cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
TWO-YEAR EFFECTS OF A BACILLUS THURINGIENSIS TREATMENT ON SPRUCE BUDWORM, CHORISTONEURA FUMIFERANA (LEPIDOPTERA: TORTRICIDAE)

Multiyear benefits or carryover effects of single treatments of Bacillus thuringiensis (B.t.) have been suggested in a few reports. Morris (1977) noted that over 2 to 3 years after treatment both defoliation by and oviposition rates of the spruce budworm ( Choristoneura fumiferana ) were lower in B.t. -treated plots than in untreated plots. Smirnoff et al. (1974) suggested that “metabolic perturbations” in survivors of B.t. treatments affected fecundity and numbers the following year. With other insects, Ruelle et al. (1977) suggested multigenerational effects in the browntail moth, Euproctis chrysorrhoea , and Pruett et al. (1980) described an “exceptional” case with the Siberian silkworm, Dendrolimus sibericus , where over-wintering larvae harbored sublethal infections of B.t. , which spread to subsequent generations.
What are the Visual Features Underlying Rapid Object Recognition

Research progress in machine vision has been very significant in recent years. Robust face detection and identification algorithms are already readily available to consumers, and modern computer vision algorithms for generic object recognition are now coping with the richness and complexity of natural visual scenes. Unlike early vision models of object recognition that emphasized the role of figure-ground segmentation and spatial information between parts, recent successful approaches are based on the computation of loose collections of image features without prior segmentation or any explicit encoding of spatial relations. While these models remain simplistic models of visual processing, they suggest that, in principle, bottom-up activation of a loose collection of image features could support the rapid recognition of natural object categories and provide an initial coarse visual representation before more complex visual routines and attentional mechanisms take place. Focusing on biologically plausible computational models of (bottom-up) pre-attentive visual recognition, we review some of the key visual features that have been described in the literature. We discuss the consistency of these feature-based representations with classical theories from visual psychology and test their ability to account for human performance on a rapid object categorization task.
Origin and Growth of Federal Reserve Water Rights

The historical development of Federal reserved water rights, of interest to all who are involved in water-resource planning or use, is presented. The Federal reserved rights are those that are reserved in fact or by implication in Federal treaties, reservations, acts, or actions. Federal actions include flood-control projects and navigation improvement. The courts of the United States have developed and promulgated a system of Federal reserved water rights that can be traced from about 1850 to existing suits on water resources. A determination of Federal water rights is necessary for state water-resource planning and allocation.
Tunable morphologies of indium tin oxide nanostructures using nanocellulose templates

Metal oxide nanostructures have emerged as an important family of materials for various device applications. The performance is highly dependent on the morphology of the metal oxide nanostructures. Here we report a completely green approach to prepare indium tin oxide (ITO) nanoparticles using only water and cellulose nanofibril (CNF) in addition to the ITO precursor. Surface hydroxyl groups of the CNFs allow for efficient conjugation of ITO precursors (e.g., metal ions) in aqueous solution. The resulting CNF film allows for controllable spatial arrangement of metal oxide precursors, which results in tunable particle morphology (e.g., nanowires, nanospheres, and octahedral nanoparticles). These ITO nanoparticles can also form conductive and transparent ITO films. This work opens a new perspective on developing metal oxide nanostructures.
Legislating for weight-based equality: national trends in public support for laws to prohibit weight discrimination

The prevalence of weight discrimination in the United States has led to increasing calls for legal measures to address weight-based inequities on a broader scale. This study examined public support in 2014 and 2015 for three proposed laws prohibiting weight discrimination, and compared findings with public attitudes towards the same laws from 2011 to 2013. An online survey was completed by a diverse national sample of US adults (N=2411) in June-July of 2014 and 2015 to assess their support for anti-discrimination legislation. Public support increased for the anti-discrimination laws from 2014 to 2015, and at least 71% of participants expressed support for each of the laws in both years. Compared with public support documented in 2011-2013, there was a significant increase in support in 2014-2015 for legislation to extend disability protections to individuals with obesity and for laws that would include body weight in existing state civil rights statutes. Consistently, high levels of support (78%) were documented across this 5-year period for laws to address weight-based discrimination in employment. As public approval is a powerful catalyst motivating political will needed to make policy changes, these findings provide important insights and implications for advancing policy-level discourse about remedies for weight discrimination.
Penalized direct estimation of parametric images in PET

Direct positron emission tomography (PET) reconstruction has been developed for acquiring accurate parametric imaging from raw measurement. Direct reconstruction estimates physiological kinetic parameters in iterative reconstruction process that contains two steps such as updating dynamic images and calculating nonlinear least square (NLS) parameter fitting. Although the quality of dynamic images has been significantly improved using the direct reconstruction, the small kinetic values related to the binding potential are still noisy due to high noise variance of the conventional pixel-by-pixel NLS. To improve the performance, we propose a penalized direct reconstruction that contains the Poisson likelihood, ridge regression with NLS, and total variation (TV) terms. In particular, because the kinetic parameters are three dimensional images and we can assume that the kinetic parameters of neighbor voxels varies smoothly, we can impose a 3-D TV regularization to the kinetic parameter images directly. To solve the cost function, we use a splitting method exploiting an alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM) algorithm. In computer simulation, we use a segmented brain phantom in which different kinetic parameters are used for different regions. We compare binding potential images of conventional methods and the proposed method. We demonstrate that the proposed method is significantly accurate and improves the quality of binding potential image compared to the conventional direct method.
Grading, gradients, degradation, grace Part 2: Phenomenology, materiality, and cosmology

Part 1 of this article, which appeared in the last edition of this journal, focused on intensity and causality through the lens of social conventions and communicative practices. This part focuses on related themes from the standpoint of phenomenology, cosmology, and materiality. The central ethnographic object is still landslides in Highland Guatemala, and the ways speakers of Q’eqchi’ (Maya), from a small village in the cloud forest, relate to such events. And so we will continue to analyze the aftermath of one such landslide, taking up precisely where part 1 left off. More generally, though less explicitly, this article continues our articulation of four key terms for the Anthropocene (and, as should now be clear, for almost Everycene): “gradients” (the way qualities vary in their intensity over space and time, and the ways such variations relate to causal processes), “grading” (the ways agents assess and alter such intensities, and experience and intervene in causal processes), “degradation” (the ways highly valuable variations in qualitative intensities are lowered or lost), and “grace” (the way agents work to maintain gradients, care for those whose lives have been degraded, and value those agents who work and care in such ways).
Insecticide Resistance of Several Field-Collected German Cockroach (Dictyoptera: Blattellidae) Strains.

German cockroaches, Blattella germanica (L.), remain one of the most difficult indoor insect species to control because of its ability to develop resistance to insecticides. The toxicity and resistance levels of five technical-grade insecticides (permethrin, chlorpyrifos, propoxur, imidacloprid, and fipronil) were determined for adult males of seven strains of the German cockroach, a laboratory-reared susceptible strain (S) and six field-collected strains (B, D, E, G, H, and I). Using topical application methods, fipronil was the most toxic insecticide to all seven strains. The LD50 values of fipronil in the susceptible strain (S) and the field-collected strains B, D, E, G, H, and I were 1.33, 2.62, 11.53, 5.07, 7.66, 5.15, and 10.15 ng/insect, respectively. The field-collected strains were most resistant to permethrin among the five insecticides, except for strain H. The resistance ratios of strains B, D, E, G, and I to permethrin were 31.8, 37.3, 51.9, 34.9, and 37.5, respectively. With a resistance ratio of 6.4, the field-collected strain H was most resistant to chlorpyrifos. The field-collected strains were not significantly resistant to propoxur. Strains B, H, and I were not significantly resistant to imidacloprid when compared with the susceptible strain. Based on the different resistance ratios for each insecticide, we conclude that there are high rates of insecticide resistance in German cockroaches from Franklin County, NC, and that the field-collected strains most likely had different treatment histories.
The heterotrimeric G protein Gβ1 interacts with the catalytic subunit of protein phosphatase 1 and modulates G protein-coupled receptor signaling in platelets.

Thrombosis is caused by the activation of platelets at the site of ruptured atherosclerotic plaques. This activation involves engagement of G protein–coupled receptors (GPCR) on platelets that promote their aggregation. Although it is known that protein kinases and phosphatases modulate GPCR signaling, how serine/threonine phosphatases integrate with G protein signaling pathways is less understood. Because the subcellular localization and substrate specificity of the catalytic subunit of protein phosphatase 1 (PP1c) is dictated by PP1c-interacting proteins, here we sought to identify new PP1c interactors. GPCRs signal via the canonical heterotrimeric Gα and Gβγ subunits. Using a yeast two-hybrid screen, we discovered an interaction between PP1cα and the heterotrimeric G protein Gβ1 subunit. Co-immunoprecipitation studies with epitope-tagged PP1c and Gβ1 revealed that Gβ1 interacts with the PP1c α, β, and γ1 isoforms. Purified PP1c bound to recombinant Gβ1-GST protein, and PP1c co-immunoprecipitated with Gβ1 in unstimulated platelets. Thrombin stimulation of platelets induced the dissociation of the PP1c-Gβ1 complex, which correlated with an association of PP1c with phospholipase C β3 (PLCβ3), along with a concomitant dephosphorylation of the inhibitory Ser1105 residue in PLCβ3. siRNA-mediated depletion of GNB1 (encoding Gβ1) in murine megakaryocytes reduced protease-activated receptor 4, activating peptide-induced soluble fibrinogen binding. Thrombin-induced aggregation was decreased in PP1cα−/− murine platelets and in human platelets treated with a small-molecule inhibitor of Gβγ. Finally, disruption of PP1c-Gβ1 complexes with myristoylated Gβ1 peptides containing the PP1c binding site moderately decreased thrombin-induced human platelet aggregation. These findings suggest that Gβ1 protein enlists PP1c to modulate GPCR signaling in platelets.
Autocratic political cycle and international conflict

This article reveals a temporal pattern of conflict behavior over the course of autocratic leaders’ tenure. By identifying a commonly observed domestic political cycle in autocracies, I discuss how...
Distorted Risk Incentives from Size Threshold-Based Regulations

Many regulations that affect firms and banks in the economy are based on size thresholds. We develop a model that shows that such regulations distort risk-taking incentives, providing above-threshold firms with greater incentives to take risk and below-threshold firms the opposite. Risk distortion varies nonlinearly as a function of the distance from the size threshold, and is increasing in the magnitude of the regulatory costs. We test our model by examining changes in bank risk around the Dodd-Frank Act, a major banking regulation with size thresholds. We provide empirical evidence that supports the main predictions of the model.
Linguistic input is tuned to children's developmental level.

Children rapidly learn a tremendous amount about language despite limitations imposed on them by their developing cognitive abilities. One possible explanation for this rapid learning is that caregivers tune the language they produce to these limitations, titrating the complexity of their speech to developmentally-appropriate levels. We test this hypothesis in a large-scale corpus analysis, measuring the contingency between parents’ and children’s speech over the first 5 years. Our results support the linguistic tuning hypothesis, showing a high degree of mostly parent-led coordination early in development that decreases as children become more proficient language learners and users.
A Self-contained Derivation of the Formula for Rational r

(1985). A Self-contained Derivation of the Formula for Rational r. The College Mathematics Journal: Vol. 16, No. 2, pp. 131-132.
Answers to 18 Questions About Open Science Practices

Open science refers to an array of practices that promote openness, integrity, and reproducibility in research; the merits of which are being vigorously debated and developed across academic journals, listservs, conference sessions, and professional associations. The current paper identifies and clarifies major issues related to the use of open science practices (e.g., data sharing, study pre-registration, open access journals). We begin with a useful general description of what open science in organizational research represents and adopt a question-and-answer format. Through this format, we then focus on the application of specific open science practices and explore future directions of open science. All of this builds up to a series of specific actionable recommendations provided in conclusion, to help individual researchers, reviewers, journal editors, and other stakeholders develop a more open research environment and culture.
“I thought I’d have more trouble with white people!”: Exploring racial microaggressions between West African immigrants and African Americans

Racial tensions continue in 21st-century United States through the communication of racial microaggressions. We are interested in the communication of racial microaggressions directed towards West ...
Recurrent Levamisole-Induced Agranulocytosis Complicated by Bowel Ischemia in a Cocaine User

BACKGROUND Levamisole is a common adulterant of cocaine and up to 69% of seized cocaine in United States contains levamisole. It is a synthetic imidazothiazole derivative which was previously used as an immunomodulating agent for treatment of various connective tissue disorders and colorectal carcinoma. However, it was withdrawn later from the market due to significant toxicity associated with it. CASE REPORT We present the case of a 59-year-old male patient with a history of active cocaine use who presented to the hospital with febrile neutropenia and agranulocytosis. He underwent extensive work-up for neutropenia and was suspected to have it secondary to levamisole-adulterated cocaine. He was treated with antibiotics and granulocyte-stimulating factor. His white cell count improved and he was discharged home. He continued to use cocaine after discharge from the hospital. He returned to the hospital 3 weeks later with recurrent neutropenia and agranulocytosis complicated by septic shock and bowel necrosis which required prolonged antibiotics and a bowel resection. CONCLUSIONS Levamisole-induced agranulocytosis should be considered in patients who present with neutropenia and a history of cocaine use. Physicians should have high clinical suspicion and consider it a potential etiology of agranulocytosis when other causes have been excluded.
DNA Methyltransferases: Eubacterial GATC

Eubacterial glutamyl-tRNA (Gln) amidotransferase, subunit C homolog (GATC) methyltransferases transfer methyl groups from S -adenosyl- l -methionine to the N-6 position of the adenine ring. Only adenines in the tetranucleotide sequence GATC in double-stranded DNA are methylated. Unlike other methyltransferases that function to protect DNA from restriction endonucleases, the eubacterial GATC methyltransferases have other biological functions that are described in this article. In general, the cell uses DNA methylation primarily to control the rate at which these functions exert their effects. Most of our knowledge about eubacterial GATC methyltransferases has come from studies using the Dam methyltransferase of Escherichia coli as a model system and this article primarily focuses on this.
The Correlates of Life Quality in U.S. Metropolitan Areas

This study analyzes the correlates of life quality differences in 243 U.S. metropolitan areas. Using an overall index of life quality developed by Ben-Chieh Liu, it tests the empirical utility of three competing explanations-racial dualism, economic development, and political culture. The results show that all three exert substantial effects on the quality of life regardless of metropolitan size. Overall the best predictor of life quality differences is the percentage of adults who have received at least a high school education. In addition, cultural differences exert significant effects on the quality of metropolitan life independent of racial and developmental differences. These cultural effects are interpreted within two theoretically seminal theories: Elazar's theory of political culture and Gastil's theory of cultural regions.
A Two-tier Coarse Indexing Scheme for MLS Database Systems

In this paper, we propose a two-tier indexing scheme for multilevel secure database systems, primarily with the intent of improving query response time and reducing the storage required for indexing. At the bottom tier, our scheme requires separate single-level indices, one for each partition of the multilevel relation; at the top tier, our scheme requires a coarse multilevel index consisting of only those key values from the single-level indices that are necessary to direct a query to the appropriate single-level index. Our scheme seems suitable for both single-level and range queries. We prove this claim for B+trees by providing a detailed performance analysis for this index structure. We also give the algorithms for inserting and deleting key values, as well as for searching for a key value, in the proposed index structure.
Design of Coatings for High Temperature Corrosion Protection

Many engineering systems involve exposing components to elevated temperatures and aggressive environments. In some cases, the material of construction is required to have adequate strength. The development of alloys with good high temperature strength is not always compatible with intrinsic oxidation resistance, and accordingly coating systems have been developed. These have to have adequate resistance to the environment, have to be compatible with the substrate, must not degrade the mechanical properties of the component, and must be applicable. In this paper, these aspects are considered, and the principles of coating design are outlined. Possible direction for advance are identified.
La prensa habanera: refugio de los intelectuales desterrados durante la Revolución Mexicana, 1910-1920

Resumen: el presente trabajo tiene como principal objetivo bosquejar la labor de los intelectuales desterrados durante la Revolucion Mexicana en las revistas culturales y los periodicos cubanos mas representativos de la segunda decada del siglo XX. Se trata de un tema apenas analizado en los estudios historicos y siempre desde su aspecto politico. Basado en el rescate de textos hasta la fecha desconocidos, se reconstruye el itinerario de los escritores nacionales en los medios habaneros durante los momentos mas algidos de la lucha armada. En un primero apartado, el trabajo ofrece un panorama general de los exiliados en Cuba, para posteriormente enfocarse en las figuras de Federico Gamboa y Luis G. Urbina.
Associations of pre- and post-cancer depression with end-of-life cancer care intensity.

10031Background: Aggressive end-of-life (EOL) care can result in high costs and is not consistent with patient wishes or linked to better health. Depression also has adverse effects on health outco...
The campfire storytelling system – automatic creation and modification of a narrative

This paper presents and evaluates a method for automatically generating a narrative that includes initial input from the listener, without forcing him/her to become an actual character in the story...
Phosphorus Flame Retardants for Polymeric Materials from Gallic Acid and Other Naturally Occurring Multihydroxybenzoic Acids

The development of polymer and polymer additives from renewable biosources is becoming increasingly prominent. This reflects increasing concerns about sustainability, environmental quality, and human health. Bioproducts produced in nature are generally inexpensive and benign in the environment. Moreover, degradation of derivatives does not yield toxic products. Gallic acid (3,4,5-trihydroxybenzoic acid) is found widely in nature and has long been touted for its medicinal qualities. 3,5-Dihydroxybenzoic acid is also produced by several plants, most notably buckwheat. Both compounds, as the anilide and methyl ester, respectively, have been converted to a series of phosphorus esters, both phosphonate and phosphate. Esters have been fully characterized using spectroscopic and thermal methods. These compounds display good flame retardancy at low loadings in DGEBA epoxy resin.
Cyberbullies, Trolls, and Stalkers: Students’ Perceptions of Ethical Issues in Social Media

Little research has been done to examine users’ perceptions of ethical issues related to communication on social media. This exploratory, descriptive study examines undergraduate students’ percepti...
Regulation of murine NK cell exhaustion through the activation of the DNA damage repair pathway

NK cell exhaustion (NCE) due to sustained proliferation results in impaired NK cell function with loss of cytokine production and lytic activity. Using murine models of chronic NK cell stimulation, we have identified a phenotypic signature of NCE characterized by up-regulation of the terminal differentiation marker KLRG1 and by down-regulation of eomesodermin and the activating receptor NKG2D. Chronic stimulation of mice lacking NKG2D resulted in minimized NCE compared to control mice, thus identifying NKG2D as a crucial mediator of NCE. NKG2D internalization and downregulations on NK cells has been previously observed in the presence of tumor cells with high expression of NKG2D ligands (NKG2DL) due to the activation of the DNA damage repair pathways. Interestingly, our study revealed that during NK cell activation there is an increase of MULT1, and NKG2DL, that correlates with an induction of DNA damage. Treatment with the ATM DNA damage repair pathway inhibitor KU55933 (KU) during activation reduced NCE by improving expression of activation markers and genes involved in cell survival, by sustaining NKG2D expression and by preserving cell functionality. Importantly, NK cells expanded ex vivo in the presence of KU displayed increased anti-tumor efficacy in both NKG2D-dependent and -independent mouse models. Collectively, these data demonstrate that NCE is caused by DNA damage and regulated, at least in part, by NKG2D. Further, the prevention of NCE is a promising strategy to improve NK cell-based immunotherapy.
Anti-schistosomal action of the calcium channel agonist FPL-64176.

Abstract Subversion of parasite neuromuscular function is a key strategy for anthelmintic drug development. Schistosome Ca2+ signaling has been an area of particular interest for decades, with a specific focus on L-type voltage-gated Ca2+ channels (Cavs). However, the study of these channels has been technically challenging. One barrier is the lack of pharmacological probes that are active on flatworms, since the dihydropyridine (DHP) based ligands typically used to study Cavs are relatively ineffective on schistosomes. Here, we have characterized the effect of a structurally distinct putative L-type Cav agonist, FPL-64176, on schistosomes cultured ex vivo and in an in vivo murine model of infection. Unlike DHPs, FPL-64176 evokes rapid and sustained contractile paralysis of adult Schistosoma mansoni reminiscent of the anthelmintic praziquantel. This is accompanied by tegument disruption and an arrest of mitotic activity in somatic stem cells and germ line tissues. Interestingly, this strong ex vivo phenotype was temperature dependent, with FPL-64176 treatment being less potent at 37 °C than 23 °C. However, FPL-64176 caused intra-tegument lesions at the basement membrane of worms cultured ex vivo under both conditions, as well as an in vivo hepatic shift of parasites from the mesenteric vasculature of infected mice to the liver. Gene expression profiling of worms harvested following in vivo FPL-64176 exposure reveals differences in transcripts associated with muscle and extracellular matrix function, as well as female reproduction, which is consistent with the worm phenotypes observed following ex vivo drug treatment. These data advance FPL-64176 as a useful tool to study schistosome Ca2+ signaling, and the benzoyl pyrrole core as a hit compound that may be optimized to develop new parasite-selective leads.
Geomorphology and Climate Interact to Control Organic Carbon Stock and Age in Mountain River Valley Bottoms

Organic carbon (OC) in valley bottom downed wood and soil that cycles over short to moderate timescales represents a large, dynamic, and poorly quantified pool of carbon whose distribution and residence time affects global climate. We compare four disparate mountain river basins to show that mountain river valley bottoms store substantial estimated OC stocks in floodplain soil and downed wood. Although soil OC is generally young, geomorphic processes regulate soil burial and processes that limit microbial respiration, preserving aged OC in certain parts of the river network. Statistical modeling of OC stocks suggests that biogeomorphic processes and the legacy of past erosion regulate the modern distribution of OC in river networks. Our results suggest that although mountain rivers may accumulate large OC stocks relatively rapidly, those stocks are highly sensitive to alterations in soil and wood retention, implying both short- and long-term feedbacks between retentiveness and the distribution of OC between the land and atmosphere.
Modeling the Glagov's compensatory enlargement of human coronary atherosclerotic plaque

Abstract Atherosclerosis often involves the remodeling of medium-sized and large arteries, which can result in permanent histological changes in the vessel wall. In 1987, Glagov and coworkers discovered that remodeling occurred in two stages: an initial compensation phase in which lumen area is approximately conserved, followed by an encroachment phase during which the lumen area decreases. In this chapter, we discuss Glagov remodeling through the lens of mathematical modeling. The models bring physical insight and quantitative understanding to what is potentially an extremely complicated phenomenon involving cell infiltration and proliferation, lipid accumulation, and matrix degradation. By describing the vessel wall as a growing, hyperelastic (i.e., morphoelastic) tube, we are able to predict the salient features of the remodeling curve and understand the biomechanical origins of the two phases. Applications to media sclerosis and peripheral arterial disease are also discussed.
Data Profiteering: Corporate Social Responsibility and Privacy Law Lost in Data Monetization and National Security

Data mining and collecting is increasingly becoming a common practice, in the name of monetization of personal data, progression of national security measures, and politically fueled democratic interferences. Millions of users’ data is constantly being sorted, manipulated, and sold, often without conscientious consent of the consumer. While this practice can result in greater convenience from an innocent consumer level, the vulnerabilities to national privacy and the cyberspace create dangerous territory. The article entitled describes the triangulation of security, monetization, and politicizing in terms of data collection through three primary case studies: Cambridge Analytica and the Facebook scandal during the 2016 United States presidential election, Apple v. FBI, and Edward Snowden and the NSA surveillance activities. It explores how data harvesting and subsequent monetization is embedded in virtually every aspect of our culture and develops understanding of how corporate social responsibility calls for companies to respect and maintain transparency with consumer interests. Current technology policies leaves open spaces for violation both internally and internationally, and why this constitutes certain offensive measures. Future data and privacy legislation, with strong consideration to the varying social contexts, resources, and current international relations. This is done under the underlying assumption that data is an irreplaceable factor in our global progression and is irrevocably embedded into our society. Over-regulation or under-regulation of big tech may lead to negative repercussions to our security or individual privacy rights. These ideas are becoming increasingly understood by the general public and are considered worthy of concern after seeing glimpses of the depth of surveillance and information held by either the government or corporations. While there are intense emotions and opinions on the matter, my article takes an objective and well-rounded perspective to address the interlocking complexities of individual freedoms, need for international cyberspace protection, and continued profitability of data. The idea of personal data and information being manipulated and used against citizens for financial or political agendas is rightfully horrifying the public; my article therefore takes into account these concerns while suggesting further navigating the political, legal, and social process in alignment with the ever-growing power of big data.
Photoacoustic monitoring of oxygenation changes induced by therapeutic ultrasound in murine hepatocellular carcinoma.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a highly vascular solid tumor. We have previously shown that ultrasound (US) therapy significantly reduces tumor vascularity. This study monitors US-induced changes in tumor oxygenation on murine HCC by photoacoustic imaging (PAI). Oxygen saturation and total hemoglobin were assessed by PAI before and after US treatments performed at different intensities of continuous wave (CW) bursts and pulsed wave (PW) bursts US. PAI revealed significant reduction both in HCC oxygen saturation and in total hemoglobin, proportional to the US intensity. Both CW bursts US (1.6 W/cm2) and the PW bursts US (0.8 W/cm2) significantly reduced HCC oxygen saturation and total hemoglobin which continued to diminish with time following the US treatment. The effects of US therapy were confirmed by power Doppler and histological examination of the hemorrhage in tumors. By each measure, the changes observed in US-treated HCC were more prevalent than those in sham-treated tumors and were statistically significant. In conclusion, the results show that US is an effective vascular-targeting therapy for HCC. The changes in oxygenation induced by the US treatment can be noninvasively monitored longitudinally by PAI without the use of exogenous image-enhancing agents. The combined use of PAI and the therapeutic US has potential for image-guided vascular therapy for HCC.
Board Capital and Board Effectiveness: An Examination of Florida Community Foundations

Community foundations have considerable potential for positive social change in the communities they serve yet are understudied in nonprofit management literature. This exploratory study considers board capital of community foundations and the impact this has on board effectiveness. Based on survey data from 71 community foundation board members and executive directors representing 13 community foundations, the study uses regression to test hypotheses. The study finds that board capital, measured by human capital, structural capital, and social capital, plays a factor in board effectiveness. Further, community foundation boards in the survey population are highly effective and have unique attributes that make them distinct from other types of boards. Findings have potential for significant insight on an important segment of nonprofit sector organizations. Subscribe to JNEL
Attenuated NMDAR signaling on fast-spiking interneurons in prefrontal cortex contributes to age-related decline of cognitive flexibility

Ionotropic glutamate receptors of the NMDA and AMPA subtypes transduce excitatory signaling on neurons in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) in support of cognitive flexibility. Cognitive flexibility is reliably observed to decline at advanced ages, coinciding with changes in PFC glutamate receptor expression and neuronal physiology. However, the relationship between age-related impairment of cognitive flexibility and changes to excitatory signaling on distinct classes of PFC neurons is not known. In this study, one cohort of young adult (4 months) and aged (20 months) male F344 rats were characterized for cognitive flexibility on an operant set-shifting task. Expression of the essential NMDAR subunit, NR1, was correlated with individual differences in set-shifting abilities such that lower NR1 in the aged PFC was associated with worse set-shifting. In contrast, lower expression of two AMPAR subunits, GluR1 and GluR2, was not associated with set-shift abilities in aging. As NMDARs are expressed by both pyramidal cells and fast-spiking interneurons (FSI) in PFC, whole-cell patch clamp recordings were performed in a second cohort of age-matched rats to compare age-associated changes on these neuronal subtypes. Evoked excitatory postsynaptic currents were generated using a bipolar stimulator while AMPAR vs. NMDAR-mediated components were isolated using pharmacological tools. The results revealed a clear increase in AMPA/NMDA ratio in FSIs that was not present in pyramidal neurons. Together, these data indicate that loss of NMDARs on interneurons in PFC contributes to age-related impairment of cognitive flexibility.
Profiling Transcriptional Response of Dengue-2 Virus Infection in Midgut Tissue of Aedes aegypti

Understanding the mosquito antiviral response could reveal target pathways or genes of interest that could form the basis of new disease control applications. However, there is a paucity of data in the current literature in understanding antiviral response during the replication period. To illuminate the gene expression patterns in the replication stage, we collected gene expression data at 2.5 days after Dengue-2 virus (DENV-2) infection. We sequenced the whole transcriptome of the midgut tissue and compared gene expression levels between the control and virus-infected group. We identified 31 differentially expressed genes. Based on their function, we identified that those genes fell into two major functional categories - (1) nucleic acid/protein process and (2) immunity/oxidative stress response. Our study has identified candidate genes that can be followed up for gene overexpression/inhibition experiments to examine if the perturbed gene interaction may impact the mosquito’s immune response against DENV. This is an important step to understanding how mosquitoes eliminate the virus and provides an important foundation for further research in developing novel dengue control strategies.
Automated Visual Presentation: From Heterogeneous Information to Coherent Visual Discourse

Automated visual presentation systems should be able to design effective presentations for heterogeneous (quantitative and qualitative) information. They should also be able to work in static or interactive environments and capable of employing a wide range of visual media and visual techniques. In this paper, we focus on three tasks in building visual production systems: establishing a thorough understanding of the presentation-related characteristics of domain-specific information; classifying several types of visual information and capturing their distinct syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic features; and formulating a set of design principles. We define a data-analysis taxonomy to characterize heterogeneous information. In addition, we have modeled presentation context information such as audience identity to produce user-centered visual design. To utilize and manipulate visual information, we have classified it into visual objects and visual tools based on its role in the visual production process. To guide the visual design process, we have formulated a set of design principles that ensure the expressiveness and effectiveness of a design. To test and evaluate our work, we have developed a prototype system called IMPROVISE based on the research results. We use examples generated by IMPROVISE to illustrate how it constructs visual presentations.
Improving the Efficiency of the Nodal Integral Method With the Portable, Extensible Toolkit for Scientific Computation

An existing implementation of the nodal integral method for the time-dependent convection-diffusion equation is modified to incorporate various PETSc (Portable, Extensible Toolkit for Scientific Computation) solver and preconditioner routines. In the modified implementation, the default iterative Gauss-Seidel solver is replaced with one of the following PETSc iterative linear solver routines: Generalized Minimal Residuals, Stabilized Biconjugate Gradients, or Transpose-Free Quasi-Minimal Residuals. For each solver, a Jacobi or a Successive Over-Relaxation preconditioner is used. Two sample problems, one with a low Peclet number and one with a high Peclet number, are solved using the new implementation. In all the cases tested, the new implementation with the PETSc solver routines outperforms the original Gauss-Seidel implementation. Moreover, the PETSc Stabilized Biconjugate Gradients routine performs the best on the two sample problems leading to CPU times that are less than half the CPU times of the original implementation.Copyright © 2002 by ASME
Significantly greater reduction in breast cancer mortality from post-diagnosis running than walking

The purpose of these analyses is to test prospectively whether post-diagnosis running and walking differ significantly in their association with breast cancer mortality. Cox proportional hazard analyses were used to compare breast cancer mortality to baseline exercise energy expenditure (METs, 1 MET-hour ≅1 km run) in 272 runners and 714 walkers previously diagnosed with breast cancer from the National Runners' and Walkers' Health Studies when adjusted for age, race, menopause, family history, breastfeeding and oral contraceptive use. Diagnosis occurred (mean ± SD) 7.9 ± 7.3 years before baseline. Forty-six women (13 runners and 33 walkers) died from breast cancer during 9.1-year mortality surveillance. For the 986 runners and walkers combined, breast cancer mortality decreased an average of 23.9% MET-hours/day [95% confidence interval (CI): 7.9-38.3%; p = 0.004]. There was a significantly greater decrease in risk for running than walking (risk per MET-hours/day run vs. walked: p = 0.03). For the 272 runners analyzed separately, breast cancer mortality decreased an average of 40.9% per MET-hours/day run (95% CI: 19.3-60.0%, p = 0.0004). When analyzed by categories of running energy expenditure, breast cancer mortality was 87.4% lower for the 1.8-3.6 MET-hours/day category (95% CI: 41.3-98.2% lower, p = 0.008) and 95.4% lower for the ≥3.6 MET-hours/day category (95% CI: 71.9-100% lower, p = 0.0004) compared to the <1.07 MET-hours/day category. In contrast, the 714 walkers showed a nonsignificant 4.6% decrease in breast cancer mortality per MET-hours/day walked (95% CI: 27.3% decreased risk to 21.3% increased risk, p = 0.71). These results suggest that post-diagnosis running is associated with significantly lower breast cancer mortality than post-diagnosis walking.
Treatment of procaine amide intoxication; an experimental study.

Abstract Hypertonic sodium lactate alone reverses many of the cardiotoxic effects of procaine amide in lightly anesthetized dogs. When molar sodium lactate is combined with l -norepinephrine, previously irreversible manifestations of procaine amide intoxication are promptly restored to normal or near normal. The electrocardiographic, electrolyte, and blood pressure changes resulting from procaine amide intoxication have been discussed.
Unjustified Sentence Disparity: A Case Study of the Leveling Effect of Parole

This article reports the results of a study of whether parole operates to reduce sentence disparity in a system where sentencing is indeterminate, and where the parole release decision is not regulated by the use of explicit decision-making guidelines. The investigation is based on observation of the behavior of participants in the parole process in Texas, interviews with parole officials, and a statistical analysis of a random sample of cases involving 1183 adult offenders released on parole in that state in 1981. The question of disparity reduction is examined from the perspective of the interplay between the parole board and the judiciary. This study suggests that parole can mitigate disparity even in a large and diverse state where sentencing and parole authorities exercise unregulated discretion. It makes two tentative findings. First, there appears to be greater disparity in sentences imposed by judges on offenders with more serious offenses and extensive criminal histories than on offenders with less serious offenses and prior records. Second, the worse the offense and prior record, the more likely it is that parole will reduce sentence disparity. Although these findings suggest that administrative release decisions can enhance equity in sentencing, the study concludes that in Texas, parole's capacity to mitigate sentence disparity has been insufficiently used, and that a system of structured discretion for parole officials would be preferable to one that is largely unguided.
Safety of simultaneous inoculation with two kinds of vaccines included in National Immunization Program.

Objective To analyze the incidence rate of adverse events following immunization(AEFI)and evaluate the safety of simultaneous inoculation with two kinds of vaccines included in National Immunization Program (NIP). Methods The data on subjects inoculated with the 3rd dose of hepatitis B vaccine (HepB), the 1st dose of group A meningococcus polysaccharide vaccine (MCV-A), the 1st dose of measles vaccine(MV)and the 1st dose of Japanese encephalitis vaccine(JEV)during March 2006 to December 2007 in 9 immunization clinics in Changning District, Shanghai City were collected, based on which the incidence rates of AEFI of vaccines inoculated alone and simultaneously were calculated. Results The incidence rates of the 3rd dose of HepB and the 1st dose of MCV-A inoculated alone were 5. 86‰ and 3. 74‰ respectively, while that of the two kinds of vaccine inoculated simultaneously was 1. 18‰. However, the incidence rates of the 1st dose of MV and the 1st dose of JEV inoculated alone were 3. 59‰ and 9. 24‰ respectively, while that of the two kinds of vaccine inoculated simultaneously was 1. 93‰. Significant differences were observed in the incidence rates of same vaccines manufactured by various manufacturers or by the same manufacturer in various packages. The incidence rate of AEFI in infants aged 6 ～ 12 months was relatively high. Conclusion The incidence rate of AEFI of two kinds of vaccines included in NIP inoculated simultaneously showed no significant increase as compared with those inoculated alone. Two kinds of vaccines included in NIP may be recommended to be inoculated simultaneously to decrease the doses.
Mapping the Bonanza: Geographies of Mining Investment in an Era of Neoliberal Reform*

Geographic analyses of how national policies of economic liberalization influence global patterns of economic activity often draw their conclusions from studies of the paradigmatic sectors of manufacturing and, to a lesser extent, services. There is, by contrast, relatively little work examining how neoliberal policy reforms in the developing world may be driving changes in the geography of primary sector (i.e., extractive) activities at the global scale. This article presents and analyzes new data on direct investment in the international mining industry. It reports methods and results from a research project to systematically map and evaluate changes in the commodity mix and geographical spread of mining-related investment in the world economy since 1990. It confirms and quantifies what was hitherto anecdotal evidence of a geographic shift in investment during the 1990s away from mature targets toward a small number of “rising stars” in the developing world, following the adoption in many countries of n...
Sixty years of child training practices

Summary This study has been a survey of, approximately, the past sixty years in child training. Three different schools of thought have prevailed with regard to how children should be raised. The 1890's and 1900's saw a highly sentimental approach to child rearing; 1910 through the 1930's witnessed a rigid, disciplinary approach; the 1940's have emphasized self-regulation and understanding of the child. These sixty years have also seen a swing from emphasis on character development to emphasis on personality development. Each period studied has had its share of fads with regard to child training. It would appear that the present fad may be an extreme emphasis upon the relationship between specific infant disciplines and later personality development. Parents and others in the field of child guidance are warned that, while certain general truths have been discovered, we still do not know the specifics with regard to child training practices. Parents and others are also warned to beware of “mother's instinct” or “common sense,” for this has had radically different meanings for practice during the past sixty years.
Computer Calculations of the Magnetic Field of Alternating Gradient Synchrotron Magnets

The computer program SIBYL for computing the magnetic fields of magnets has been applied to computing the magnetic field of the Brookhaven AGS magnets and a Brookhaven septum magnet. This report presents the SIBYL computer results and compares them with experimentally measured results. The SIBYL computer program was applied to computing the magnetic field along the azimuthal center of the AGS magnets. This calculation gave the magnetic gradient along the azimuthal center of the magnet. In order to investigate the orbits of an accelerator, it is necessary to have information about the azimuthal variation of the magnetic field, or what is usually called the effective length of the magnet. The SIBYL computer program has been applied to the calculation of the effective length of AGS magnets.