why did it happen? What lessons did it teach us? And could it happen again? These questions are addressed in the context of the current COVID-19 pandemic and several other nearly equally devastating pandemics of earlier times.
Bringing Fairness to Actor-Critic Reinforcement Learning for Network Utility Optimization

Fairness is a crucial design objective in virtually all network optimization problems, where limited system resources are shared by multiple agents. Recently, reinforcement learning has been successfully applied to autonomous online decision making in many network design and optimization problems. However, most of them try to maximize the long-term (discounted) reward of all agents, without taking fairness into account. In this paper, we propose a family of algorithms that bring fairness to actorcritic reinforcement learning for optimizing general fairness utility functions. In particular, we present a novel method for adjusting the rewards in standard reinforcement learning by a multiplicative weight depending on both the shape of fairness utility and some statistics of past rewards. It is shown that for proper choice of the adjusted rewards, a policy gradient update converges to at least a stationary point of general αfairness utility optimization. It inspires the design of fairness optimization algorithms in actor-critic reinforcement learning. Evaluations show that the proposed algorithm can be easily deployed in real-world network optimization problems, such as wireless scheduling and video QoE optimization, and can significantly improve the fairness utility value over previous heuristics and learning algorithms.
The Effect of Medical Marijuana Laws on the Health and Labor Supply of Older Adults: Evidence from the Health and Retirement Study

We study the effect of state medical marijuana laws (MMLs) on labor supply and health outcomes among older adults; the demographic group with the highest rates of many chronic conditions for which marijuana may be an effective treatment. Using 1992 - 2012 Health and Retirement Study data to estimate differences-in-differences models, we find that MML implementation leads to increases in labor supply among older adults along with improvement in health for older men and mixed health effects for women. These effects should be considered as policymakers determine how best to regulate access to medical marijuana.Institutional subscribers to the NBER working paper series, and residents of developing countries may download this paper without additional charge at www.nber.org.
Vortex-sheet modeling of hydrodynamic instabilities produced by an oblique shock interacting with a perturbed interface in the HED regime

We consider hydrodynamic instabilities produced by the interaction of an oblique shock with a perturbed material interface under high-energy-density (HED) conditions. During this interaction, a baroclinic torque is generated along the interface due to the misalignment between the density and pressure gradients, thus leading to perturbation growth. Our objective is to understand the competition between the impulsive acceleration due to the normal component of the shock velocity, which drives the Richtmyer–Meshkov instability, and the shear flow across the interface due to the tangential component of the shock velocity, which drives the Kelvin–Helmholtz instability, as well as its relation to perturbation growth. Since the vorticity resulting from the shock-interface interaction is confined to the interface, we describe the perturbation growth using a two-dimensional vortex-sheet model. We demonstrate the ability of the vortex-sheet model to reproduce roll-up dynamics for non-zero Atwood numbers by comparing to past laser-driven HED experiments. We determine the dependence of the interface dynamics on the tilt angle and propose a time scaling for the perturbation growth at early time. Eventually, this scaling will serve as a platform for the design of future experiments. This study is the first attempt to incorporate into a vortex-sheet model the time-dependent interface decompression and the deceleration (as well as the corresponding Rayleigh–Taylor instability) arising from laser turn-off.
The History of Robotic Surgery

If you will have the precision out of them, and make their fingers measure degrees like cog-wheels, and their arms strike curves like compasses, you must inhumanize them. (J. Ruskin, The Stones of Venice1
Intercurrent Infections in Genetically Engineered Mice

The laboratory mouse was domesticated from fancy mice that arose from geographically diverse genetic origins. The diverse origins of the mouse also contributed to a lengthy list of infectious agents that are carried by mice. Despite years of microbial quality control, the burgeoning use of mice for research is causing a resurgence of infectious disease among laboratory mice. Infections can be introduced through mice, but also through biologic products such as serum, hybridomas, and transplantable tumors and through iatrogenic introduction by scientists. Retroviruses represent an important group of agents with significant effects upon mouse research, but the transmissible exogenous viruses are no longer an issue among laboratory mice. The diversity of other infectious agents induce a wide variety of effects upon cancer research, including immunomodulation, tumor graft rejection, misinterpretation of phenotype, modified carcinogenesis, and zoonotic risk. Prudent research practices require that microbial status of research mice does not necessarily have to be standardized among laboratories, but it must be defined so that research results are reproducible and valid. Keywords: genetically engineered mice; intercurrent infections; infectious agents; diverse origins; retroviruses; interface; genetics; research; pseudocancer; human safety; zoonotic hazards
Isolation of a cDNA clone coding for a putative second potassium channel indicates the existence of a gene family

Abstract A putative second potassium channel expressed in rat brain is identified by cloning and characterization of cDNA clones. Two cDNA clones, isolated from rat brain libraries, encode a 499-residue protein that is 80% identical with a previously described rat brain potassium channel and 68% identical with a Drosophila potassium channel. This new potassium channel is called BK2 to distinguish it from the previously described potassium channel (BK1). The BK2 gene, unlike the Drosophila potassium channel gene complex, appears to produce a single, large (approximately 9.5-kilobase) RNA transcript. Southern analysis of rat genomic DNA indicates that the BK1 and BK2 transcripts are the products of independent genes. Analysis of the distribution of BK2 transcripts in rat brain by in situ hybridization histochemistry suggests that the BK2 gene is ubiquitously expressed by central nervous system neurons. Identification of this putative second mammalian potassium channel cDNA indicates the existence of a potassium channel gene family, confirming electrophysiological data on the diversity of potassium channels expressed in rat brain.
Charon's First Detailed Spectra Hold Many Surprises

The first detailed spectra of Pluto's satellite Charon confirm the presence of HO frost. No CHor Nis seen, although both are abundant on nearby Pluto. The state of the HO ice is crystalline, not amorphous, a surprise given Charon's expected cold surface temperatures. NHmay also be present, which would make Charon the first satellite in the solar system with a positive NH-frost detection.
Focus on . . . Scrivener's Errors

This article discusses the doctrine of scrivener's error as it relates to plan drafting mistakes. There is no denying that inadvertent errors occur in retirement plan documents. Pretending that honest mistakes never happen is irresponsible, and zero tolerance.