cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Self-induced magnetic flux structure in the magnetic superconductor RbEuFe4As4

We report an unusual enhancement of the magnetic induction in single crystals of the magnetic superconductor ${\mathrm{RbEuFe}}_{4}{\mathrm{As}}_{4}$, highlighting the interplay between superconducting and magnetic subsystems in this material. Contrary to the conventional Meissner expulsion of magnetic flux below the superconducting transition temperature, we observe a substantial boost of the magnetic flux density upon approaching the magnetic transition temperature, ${T}_{m}$. Direct imaging of the flux evolution with a magneto-optical technique, shows that the magnetic subsystem serves as an internal magnetic flux pump, drawing Abrikosov vortices from the surface, while the superconducting subsystem controls their conveyance into the bulk of the magnetic superconductor via a peculiar self-organized critical state.
Cognitive deficits in Parkinson’s disease with excessive daytime sleepiness: a systematic review

Objectives: This systematic review synthesizes the most recent literature on neuropsychological deficits in adults with Parkinson's disease who experience excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS). Confounds and methodological limitations are explored. A framework entitled the Cascade Model of Excessive Daytime Sleepiness (CMEDS) is proposed to explain the role of EDS in contributing to cognitive impairment for patients with Parkinson's disease.Method: Systematic search through PubMed, PsychInfo and citation records. In total, 175 articles were screened for possible inclusion. Eight studies were included, encompassing 1373 patients with Parkinson's disease - 442 of whom had Parkinson's disease with EDS.Results: For Parkinson's disease patients with EDS, global deficits, executive dysfunction and deficits in processing speed were found beyond the typical cognitive phenotype of patients without EDS. Language skills, memory and visuospatial skills appeared to be similar between those with and without EDS. In untreated, de novo, patients, there were no cognitive differences between the EDS groups.Conclusion: This review suggests that Parkinson's disease patients suffering from EDS may have additional cognitive deficits globally, in executive control, and in processing speed. As suggested by the CMEDS framework, the impact of EDS on cognition may be related to Parkinson's disease pathology, comorbidities and medication use.
Moderate Alcohol Consumption Uniquely Regulates Sodium-Dependent Glucose Co-Transport in Rat Intestinal Epithelial Cells In Vitro and In Vivo.

BACKGROUND Chronic alcohol use often leads to malnutrition. However, how the intestinal absorption of nutrients such as glucose may be affected during moderate ethanol use has not been investigated. Glucose is absorbed via sodium (Na)-dependent glucose co-transport (SGLT1; SLC5A1) along the brush border membrane (BBM) of intestinal absorptive villus cells. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to investigate how moderate alcohol consumption affects the absorption of glucose via SGLT1. METHODS Intestinal epithelial cells (IEC-18; rat) were exposed to 8.64 mM ethanol over 1, 3, 6, and 12 h. Rats (16-wk-old, male, Sprague-Dawley) were administered 2 g/kg ethanol over 1, 3, and 6 h. Na-dependent 3H-O-methyl-d-glucose uptake was measured to assess SGLT1 activity. Na-K-ATPase activity was measured as a function of inorganic phosphate release. Protein expression was analyzed by Western blot analysis and immunohistochemical staining. RESULTS Ethanol significantly decreased Na-dependent glucose absorption in enterocytes in vitro (ethanol treatment: 48.4% of controls at 1 h; P < 0.01) and in vivo (ethanol treatment: 60.0% of controls at 1 h; P < 0.01). Na-K-ATPase activity was significantly inhibited in vitro (ethanol treatment: 36.9% of controls at 1 h; P < 0.01) and in vivo (ethanol treatment: 42.1% of controls at 1 h; P < 0.01). Kinetic studies showed that the mechanism of inhibition of Na-glucose co-transport was secondary to a decrease in the affinity (1/Km) of the co-transporter for glucose both in vitro and in vivo. Western blots and immunohistochemistry further demonstrated unaltered amounts of SGLT1 after ethanol treatment. CONCLUSIONS Moderate ethanol significantly decreases glucose absorption in IEC-18 cells and in villus cells of Sprague-Dawley rats. The inhibition of SGLT1 is secondary to an altered Na gradient at the cellular level and secondary to diminished affinity of the co-transporter for glucose at the protein level in the BBM. These observations may, at least in part, explain 1 possible mechanism of the onset of malnutrition associated with alcohol consumption.
Rapid Response High Temperature Oxygen Sensor Based on Titanium Doped Gallium Oxide

Real-time monitoring of combustion products and composition is critical to emission reduction and efficient energy production. The fuel efficiency in power plants and automobile engines can be dramatically improved by monitoring and controlling the combustion environment. However, the development of novel materials for survivability of oxygen sensors at extreme environments and demonstrated rapid response in chemical sensing is a major hindrance for further development in the field. Gallium oxide (Ga2O3), one among the wide band gap oxides, exhibit promising oxygen sensing properties in terms of reproducibility and long term stability. However, the oxygen sensors based on β-Ga2O3 and other existing materials lack in response time and stability at elevated temperatures. In this context, we demonstrate an approach to design materials based on Ti-doped Ga2O3, which exhibits a rapid response and excellent stability for oxygen sensing at elevated temperatures. We demonstrate that the nanocrystalline β-Ga2O3 films with 5% Ti significantly improves the response time (~20 times) while retaining the stability and repeatability in addition to enhancement in the sensitivity to oxygen. These extreme environment oxygen sensors with a rapid response time and sensitivity represent key advancement for integration into combustion systems for efficient energy conversion and emission reduction.
Rise and Decline of the Welfare State : The Swedish Case as a Solution

Purpose: This article analyses the unsustainability of the welfare state. This unsustainability is not caused by a financial crisis, but is caused by its own design and initial conception. For this, the case of Sweden is shown as an example; and the policies adopted by this Nordic country to correct the unsustainability of the welfare state mentioned above. Design/methodology/approach: The applied methodology has been, on the one hand, a literary review of the welfare state concept. On the other hand, an analysis has been carried out with various economic indicators that serve to corroborate the aforementioned unsustainability and the effect of the decisions taken by Sweden. Research and practical limitations/implications: The analysis of economic variables such as GDP or the collection of taxes on GDP is burdened with the classical limitation on the cause-effect relationship. The problem of causality in economics is one of the most significant in the discipline. This problem is fundamental in historical analyses, when it comes to relating a phenomenon that has occurred with the causes that generated it. Originality: The debate about the welfare state and its sustainability is gaining strength from very different spheres. In an unstable and highly globalised economic environment, the role that states must play in the economy is being reformulated. The present paper analyses the development and growth of the welfare state as one of the differential elements of the developed economies (especially in the Western European area), and its subsequent crisis and loss of legitimacy due to its financial unsustainability. Findings: This article shows how the introduction of private companies that provide public services can be a solution to the welfare state crisis. For this, the Swedish case is used as an example. In the Nordic country, it was found that the introduction of private companies in the provision of public services has not reduced social assistance services or their quality. What is important, it has been a new competitive management, which guarantees the quality of the services provided, at a lower cost to the public sector budget. Paper type: theoretical paper.
Data on the hemostasis in epistaxis with Topically Administered TXA Versus Topical Oxymetazoline Spray

The use of tranexamic acid (TXA) has recently gained popularity as a treatment modality for epistaxis in the emergency department. Data are presented on the efficacy of the topical use of the intravenous formulation of TXA versus the vasoconstrictor oxymetazoline applied topically in achieving hemostasis in patient presenting to the emergency department with anterior epistaxis. The original article "Comparative Effectiveness of Topically Administered TXA Versus Topical Oxymetazoline Spray for Achieving Hemostasis in Epistaxis" [1] provides complete interpretation of the data. The dataset regarding these treatment modalities has clinical significance toward preventing an avoidable need for escalation of treatment that could potentially increase patient discomfort and prolong emergency department throughput time.
Maximizing Cross-Cultural Learning From Exchange Study Abroad Programs: Transformative Learning Theory:

While some institutions require their students to spend a semester abroad as a prerequisite to earning a business degree, academics challenge the view that travel abroad helps students become cultu...
Relationship between smoking status and muscle strength in the United States older adults

OBJECTIVES Muscle strength in older adults is associated with greater physical ability. Identifying interventions to maintain muscle strength can therefore improve quality of life. The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether current or former smoking status is associated with a decrease in muscle strength in older adults. METHODS Data from the Health and Retirement Study from 2012-2014 were analyzed with regard to maximum dominant hand grip strength, maximum overall hand grip strength, and smoking status (current, former, or never). Unadjusted linear regression was conducted. Other factors known to be related to strength were included in the adjusted linear regression analyses. RESULTS For maximum grip strength, the regression coefficient was 4.91 for current smoking (standard error [SE], 0.58; p<0.001), 3.58 for former smoking (SE, 0.43; p<0.001), and 28.12 for never smoking (SE, 0.34). Fully adjusted linear regression on the relationship between dominant hand grip strength and smoking did not yield a significant result. The factors significantly associated with dominant hand grip strength were male sex, younger age, a race/ethnicity of non-Hispanic White or non-Hispanic Black, higher income, morbidity of ≤1 condition, no pain, and moderate or vigorous exercise more than once a week. CONCLUSIONS Muscle strength in older adults was not associated with smoking status in the adjusted analysis.
The Code of Honor as a Predictor of Anger and Aggression

Anger and aggression are not only widespread but are integral in understanding crime and violence. This study examined the relationship between perceived threats to a set of cognitions labeled Code...
HoneyPLC: A Next-Generation Honeypot for Industrial Control Systems

Industrial Control Systems (ICS) provide management and control capabilities for mission-critical utilities such as the nuclear, power, water, and transportation grids. Within ICS, Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs) play a key role as they serve as a convenient bridge between the cyber and the physical worlds, e.g., controlling centrifuge machines in nuclear power plants. The critical roles that ICS and PLCs play have made them the target of sophisticated cyberattacks that are designed to disrupt their operation, which creates both social unrest and financial losses. In this context, honeypots have been shown to be highly valuable tools for collecting real data, e.g., malware payload, to better understand the many different methods and strategies that attackers use. However, existing state-of-the-art honeypots for PLCs lack sophisticated service simulations that are required to obtain valuable data. Worse, they cannot adapt while ICS malware keeps evolving, and attack patterns become more sophisticated. To overcome these shortcomings, we present HoneyPLC, a high-interaction, extensible, and malware collecting honeypot supporting a broad spectrum of PLCs models and vendors. Results from our experiments show that HoneyPLC exhibits a high level of camouflaging: it is identified as real devices by multiple widely used reconnaissance tools, including Nmap, Shodan's Honeyscore, the Siemens Step7 Manager, PLCinject, and PLCScan, with a high level of confidence. We deployed HoneyPLC on Amazon AWS and recorded a large amount of interesting interactions over the Internet, showing not only that attackers are in fact targeting ICS systems, but also that HoneyPLC can effectively engage and deceive them while collecting data samples for future analysis.
Customization with Vertically Differentiated Products

We consider a duopoly market with heterogeneous consumers. The firms initially produce vertically differentiated standard products located at the end points of the variety interval. Customization provides ideal varieties for consumers but has no effect on quality. The firms first choose whether to customize their products, then engage in price competition. We show that the low-quality firm never customizes alone; customization becomes more likely as the difference between the firms’ qualities increases; and less likely as the fixed cost of customization increases. We extend the base model by relaxing two important assumptions—uniform pricing and exogenous quality. The main conclusions with uniform pricing continue to hold when price customization is allowed. In the second extension the firms’ qualities are endogenously determined. We show that the firms choose to be either substantially differentiated in quality or nondifferentiated.
Understanding a program's resiliency through error propagation

Aggressive technology scaling trends have worsened the transient fault problem in high-performance computing (HPC) systems. Some faults are benign, but others can lead to silent data corruption (SDC), which represents a serious problem; a fault introducing an error that is not readily detected nto an HPC simulation. Due to the insidious nature of SDCs, researchers have worked to understand their impact on applications. Previous studies have relied on expensive fault injection campaigns with uniform sampling to provide overall SDC rates, but this solution does not provide any feedback on the code regions without samples. In this research, we develop a method to systematically analyze all fault injection sites in an application with a low number of fault injection experiments. We use fault propagation data from a fault injection experiment to predict the resiliency of other untested fault sites and obtain an approximate fault tolerance threshold value for each site, which represents the largest error that can be introduced at the site without incurring incorrect simulation results. We define the collection of threshold values over all fault sites in the program as a fault tolerance boundary and propose a simple but efficient method to approximate the boundary. In our experiments, we show our method reduces the number of fault injection samples required to understand a program's resiliency by several orders of magnitude when compared with a traditional fault injection study.
Credit Laws and Taxes as Causes of Manias & Panics

Fraud and irrationality are often blamed for financial manias and panics. Investor euphoria can unleash social and technological breakthroughs, but the subsequent failures can destroy value and radicalize the political sphere. Are these events random, idiosyncratic, or driven by some force? The ex-post answers—be they monetary, criminal, or international contagion—have a profound impact on the role of government in society, but have questionable predictive power. This paper reviews evidence in the post-WWII period to support the interplay between government and investors in driving the business cycle.
Interleukin 12p40 Deficiency Promotes Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm by Activating CCN2/MMP2 Pathways.

Background Development of abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is associated with proinflammatory cytokines including interleukin‐12 (IL12). Deficiency of interleukin 12p40 (IL12p40) increases localized...
Monitoring the role of site chemistry on the formation energy of perovskites via deep learning analysis of Hirshfeld surfaces

This paper presents a new approach for predicting thermodynamic properties of perovskites that harnesses deep learning and crystal structure fingerprinting based on Hirshfeld surface analysis. It is demonstrated that convolutional neural network methods capture critical features embedded in two-dimensional Hirshfeld surface fingerprints that enable a quantitative assessment of the formation energy of perovskites. Building on our recent work on lattice parameter prediction from Hirshfeld surface calculations, we show how transfer learning can be used to speed up the training of the neural network, allowing multiple properties to be trained using the same feature extraction layers. We also predict formation energies for various perovskite polymorphs, and our predictions are found to give generally improved performance over a well-established graph network method, but with the methods better suited to different types of datasets. Analysis of the structure types within the dataset reveals the Hirshfeld surface-based method to excel for the less symmetric and similar structures, while the graph network performs better for very symmetric and similar structures.
Waiting for a Match: Mitigating Reactance in Prosocial Health Behavior Using Psychological Distance.

This study examined how psychological distance, both social and temporal, can be leveraged in prosocial health behavior messages to mitigate perceived psychological reactance. Following the constru...
Child Behavior Problems Related to Inconsistency and Average Negativity in Mother–Child Conflict Characteristics: The Mediating Role of Parenting Stress

We examined the mediating effect of parenting stress on the association between children’s internalizing and externalizing behaviors and mothers’ negativity and inconsistency in conflict behaviors during a week of daily mother–child conflict interactions. Mothers reported on children’s internalizing and externalizing behaviors and their parenting stress, as well as the most salient conflict interaction with their 5- to 8-year-old child each day for 1 week. Means and standard deviations across the week in destructive conflict characteristics were calculated to examine the average negativity and inconsistency in mother–child conflict interactions. Parenting stress mediated associations between child externalizing behaviors and both inconsistency and average negativity of destructive conflict characteristics during conflict across the week. Results are discussed in terms of distinctions between internalizing and externalizing behaviors and the value of examining variability in mother–child interactions as well as average tendencies.
Recognition of Multi-Person Action

Many proposed interactive systems require the ability of a machine to understand the cooperative action of several people. Unlike the activity of a single person over short time scales, multi-agent action is typically loosely defined by statistical tendencies, requires certain causal interactions, and evolves over extended periods of time. Recognition techniques designed to observe single-agent action (such as hidden Markov models) are unlikely to succeed in these situations. Here we present two approaches to the statistical recognition of multi-agent action. The first is based upon stochastic parsing of parallel event streams. This method is useful where there are a priori definitions of actions involving a small number of agents, but where the detection of individual elements is uncertain. The second approach relies on the uncertain integration of confirming evidence of large scale coordinated activity, such as a team executing a particular football play. In presentation and comparison of these two techniques we will attempt characterize multi-agent action recognition problems in terms of being structural or statistical, and in terms of their spatial-temporal rigidity.
Approximations for Gabor and wavelet frames

Let ψ be a frame vector under the action of a collection of unitary operators U. Motivated by the recent work of Frank, Paulsen and Tiballi and some application aspects of Gabor and wavelet frames, we consider the existence and uniqueness of the best approximation by normalized tight frame vectors. We prove that for any frame induced by a projective unitary representation for a countable discrete group, the best normalized tight frame (NTF) approximation exists and is unique. Therefore it applies to Gabor frames (including Gabor frames for subspaces) and frames induced by translation groups. Similar results hold for semi-orthogonal wavelet frames.
Religious Content in Social Work Education: A Comparative Approach

Abstract This paper presents a rationale and methodology for teaching about the religious and spiritual aspects of human behavior in social work curricula. An approach derived from the field of comparative religious studies is described, including examination of religion as a universal aspect of human culture, religious diversity, and the usefulness and authenticity of religious beliefs and practices. Implications for the personal and professional preparation of the social work educator are discussed.
Surge Transfer in 3-Winding Transformers [includes discussion]

When an impulse wave hits a transformer winding, transient voltages are produced in all the windings. This paper discusses the voltages transferred to the terminals of the nonimpulsed windings of 3-winding transformers and autotransformers. Only two components of the transferred surge have practical significance: the electrostatic component and the electromagnetic component. Analytical expressions of the terminal voltages have been obtained for both these components for various terminal conditions of the nonimpulsed windings. Comparisons are made with tests made on an electromagnetic model of a 33,333-kva 3-winding transformer. Recommendations are made for the protection of the tertiary windings of transformers and of the apparatus connected to these windings.
A Review of the Pharmacokinetics, Pharmacodynamics and Efficacy of Zolmitriptan in the Acute Abortive Treatment of Migraine

Migraine is a common and often disabling neurovascular disorder. Changes in the metabolism and the central processing of serotonin, as well as abnormalities in the modulation of the central and peripheral trigeminal nociceptive pathways, have been shown to play signifi cant roles in migraine pathophysiology. Recent evidence suggests that a low serotonin state facilitates activation of the trigeminal nociceptive pathways. In addition, several pharmacological agents that modulate serotonin are used in the treatment of migraine. Specifi cally there are seven FDA approved, 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) 1B/1D receptor agonists, used for the acute abortive therapy of migraine. Zolmitriptan is one such triptan. Zolmitriptan is available as a tablet, orally disintegrating tablet and as a nasal spray. It is rapidly absorbed and detectable within the plasma, within 2 to 5 minutes for the nasal spray and within 15 minutes for the tablet. Zolmitriptan reaches peak plasma levels in 2-4 hours, with good levels maintained for up to 6 hours. Although the metabolism of zolmitriptan is predominantly hepatic, only 25% of zolmitriptan is bound to plasma proteins. Thus it is unlikely for drug interactions involving the dis- placement of highly protein-bound drugs. Zolmitriptan is very well tolerated with less than half of participants in clinical trials reporting adverse events, most of which were mild and transient. Although rare, serious cardiovascular events have been reported with all triptans. However, when patients are appropriately selected, zolmitriptan is both, a safe and effective acute migraine abortive agent. In this article, we will fi rst briefl y review the biological role of serotonin and the literature linking serotonin to migraine pathophysiology. This will be followed by a comprehensive review of the pharmacodynamics, pharmacokinetics and effi cacy of zolmitriptan. Finally, the clinical application of the use of zolmitriptan in migraine therapy will be discussed.
Modeling and simulating optical computing architectures

The major issues in system design are timing, synchronization, and control. In designing free-space optical computing architectures, the application of CAD tools is necessary because of the high degree of system complexity, parallelism and concurrency; in conjunction with the high cost and lack of availability of devices. Current CAD tools lack the expressiveness to model system structure and behavior of parallel and concurrent architectures. Thus, making them inefficient and ineffective.
Detection of Biological Materials by Gold Nano-biosensor-based Electrochemical Method

The sections in this article are Introduction Template Synthesis of Gold Nano-wire Arrays for Biosensor Applications General Template Synthesis Template Formation Fabrication of Gold Nano-wire Arrays (GNW) Synthesis of a Linker and its Attachment to Gold Posts of GNW followed by Binding to Specific Antibodies Development of Electrochemical Nano-biosensor for Bacteria Detection General Detections for Biosensors Experimental Conditions Electrochemical Impedance (EIS) Detection of E. coli EIS on Flat Gold Surfaces EIS on GNW EIS on GNW with Al2O3 Summary of EIS Detection of E. coli Bacteria Conclusions Acknowledgments
Analysis of isochronous cyclotrons with separated hard-edge magnets☆

Abstract The orbit properties of isochronous cyclotrons with separated magnets are analyzed on the basis of the hard-edge approximation. This analysis extends previous work by treating magnets having a quite general shape. This treatment results in a generalized expression for the field index. A computer program (“Spyring Code”) is described which uses this analysis to calculate orbit properties for a given magnet geometry. Results are presented for a 600 MeV cyclotron having a symmetric six sector geometry with a radially decreasing magnet fraction. These results demonstrate that this type of magnet geometry produces greater vertical focusing than a comparable design with a constant magnet fraction.
A nitric oxide-inducible lactate dehydrogenase enables Staphylococcus aureus to resist innate immunity.

Staphylococcus aureus is one of the most successful human pathogens, colonizing 2 billion individuals worldwide and causing invasive infections even in immunocompetent hosts. S. aureus can evade multiple components of host innate immunity, including the antimicrobial radical nitric oxide (NO ⚫ ) produced by activated phagocytes. We show that S. aureus is capable of metabolically adapting to nitrosative stress by expressing an NO ⚫ -inducible l-lactate dehydrogenase ( ldh 1, SACOL0222) divergently transcribed from the NO ⚫ -detoxifying flavohemoglobin ( hmp ). l-Lactate production allows S. aureus to maintain redox homeostasis during nitrosative stress and is essential for virulence. NO ⚫ -inducible lactate dehydrogenase activity and NO ⚫ resistance distinguish S. aureus from the closely related commensal species S. epidermidis and S. saprophyticus .
Common Knowledge of the Second Kind

Although most of us “know” that human beings cannot and should not be replaced by computers, we have great difficulties saying why this is so. This paradox is largely the result of institutionalizing several fundamental misconceptions as to the nature of both trustworthy “objective” and “moral” knowledge. Unless we transcend this paradox, we run the increasing risks of becoming very good at counting without being able to say what is worth counting and why. The degree to which this is occurring is the degree to which the computer revolution is already over — and the degree to which we human beings have lost.
Introduction to formal methods of software design

Abstract The potential benefits of using formal methods in the design of software are discussed. Concepts are illustrated by several small examples, with the objective of helping to bridge the gap between theory and practice. The paper introduces and explains some of the terminology, symbols and notation for the discrete mathematics used in the formal methods literature, intended to assist the reader in further study.
From data to probability densities without histograms

Abstract When one deals with data drawn from continuous variables, a histogram is often inadequate to display their probability density. It deals inefficiently with statistical noise, and binsizes are free parameters. In contrast to that, the empirical cumulative distribution function (obtained after sorting the data) is parameter free. But it is a step function, so that its differentiation does not give a smooth probability density. Based on Fourier series expansion and Kolmogorov tests, we introduce a simple method, which overcomes this problem. Error bars on the estimated probability density are calculated using a jackknife method. We give several examples and provide computer code reproducing them. You may want to look at the corresponding figures 4 to 9 first. Program summary Program title: cdf_to_pd Catalogue identifier: AEBC_v1_0 Program summary URL: http://cpc.cs.qub.ac.uk/summaries/AEBC_v1_0.html Program obtainable from: CPC Program Library, Queen's University, Belfast, N. Ireland Licensing provisions: Standard CPC licence, http://cpc.cs.qub.ac.uk/licence/licence.html No. of lines in distributed program, including test data, etc.: 2758 No. of bytes in distributed program, including test data, etc.: 18 594 Distribution format: tar.gz Programming language: Fortran 77 Computer: Any capable of compiling and executing Fortran code Operating system: Any capable of compiling and executing Fortran code Classification: 4.14, 9 Nature of problem: When one deals with data drawn from continuous variables, a histogram is often inadequate to display the probability density. It deals inefficiently with statistical noise, and binsizes are free parameters. In contrast to that, the empirical cumulative distribution function (obtained after sorting the data) is parameter free. But it is a step function, so that its differentiation does not give a smooth probability density. Solution method: Based on Fourier series expansion and Kolmogorov tests, we introduce a simple method, which overcomes this problem. Error bars on the estimated probability density are calculated using a jackknife method. Several examples are included in the distribution file. Running time: The test runs provided take only a few seconds to execute.
Focused Female Condom Education and Trial: Comparison of Young African American and Puerto Rican Women's Assessments

To obtain culture-specific information to guide the design of female condom education and distribution in transcultural urban US communities 28 African American women and 24 Puerto Rican women living in Springfield Massachusetts were enrolled in a 30-day trial of this contraceptive method. The health education component of the trial emphasized use of the female condom to protect against HIV/AIDS other sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy. During the 30-day trial African American women used the female condom an average of 4.6 times compared with 5.7 times among Latinas. Puerto Rican respondents who did not use the device more than once were motivated primarily by their partners objections while African American women tended to focus on their own negative experiences. The majority of Puerto Rican women used indirect statements and progressive exposure to information when introducing the female condom to their partners while African Americans were more open and direct. Most participants experienced initial difficulties with the insertion process mechanics and physical experience. Both groups of women agreed that female condom users should be provided with information addressing the following five areas: general information mechanics of use protective functions and effectiveness ability to increase womens own protection and partner negotiation. All participants indicated they would recommend the female condom to a friend especially because of its ability to protect against HIV/AIDS but African American women were more aggressive in promoting the method through established womens networks in the community.
A decade of restructuring at Meriam Library, California State University, Chico

Publication No. 49 of the Association of College and Research Libraries entitled Restructuring Academic Libraries: Organizational Development in the Wake of Technological Change states “the swift advance of computer networking has disrupted print‐age organizational structures in higher education and invaded the academic library’s traditional autonomy. Such fundamental change impels libraries to develop new institutional arrangements to support digital‐based research and curricular programs”. With this in mind, this paper examines the Meriam Library at California State University, Chico, using the four ranges of restructuring outcomes of boundary spanning, as described in the publication, as benchmarks to measure and assess what opportunities and achievements in organizational changes have occurred over the last decade.
Investigation of novel inorganic resist materials for EUV lithography

Recently, both PSI1 and ASML2 illustrated champion EUVL resolution using slow, non-chemically amplified inorganic resists. However, the requirements for EUVL manufacturing require simultaneous delivery of high resolution, good sensitivity, and low line edge/width roughness (LER/LWR) on commercial grade hardware. As a result, we believe that new classes of materials should be explored and understood. This paper focuses on our efforts to assess metal oxide based nanoparticles as novel EUV resists3. Various spectroscopic techniques were used to probe the patterning mechanism of these materials. EUV exposure data is presented to investigate the feasibility of employing inorganic materials as viable EUV resists.
Isolation of synaptic vesicles from Narcine brasiliensis electric organ: some influences on release of vesicular acetylcholine and ATP

A simple density gradient centrifugation technique for separating electric organ cholinergic synaptic vesicles from other organelles and membrane fragments is described. Frozen, ground electric organ is extracted with a solution of similar density to the vesicles; during the subsequent centrifugation, vesicles remain suspended in the extraction medium and heavier contaminating structures sediment out. In confirmation of results obtained with mammalian central nervous system vesicles, a biphasic pattern of efflux of bound ACh is demonstrated. Low levels of phospholipase A2 (EC 3.1.1.4.) induce efflux of ACh from the vesicle fraction; it is shown that the concomitant fall in vesicle bound ATP is due to ATP efflux rather than ATP hydrolysis within the vesicle.
Regulation of insulin-like growth factor I transcription by cyclic adenosine 3',5'-monophosphate (cAMP) in fetal rat bone cells through an element within exon 1: protein kinase A-dependent control without a consensus AMP response element

Insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) is a locally synthesized anabolic growth factor for bone. IGF-I synthesis by primary fetal rat osteoblasts (Ob) is stimulated by agents that increase the intracellular cAMP concentration, including prostaglandin E2 (PGE2). Previous studies with Ob cultures demonstrated that PGE2 enhanced IGF-I transcription through selective use of IGF-I promoter 1, with little effect on IGF-I messenger RNA half-life. Transient transfection of Ob cultures with an array of promoter 1-luciferase reporter fusion constructs has now allowed localization of a potential cis-acting promoter element(s) responsible for cAMP-stimulated gene expression to the 5'-untranslated region (5'-UTR) of IGF-I exon 1, within a segment lacking a consensus cAMP response element. Our evidence derives from three principal observations: 1) a transfection construct containing only 122 nucleotides (nt) of promoter 1 and 328 nt of the 5'-UTR retained full PGE2-stimulated reporter expression; 2) maximal PGE2-driven reporter expression required the presence of nt 196 to 328 of exon 1 when tested within the context of IGF-I promoter 1; 3) cotransfection of IGF-I promoter-luciferase-reporter constructs with a plasmid encoding the alpha-isoform of the catalytic subunit of murine cAMP-dependent protein kinase (PKA) produced results comparable to those seen with PGE2 treatment, whereas cotransfection with a plasmid encoding a mutant regulatory subunit of PKA that cannot bind cAMP blocked PGE2-induced reporter expression. Deoxyribonuclease I footprinting of the 5'-UTR of exon 1 demonstrated protected sequences at HS3A, HS3B, and HS3D, three of six DNA-protein binding sites previously characterized with rat liver nuclear extracts. Of these three regions, only the HS3D binding site is located within the functionally identified hormonally responsive segment of IGF-I exon 1. These results directly implicate PKA in the control of IGF-I gene transcription by PGE2 and identify a segment of IGF-I exon 1 as being essential for this hormonal regulation.
Prevention of tolerance to the organophosphorus anticholinesterase paraoxon with carboxylesterase inhibitors.

The contribution of carboxylesterase (CarbE) to the development of tolerance to the organophosphorus anticholinesterase (OP-ANTIChE) paraoxon (diethyl p-nitrophenyl phosphate) was investigated in rats. Daily injections (20 days) of paraoxon (0.09 mg/kg) led to a cumulative dose that was 9.0-fold higher than the acute ed50 of 0.20 mg/kg, s.c. During this period, the rats did not demonstrate visible signs of cholinergic hyperactivity nor did they die, despite the persistence of critically reduced brain acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity (20–30% of control). In addition, none of these rats died following the administration of a dose of carbachol (3.1 mg/kg, i.p.) that was an ld90 in untreated rats. Daily treatment with the CarbE inhibitors CBDP [2-(o-cresyl)-4H-1,3,2-benzodioxaphosphorin-2-oxide] (2 mg/kg, s.c.) or iso-OMPA (tetraisopropylpyrophosphoramide) (3 mg/kg, i.p.) followed by paraoxon (0.09 mg/kg, s.c.) 60 min later prevented the development of tolerance to paraoxon, since signs of cholinergic hyperactivity were observed and rats died on day 4 of the combined treatment. In tolerant rats, one-time CBDP or iso-OMPA pretreatment increased toxicity to paraoxon, causing the death of all rats within 60 min. The increase in paraoxon toxicity was correlated with inhibition of a plasma CarbE, with high affinity toward α-naphthyl acetate (α-NA) and to the inhibitors CBDP, iso-OMPA, and paraoxon. Inhibition of a plasma CarbE with high affinity toward p-nitrophenyl acetate (p-NPA) and low affinity to the above inhibitors did not potentiate paraoxon toxicity significantly. Neither the liver CarbEs, which showed high affinity to iso-OMPA, nor the inhibition of butyrylcholinesterase (BuChE) by iso-OMPA in plasma and liver potentiated paraoxon toxicity. By eliminating plasma CarbE (α-NA) as potential binding sites for paraoxon with either CBDP or iso-OMPA, paraoxon can exert its toxicity to a greater extent at its specific target site, the functionally important AChE at cholinergic synapses. It is concluded that plasma CarbE (α-NA) provided a significant protection against paraoxon intoxication and that the inhibition of this enzyme prevented the tolerance development seen with repeated paraoxon treatments.
Effects of leader structuring style and task‐orientation characteristics of group members

This study investigated the effects of leader structuring style (attention to group interaction procedures) on group member satisfaction and communication performance when the task‐orientation of group members varied. Results indicated little difference in the behavior of high task‐oriented subjects regardless of whether they interacted with structuring or nonstructuring leaders. Subjects low in task‐orientation, however, were significantly more satisfied with their leader and their group's task performance, and were rated by judges of discussion tapes as being in higher quality discussion groups and as making more communication skills statements and fewer social‐emotional contributions when they worked with structuring leaders than when they worked with nonstructuring leaders.
The Pioneer Venus Orbiter Gamma Burst Detector

The Orbiter Gamma Burst Detector was designed to record the temporal and spectral characteristics of cosmic gamma-ray bursts. The primary mission of the experiment is the accurate determination of the directions to the sources of such bursts through a technique of triangulation, as a member of a widely spaced array of similar instruments. The system consists of a pair of scintillation spectrometers sensitive in the range 100 < E < 2000 keV, together with logics and data storage to provide a capability for recording these events. Nineteen events which have been verified as cosmic gamma-ray bursts were recorded within the first year's operation.
A comparison of polynomial time reducibilities

Abstract Various forms of polynomial time reducibility are compared. Among the forms examined are many-one, bounded truth table, truth table and Turing reducibility. The effect of introducing nondeterminism into reduction procedures is also examined.
WorldMap: a strategy to allow researchers to scratch their itches online thereby improving data access for all

The Center for Geographic Analysis is building WorldMap, an open source, cloud-based platform to promote collaboration around geospatial information (http://worldmap.harvard.edu/alpha). Despite the plethora of ways in which research materials can now be shared on the web, geospatial information lags despite enormous potential for creating new knowledge.The reasons for the lag are many and interconnected: 1) lack of a platform which supports even basic real time geospatial collaboration, 2) lack of a platform that is easy to obtain and install, 3) the sparse implementation of standards for geospatial interoperability, 4) the size and complexity of geospatial datasets, 5) the lack of an incentive for researchers to upload geospatial datasets to a system that supports eventual sharing.Taken together these factors are recipe for stagnation despite the arrival 6 years ago of the Google Maps API and KML. Where is the Apache of the spatial world to spur a grassroots geoweb and bring it to the broad range of public, private and non-profit organizations that need it, and to non-GIS trained researchers wherever they may be?WorldMap is an attempt to nudge the ball forward in theory and practice. The idea behind WorldMap is to allow anyone to upload and publish data to the web, control how data is represented, and to control access to one's data. Users will also have a range of data exploration tools and eventually online annotation, editing, and analysis. By letting researchers use the system to "scratch their own itch" we hope to take a page from successful attempts to crowdsource the development of other complex public goods.This talk will demonstrate the functionality of the current version of WorldMap as a potential collaboration platform, then will talk about ideas for future enhancements, and solicit feedback on the platform and how it could be improved.
A Comment on multiple vacua, particle production and the time dependent AdS / CFT correspondence

We give an explicit formulation of the time dependent AdS/CFT correspondence when there are multiple vacua present in the Lorentzian signature. By computing sample two point functions we show how different amplitudes are related by cosmological particle production. We illustrate our methods in two example spacetimes: (a) a ``bubble of nothing'' in AdS space, and (b) an asymptotically locally AdS spacetime with a bubble of nothing on the boundary. In both cases the $\ensuremath{\alpha}$ vacua of de Sitter space make an interesting appearance.
The Effects of Trade Intervention on International Price Instability

Price instability has been an issue of long concern to economists and recently has received increased attention, mainly because of economic events taking place in the world during the 1970s. Much of the discussion has occurred in relation to agricultural commodities where random prices, reflecting stochastic fluctuations in supply and demand, are often of major significance. At different phases of price fluctuations, different groups become more vocal and more concerned about price movements-rising prices affect consumers and importing nations, whereas falling prices are of vital interest to producers and exporting countries. It is, perhaps, from such interactions and competing interests that the demands of developing countries for an international buffer fund to stabilize major export commodities have arisen.
Organizational usability of digital libraries: case study of legal research in civil and criminal courts

Digital Libraries (DLs) is a recent term used to refer to Information systems (IS) and services that provide electronic documents—text files, digital sound, digital video—available in dynamic or archival repositories. Some insist that DLs refer to documentary collections that are accessed via the Internet, while others refer to DLs as any collection of electronic text, sound, or video files used in a shared space. There is much at stake in these debates. If DLs are narrowly defined, then we lose the ability to learn about key DL issues from previous research, theory, and professional practice in IS and librarianship. We present a case study of the use of legal research DLs (LRDLs) in the California Civil and Criminal Courts. We extend the concept of organization validity (Markus & Robey, 1983) in IS to that of organizational usability in LRDLs. The results suggest that points of access to LRDLs influence usage, that there is a strong interplay between home computer use and LRDL use at work, and that legal professionals prefer one-on-one assistance rather than group training. Conditions fostering organizationally unusable systems are presented based on empirical data. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Playout scheduling and loss-concealments in voip for optimizing conversational voice communication quality

In this paper, we present new adaptive playout scheduling (POS) and loss concealment (LC) schemes for delivering high and consistent conversational voice communication quality (CVCQ) perceived by users in real-time VoIP systems. We first characterize the delay and loss conditions of an IP network and a human conversation in a VoIP system. We then identify the attributes that affect the human perception of CVCQ, which include listening-only speech quality (LOSQ), conversational interactivity (CI), and conversational efficiency (CE). We investigate their trade-offs with respect to system-controllable mouth-to-ear delays (MEDs) and the amount of redundant piggybacking. Finally, we evaluate our adaptive POS and redundancy-based LC schemes by packet traces collected in the PlanetLab.