cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Naltrexone does not prevent acquisition or expression of flavor preferences conditioned by fructose in rats.

Abstract The effects of the general opioid antagonist, naltrexone, on the acquisition and expression of flavor preferences conditioned by the sweet taste of fructose were examined. Food-restricted rats were trained over eight daily alternating one-bottle sessions (2 h) to drink an 8% fructose solution containing one novel flavor (CS+/F) and a less preferred 0.2% saccharin solution containing a different flavor (CS−/S). Four groups of rats were treated daily with either saline (control group) or naltrexone doses of 0.1, 1.0, or 5.0 mg/kg during training. Preferences were assessed in two-bottle tests with the CS+/S and CS−/S flavors presented in 0.2% saccharin solutions following saline injections. Naltrexone dose-dependently reduced fructose and saccharin intakes during training, confirming the drug's well-known suppressive effect on the intake of sweet solutions. Despite their reduced training intakes, the naltrexone groups displayed preferences for the CS+/S over the CS−/S (72–86%) that were similar to that of the control group (78%). The effect of naltrexone on the expression of the CS+/S flavor preference was evaluated by treating control rats with naltrexone (0.1–5 mg/kg) prior to CS+/S vs. CS−/S choice tests. The drug doses produced a dose-dependent reduction in CS+/S intake but did not significantly attenuate the CS+/S preference. These data are consistent with the relative inability of naltrexone to reduce flavor–flavor conditioning by sucrose in sham-feeding rats and flavor-nutrient conditioning in rats receiving intragastric sucrose infusions. In contrast, dopamine antagonists reduce both sucrose- and fructose-conditioned flavor preferences, which indicates the sensitivity of these conditioning paradigms to neuropharmacological manipulations. These data indicate that the endogenous opioid system, unlike the dopamine system, does not play a major role in either the acquisition or expression of flavor preference learning as measured in two-bottle choice tests.
Historical Origins of Statistical Testing Practices: The Treatment of Fisher versus Neyman-Pearson Views in Textbooks.

AbstractTextbook discussion of statistical testing is the topic of interest. Some 28 books published from 1910 to 1949, 19 books published from 1990 to 1992, plus five multiple-edition books were reviewed in terms of presentations of statistical testing. It was of interest to discover textbook coverage of the P-value (i.e., Fisher) and fixed-alpha (i.e., Neyman-Pearson) approaches to statistical testing. Also of interest in the review were some issues and concerns related to the practice and teaching of statistical testing: (a) levels of significance, (b) importance of effects, (c) statistical power and sample size, and (d) multiple testing. It is concluded that it is not statistical testing itself that is at fault; rather, some of the textbook presentation, teaching practices, and journal editorial reviewing may be questioned.
Tagging as a Social Literacy Practice

Tagging is not simply an act of vandalism or violence; it is a social practice with its own rules and codes—a literacy practice imbued with intent and meaning. Three aspects of tagging reflect its nature as a literate practice: •The purpose of tagging to achieve particular social goals and group affiliations •The role of talent to be considered a competent engager •The value of the quantity of tagging to achieve status The participants in this study had various reasons for engaging in tagging. Findings highlight these varying purposes to sustain relationships, carry on dialogue, provide social commentary, and establish an identity by being recognized and known. In general, youths are a segment of the population whose ability to use literacy tools to navigate their complex social world is often unaddressed in literacy research. It is critical to understand more clearly the meanings behind these symbolic forms of expression used by adolescents and to explore their often-cloaked purposes for writing.
Linear Analysis of a Liquid-Film Combustor

Steady-state axisymmetric combustion in a cylindrical chamber with the liquid fuel introduced through a wall film is analyzed. For the miniature combustor of interest, the swirling core flow of air, fuel vapor, and products operates in the laminar range. Under the condition of unitary Lewis number, the analysis of the scalar fields takes advantage of the existence of a linear combination of the scalar properties, known as the super scalar, which is spatially uniform. The base flow is assumed to have constant density and to be either a fully developed flow or a plug flow. Perturbations account separately for swirl effects, Stefan flow, and density variations. Therefore, some linearization becomes helpful. The effects of each perturbation type on the velocity fields and scalar fields are determined. The motion in the liquid film is coupled to the core gas motion. The diffusion flame character is portrayed. Vaporization rates and burning rates are determined; the effects of radial velocity perturbations, due to swirl and Stefan flow, and of the density variations on the transport, vaporization, and burning rates are determined. The analysis yields closed-form solutions in terms of eigenfunction expansions. Series solutions are found to certain ordinary differential equations describing radial variations in the dependent variables. Large Damkohler number solutions are calculated as functions of Reynolds number and Peclet number, showing strong dependencies. Methanol and heptane fuels are considered. Limits of high Peclet number are also examined. The results allow for the prediction of required chamber length for given chamber diameter, inlet flow conditions, liquid-fuel physicochemical properties, initial fuel temperature, and overall mixture ratio. The feasibility of the liquid-film concept, which has been demonstrated in the laboratory, is supported theoretically.
Experimental verification of a correlation-based correction algorithm for multi-bit delta-sigma ADCs

A multi-chip system was built to provide experimental verification of a correlation-based digital algorithm, which acquires and corrects all element errors in the internal DAC of a multi-bit delta-sigma ADC. The proposed correction method does not rely on noise shaping, and hence it remains fully effective even for very low oversampling ratios (OSRs). Measured results obtained for OSR=4 confirmed that a 12 dB SNDR improvement can be achieved using such digital correction, while only 1/spl sim/2 dB with the commonly used mismatch-shaping technique.
Scanning electron microscopic observations on deembedded biological tissue sections: Comparison of different fixatives and embedding materials

Conventional plant histological specimens fixed in formalin-acetic acid-alcohol, chromic acid-acetic acid-formaldehyde, or glutaraldehyde-osmium and embedded in either paraffin or plastic are examined as possible rapid methods for providing an alternative image of cellular structure by using scanning electron microscopy. Using the mitotic figures of actively growing onion root tips as a study specimen, the organization of the nucleus and spindle apparatus is reasonably well preserved as compared with isolated mitotic spindles and studies of mitosis in endosperm tissue. Relief of internal structure in this technique is obtained through the coagulant nature of the fixative. Used judiciously, this technique can reveal aspects of the three-dimensional nature of internal tissue structure that may otherwise be difficult to discern.
Contract-checking wrappers for C++ classes

Two kinds of interface contract violations can occur in component-based software: A client component can fail to satisfy a requirement of a component it is using, or a component implementation can fail to fulfill its obligations to the client. The traditional approach to detecting and reporting such violations is to embed assertion checks into component source code, with compile-time control over whether they are enabled. This works well for the original component developers, but it fails to meet the needs of component clients who do not have access to source code for such components. A wrapper-based approach, in which contract checking is not hard-coded into the underlying component but is "layered" on top of it, offers several relative advantages. It is practical and effective for C++ classes. Checking code can be distributed in binary form along with the underlying component, it can be installed or removed without requiring recompilation of either the underlying component or the client code, it can be selectively enabled or disabled by the component client on a per-component basis, and it does not require the client to have access to any special tools (which might have been used by the component developer) to support wrapper installation and control. Experimental evidence indicates that wrappers in C++ impose-modest additional overhead compared to inlining assertion checks.
A scalable simulator for forest dynamics

Models of forest ecosystems are needed to understand how climate and land-use change can impact biodiversity. In this paper we describe an individual-based, spatially-explicit forest simulator with full accounting of both landscape context and the fine-scale processes that influence forest dynamics. Unfortunately, performing realistic forest simulations of such models is computationally infeasible. We design efficient algorithms for computing seed dispersal and light, using a plethora of techniques. These include hierarchical spatial decomposition, monopole approximation and utilizing the graphics hardware for fast geometric computations. These algorithms allow us to simulate large landscapes for long periods of time.
Christ and the CIO: Blue-Collar Evangelicalism's Crisis of Conscience and Political Turn in Early Cold-War California

This article explores tensions within the Democratic Party's uneasy alliance of grassroots labor and blue-collar evangelicalism that collapsed in heated confrontation during California's postwar political realignment. The context in which this played out is Ham and Eggs, one of California's largest old-age welfare movements during the 1930s which, in the midst of economic reconstruction, found new (but short-lived) relevance in the late 1940s. From spring 1945 until summer 1946 Ham and Eggs rallied workers behind its message of economic redistribution and Christian Americanism in hopes of forcing new legislation on behalf of pensions for the elderly. In the process, it stirred a political storm that thrust it into a significance exceeding its original intent. At issue was the “labor question,” the vexing uncertainty animating American politics at this juncture about the extent to which New Deal liberalism's labor-friendly initiatives and progressive impulses for economic freedom, racial equality, and social justice would be extended. Caught between a labor-Left movement within the Democratic Party that looked to extend New Deal liberalism and a galvanized Christian Right, which looked to roll it back, blue-collar evangelicals affiliated with Ham and Eggs confronted a new political reality that compelled them to choose between their class and faith commitments. With reluctance they chose the latter over the former. The decision marked the beginning of blue-collar evangelicalism's shift to the Right and ultimately the formation of a broader evangelical political alliance that would prove instrumental in the rise of California's conservative Republican movement.
The role of serotonin and dopamine in schizophrenia

For many years schizophrenia was attributed to an overabundance of dopamine in the brain, and until recently conventional neuroleptics (dopamine-D2 receptor antagonists) have been the mainstay of p...
Exploring Normative Creativity: Testing the Relationship Between Cognitive Flexibility and Sexual Identity

Brown (1989) proposed that lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals possess greater “normative creativity” and flexibility than heterosexuals because they have fewer norms for living in heterosexually dominated society. In this article we explore one possible individual difference between heterosexuals and nonheterosexuals in the domain of normative creativity by examining the relationship between cognitive flexibility and sexual identity among 358 university students. Participants with sexual identities not directed toward one gender exclusively (e.g., bisexual, biaffectionate, or queer) scored significantly higher on a measure of cognitive flexibility than did heterosexual and gay/lesbian participants; the latter two groups did not differ from each other. These results suggest that it is having a nonexclusive sexual identity, rather than a lesbian or gay identity, that is related to greater cognitive flexibility.
A Decrease in DKK1, a WNT Inhibitor, Contributes to Placental Lipid Accumulation in an Obesity-Prone Rat Model

Placenta, as the sole transport mechanism between mother and fetus, links the maternal physical state and the immediate as well as lifelong outcomes of the offspring. The present study examined the consequences of maternal obesity on placental lipid accumulation and metabolism. Pregnant obesity-prone (OP) and obesity-resistant (OR) rat strains were fed a control diet throughout gestation. Placentas were collected on Gestational Day 21 for mRNA and oxidative stress analysis, and frozen placental sections were analyzed for fat accumulation as well as beta-catenin and Dickkopf homolog 1 (Xenopus laevis) (DKK1) localization. JEG3 trophoblast cells were cultured in vitro to determine the relationship between DKK1 and lipid accumulation. Maternal plasma and placental nonesterified fatty acids and triglycerides (TG) were elevated in OP dams. Placental Dkk1 mRNA content was 4-fold lower in OP placentas, and a significant increase was noted in beta-catenin accumulation as well as in mRNA content of fat transport and TG synthesis genes, including Ppard (peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor delta), Slc27a1 (fatty acid transport protein 1; also known as Fatp1), Cd36 (cluster of differentiation 36; also known as fatty acid translocation [Fat]), Lipin1, and Lipin3. Significant lipid accumulation was found within the decidual zones in OP, but not OR, placentas, and thickness of the decidual and junctional zones was significantly smaller in OP than in OR placentas. Overexpression of DKK1 in JEG3 cells decreased lipid accumulation and mRNA content of PPARD, SLC27A1, CD36, LIPIN1, and LIPIN3. Our results demonstrate that DKK1 is regulating certain aspects of placental lipid metabolism through the WNT signaling pathway.
Sildenafil citrate effectively reverses sexual dysfunction induced by three-dimensional conformal radiation therapy.

Objectives We evaluated the response of sildenafil citrate in patients with prostate cancer treated with three-dimensional conformal radiation therapy (3DCRT) whose sexual function (SF) was known prior to therapy initiation. Methods From March 1996 to April 1999, 24 men with median age of 68 years (range 51 to 77) had 3DCRT for localized prostate cancer (median prescribed dose to the planning target volume of 70.2 Gy). These men started taking sildenafil for relief of sexual dysfunction at a median time of 1 year after completing 3DCRT. We used the self-administered O'Leary Brief Sexual Function Inventory to evaluate in series SF and overall satisfaction at three time points. These points were (a) before initiation of all therapies (3DCRT or hormonal treatment [HT]) for prostate cancer, (b) before starting sildenafil (50 mg or 100 mg) but after completion of all therapies, and (c) at least 2 months afterward. Rates of SF were based on the number of men responding to a given question. We tested for significance of these two interventions to change SF by applying the Wilcoxon sign rank test. Results Prior to all treatments, 20 (87%) of 23 men were sexually potent, with 8 (36%) of 22 fully potent (little or no difficulty for penetration at intercourse). After 3DCRT with or without HT and prior to sildenafil use, 13 (65%) of the 20 potent patients remained potent, with only 2 (11%) of 19 being fully potent. The use of sildenafil citrate resulted in 21 (91%) of 23 men being potent, with 7 (30%) being fully potent. In 16 men responding to the satisfaction question, 10 (63%) and 12 (75%) were mixed to very satisfied with their sex life before 3DCRT with or without HT and after sildenafil citrate use, respectively. This response corresponded to potency and satisfaction scores significantly decreasing and subsequently increasing on average by one unit after 3DCRT and sildenafil citrate use, respectively (P Conclusions In men receiving 3DCRT for prostate cancer, these data indicate that sildenafil citrate is effective for restoring SF and associated satisfaction back to baseline before treatment.
Endometriosis: Bright future for a cloudy past?

New estrogen receptor ligands arrest endometriotic implant survival but spare reproductive cycles in a mouse model of endometriosis, thus forging a path to new treatment options (Zhao et al., this issue).
Transforming uncertainty into success: The Strategic Leadership Forum 1999

In this summary of the key speakers at the Strategic Leadership Forum's 1999 Conference, the author poses answers to a number of questions:What does the year 2000 mean for business enterprises? Is it a turning point in any sense beyond a calendar? What are the key uncertainties facing business leaders at this historical juncture? What are the central issues for business strategy that arise from these uncertainties? And what concepts and tools can help companies manage the transition to a new era?
A novel performance descriptor for ultrasonic strain imaging: a preliminary study

Ultrasonic strain imaging that uses signals from conventional diagnostic ultrasound systems is capable of showing the contrast of tissue elasticity, which provides new diagnostically valuable information. To assess and improve the diagnostic performance of ultrasonic strain imaging, it is essential to have a quantitative measure of image quality. Moreover, it is useful if the image quality measure is simple to interpret and can be used for visual feedback while scanning and as a training tool for operator performance evaluation. This report describes the development of a novel quantitative method for systematic performance assessment that is based on the combination of measures of the accuracy of motion tracking and consistency among consecutive strain fields. The accuracy of motion tracking assesses the reliability of strain images. The consistency among consecutive strain images assesses the signal quality in strain images. The clinical implications of the proposed method to differentiate good or poor strain images are discussed. Results of experiments with tissue-mimicking phantoms and in vivo breast-tissue data demonstrate that the performance measure is a useful method for automatically rating elasticity image quality.
Atom optics with laser-cooled atoms guided by magnetic fields from current-carrying wires

Summary form only given. Just as optical waveguides play a central role in many aspects of modern optics, from communications to integrated optics, atom waveguides are likely to be an enabling technology for future atom-optics-based science. In particular, well-characterized atom waveguides may make possible inertial and rotation measurements of exquisite sensitivity via large-enclosed-area atom interferometers. The first guides for atoms were based on optical forces, where hollow glass fibers guide light, and the light in turn guides atoms. In this paper we have guided neutral atoms using photolithographically patterned current-carrying wires in two different configurations.
Brothers and sisters : How sibling interactions affect optimal parental allocations.

Data from the Kipsigis of Kenya are used to test two models for how parents invest in offspring, the Trivers-Willard and local resource competition/enhancement hypotheses. Investment is measured as age-specific survival, educational success, marital arrangements, and some components of property inheritance, permitting an evaluation of how biases persist or alter over the period of dependence. Changes through time in such biases are also examined. Despite stronger effects of wealth on the reproductive success of men than women, the survival of sons and daughters is not related to parental wealth. However, a Trivers-Willard effect characterizes educational investment: poor families show a greater concern for daughters’ (vis-a-vis sons’) schooling than do rich families, a trend that has increased over time. In regard to models of local resource competition and enhancement, men’s reproductive success decreases with number of brothers and increases with number of sisters; this pattern of competition with same-sex sibs and cooperation with opposite-sex sibs is not found among women. As predicted from these observations, parents show reduced investment in sons with a large number of brothers, and increased investment in sons with a large number of sisters. By contrast, investment in daughters is entirely unaffected by number of sisters and is influenced only in subtle ways by number of brothers. Levels of investment in relation to sibship size (irrespective of siblings’ sex) are highest for younger children of large sib sets. Discussion of the results in relation to those from other studies leads to three conclusions. First, predictive models for how investment biases vary across societies must consider a broad range of socioecological factors constraining parental options and payoffs. Second, the timing of investment biases within societies will be affected by the value of children and the costs of parental investment. Third, measures of investment appropriate for between-sex and between-class comparisons need careful attention. Each of these issues is brought to bear on the question of why, in contrast to so many other parts of the world, sex preferences are so muted in Africa.
Fracking, Federalism, and the Price of Cooperation

Prior scholarship on environmental federalism has not fully explored the role states can play in encouraging technological innovation. Likewise, research highlighting the importance of technology to environmental protection does not typically address how federalism can affect technological development and adoption. This Essay examines the recycling of produced water generated by the oil and gas sector as a case study in uncooperative federalism to help explain how states are using environmental policy to promote the development and diffusion of innovative water treatment technologies. Looking ahead to EPA’s proposed rulemakings to establish national standards for these and similar wastes under the Clean Water Act, this Essay concludes that the promotion of technological innovation, as opposed to policy innovation, may be a key underexplored benefit of states playing the role of dissenters in federal environmental regulatory schemes.
Environmental Limits of Tall Shrubs in Alaska’s Arctic National Parks

We sampled shrub canopy volume (height times area) and environmental factors (soil wetness, soil depth of thaw, soil pH, mean July air temperature, and typical date of spring snow loss) on 471 plots across five National Park Service units in northern Alaska. Our goal was to determine the environments where tall shrubs thrive and use this information to predict the location of future shrub expansion. The study area covers over 80,000 km2 and has mostly tundra vegetation. Large canopy volumes were uncommon, with volumes over 0.5 m3/m2 present on just 8% of plots. Shrub canopy volumes were highest where mean July temperatures were above 10.5°C and on weakly acid to neutral soils (pH of 6 to 7) with deep summer thaw (>80 cm) and good drainage. On many sites, flooding helped maintain favorable soil conditions for shrub growth. Canopy volumes were highest where the typical snow loss date was near 20 May; these represent sites that are neither strongly wind-scoured in the winter nor late to melt from deep snowdrifts. Individual species varied widely in the canopy volumes they attained and their response to the environmental factors. Betula sp. shrubs were the most common and quite tolerant of soil acidity, cold July temperatures, and shallow thaw depths, but they did not form high-volume canopies under these conditions. Alnus viridis formed the largest canopies and was tolerant of soil acidity down to about pH 5, but required more summer warmth (over 12°C) than the other species. The Salix species varied widely from S. pulchra, tolerant of wet and moderately acid soils, to S. alaxensis, requiring well-drained soils with near neutral pH. Nearly half of the land area in ARCN has mean July temperatures of 10.5 to 12.5°C, where 2°C of warming would bring temperatures into the range needed for all of the potential tall shrub species to form large canopies. However, limitations in the other environmental factors would probably prevent the formation of large shrub canopies on at least half of the land area with newly favorable temperatures after 2°C of warming.
Encapsulating interactive behaviors

Although there has been important progress in models and packages for the output of graphics to computer screens, there has been little change in the way that input from the mouse, keyboard and other input devices is handled. New graphics standards are still using a ten year old model even though it is widely accepted as inadequate, and most modern window managers simply return a stream of device-dependent input events. This paper presents a new model for how input devices can be handled for highly-interactive, direct manipulation, graphical user interfaces. This model encapsulates interactive behaviors into a few “interactor” object types. Application programs can then create instances of these interactor objects, and the details of the handling of the input devices are separated from the application and from the output graphics.
An epidemiological study of Legg-Perthes disease.

One hundred and eighty-eight typical cases of Legg-Perthes disease were analyzed with respect to possible genetic, constitutional, and environmental etiological factors. In agreement with previous reports, the condition was found to predominate in white boys from three to twelve years old. Female and bilateral cases occurred at younger ages. A definite genetic predisposition was not ascertained. There was a higher than expected familial incidence, but two pairs of monozygotic twins were discordant for Legg-Perthes disease. The study patients had normal parental ages and birth order, but showed a consistent retardation of skeletal maturation. Low birth weight was suggested in female patients and all showed a tendency toward short stature. Infections, trauma, and other congenital anomalies were not found to associate with Legg-Perthes disease.
Differences in inactivation of Escherichia coli O157:H7 strains in ground beef following repeated high pressure processing treatments and cold storage.

High pressure processing (HPP) is a safe non-thermal processing method to effectively improve food safety. In this study, HPP treatment followed by cold storage was investigated to reduce Escherichia coli O157:H7 in ground beef. Experiments were conducted using ground beef contaminated with six E. coli O157:H7 strains one at a time or as a cocktail. Control and inoculated ground beef samples were HPP at 25 °C, 35 °C, and 45 °C, at 400 MPa and pre-determined number of pressure cycles totaling a holding time of 15 min. Optimum HPP parameters were 25 °C, 400 MPa at five pressure cycles of 3 min each which achieved a 5-log reduction of E. coli O157:H7 in ground beef. Storing HPP processed ground beef at 4 °C or -20 °C further decreased (P < 0.05) the E. coli O157:H7 population. An effective HPP treatment (5-log reduction) was developed that could be used post-processing to reduce the risk associated with E. coli O157:H7 contamination in ground beef.
An Examination of the Central Life Interest Scale

This paper investigates the Central Life Interest (CLI) scale using four distinct respondent groups. Attention is focused on ability of the items to discriminate respondents across groups as well a...
Centrifuge Characterization of Buried, Explosive-Induced Soil Ejecta Kinematics and Crater Morphology

A comprehensive experimental regime was conducted to advance the understanding of the mechanistic phenomena of buried, explosive-induced soil responses using geotechnical centrifuge modeling. To address experimental gaps in the current literature, this research documents the high-rate dynamic soil behavior under explosive loads with parametric variations of charge size, burial depth, and g-level in conjunction with post-detonation static measurement of blast-excavated craters. The novel integration of a high-speed imaging system into the centrifuge domain, placed in close proximity to the blast, enabled a rigorous in-flight characterization of the transient, multiphasic soil blast mechanics including early soil disaggregation, gas–particle interactions, and soil dome evolution. The results indicate that initial soil surface motions appear progressively later, post-detonation, with elevated acceleration. Furthermore, the data demonstrates that gravity-induced confining stresses reduce the temporal and spatial soil disaggregation flow kinematics. Crater dimensions, measured by a laser profilometer, also exhibit a gravity-dependent decrease and a new, dimensionless coupling function correlates the physical ejecta dynamics to the crater dimensional statics evident in the buried blast phenomena. An in-depth analysis compares this study’s empirical scaling relationships in both dimensional and dimensionless form to a compilation of past field and centrifuge results and demonstrates their favorable correlation to full-scale explosive events. The high-fidelity, repeatable database establishes a benchmark for future parametric experimental investigations and provides a physical basis for calibration and validation of computational simulations of soil blast mechanics including soil deformation and ejecta flow.
SBPG: A secure better portable graphics compression architecture for high speed trusted image communication in the IoT

This paper proposes a hardware architecture for a Secure Digital Camera (SDC) integrated with Secure Better Portable Graphics (SBPG) compression algorithm. The proposed architecture is suitable for high performance imaging in the Internet of Things (IoT). The objectives of this paper are twofold. On the one hand, the proposed SBPG architecture offers double-layer protection: encryption and watermarking. On the other hand, the paper proposes SDC integrated with secure BPG compression for real time intelligent traffic surveillance (ITS). The experimental results prove that the new compression technique BPG outperforms JPEG in terms of compression quality and size of the compression file. As the visual quality of the watermarked and compressed images improves with larger values of PSNR, the results show that the proposed SBPG substantially increases the quality of the watermarked compressed images. To achieve a high performance architecture three techniques are considered: first, using the center portion of the image to insert the encrypted signature. Second, watermarking is done in the frequency domain using block-wise DCT size 8×8. Third, in BPG encoder, the proposed architecture uses inter and intra prediction to reduce the temporal and spatial redundancy.
The development of organophosphorus pesticides hydrolase

Organophosphate pesticides cause serious pollution problems.Using Organophosphorus pesticides hydrolase is new technology to treat organophosphorous pesticides pollution.The present situation and development of Organophosphorus pesticides hydrolase,such as the degrading mechanisms,genes coding enzymes,and the application were summarized in this paper.
A Quality Control Method for Teleseismic P‐Wave Receiver Functions

We introduce a new semiautomated quality control (QC) method for teleseismic P ‐wave receiver functions consisting of 13 editing procedures. These procedures are categorized into three groups based on (1) deconvolution attributes, (2) characteristics of each receiver function, and (3) the statistical attributes of a station gather. We evaluated the efficacy of individual procedure and combination of multiple procedures by applying them to receiver functions estimated from the EarthScope Ozark–Illinois–Indiana–Kentucky experiment for the Illinois basin area, and 10 years of USArray Transportable Array data for the contiguous United States. The method developed in this study significantly improves the efficiency and accuracy of receiver function QC. Our approach has three useful properties: (1) unlike a manual editing method, our approach produces reproducible results defined by a finite set of tunable parameters; (2) it provides an effective and efficient tool for processing large datasets containing millions of receiver functions; (3) the QC procedures are less dependent on phase similarities comparing to the automated scheme used by the EarthScope Automated Receiver Survey while producing comparable common conversion point stacking images.
Indications for DXA in Children and Adolescents

The importance of considering pediatric bone health for osteoporosis prevention is well established. Genetic factors, malnutrition, hormonal disorders, medications, immobilization, and chronic illness during childhood and adolescence may compromise bone size, mineral content accrual, and bone quality. If not reversed, the accrual of peak bone mass may be impaired, thereby increasing the lifetime risk for osteoporotic fracture. Given the widespread availability, speed, high precision, and safety of dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA), there is abundant research to inform its clinical use in pediatrics. This chapter reviews the current evidence and expert opinion regarding which children and adolescents warrant DXA screening, how often these studies should be repeated, and how the results should be used to guide clinical management.
Post Prostatectomy Bladder Dysfunction: Where Are We Now?

During the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) era, the prevalence of male stress urinary incontinence (SUI) continues to rise as more prostatectomies are performed. Treatment of male SUI is a multifactorial decision depending not only on bladder and sphincteric function, but also patient choice. Due to the economic burden and strain on quality of life, procedures and devices have been developed to help patients alleviate their symptoms. Mainstays of treatment include conservative management with biofeedback and Kegel exercises, periurethral bulking agents, or surgical procedures such as the male urethral sling or the artificial urinary sphincter. A proper evaluation is important as bladder dysfunction in the form of detrusor overactivity, detrusor underactivity, and poor bladder compliance can occur independently or coexist with intrinsic sphincter deficiency. Thus, it is important to clearly define patient symptomatology to optimize outcomes.
Phosphorus concentrations in a Florida Everglades water conservation area before and after El Niño events in the dry season

Abstract The Florida Everglades depends on both seasonal hydroperiods and low nutrient loading. This study investigated phosphorus concentrations in a 237,000-ha wetland complex in the Greater Florida Everglades known as Water Conservation Area 3A (WCA-3A). WCA-3A is south and downstream of Lake Okeechobee and most of the agricultural activity in the Everglades region, but immediately north and upstream of the Everglades National Park. The original goal of the study was to investigate if this water conservation area was serving as a phosphorus sink during a 9-month period (October 2015 to June 2016) that normally would have bracketed the dry winter season of south Florida. The beginning of 2016 brought several unexpected polar fronts with high rainfall, an unusual weather pattern in subtropical Florida later confirmed to have been caused by an El Nino condition in the Pacific Ocean. Samples taken at the beginning of the dry season (October through December 2015 during pre-El Nino conditions) showed low phosphorus concentrations. In April and June 2016 during post-El Nino conditions, monthly average total phosphorus concentrations averaged 7.1–7.2 ppb total phosphorus in inflow region of WCA-3A, significantly higher (P = 0.030 and 0.045) than 3.0 and to 2.6 ppb in the wetland’s outflow region. The wetland was found to be a sink of phosphorus with a 47% decrease in total phosphorus from north to south during this post- El Nino time. If future additional wetlands and water quality strategies are not in place to mitigate fluxes of phosphorus during future climate variations such as this El Nino condition, this wetland complex may take on an even greater role of protecting the water quality of the downstream Everglades National Park.
Declarative memory in infancy: an introduction to typical and atypical development.

Publisher Summary The development of declarative memory in infancy and early childhood is influenced by a number of different types of early experiences. For much of the history of research in developmental psychology, it was thought that infants and very young children lacked declarative memory capacity. With the advent of development of a nonverbal analog to verbal report—namely, elicited and deferred imitation, the perspective on the capacity of pre- and early-verbal children for declarative memory changed dramatically. Studies using this technique make clear that in the course of typical development, the capacity for long-term recall of past events emerges and coalesces over the course of the latter half of the first year and throughout the second year of life.
What's in a Name: Vehicle Technology Branding & Consumer Expectations for Automation

Vehicle technology naming has the potential to influence drivers' expectations (mental model) of the level of autonomous operation supported by semi-automated technologies that are rapidly becoming available in new vehicles. If divergence exists between expectations and actual design specifications, it may make it harder to develop trust or clear expectations of systems, thus mitigating potential benefits. Alternately, over-trust and misuse due to misunderstanding increase the potential for adverse events. An online survey investigated whether and how names of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and automation features relate to expected automation levels. Systems with "Cruise" in their names were associated with lower levels of automation. "Assist" systems appeared to create confusion between whether the driver is assisting the system or vice versa. Survey findings indicate the importance of vehicle technology naming and its impact in influencing drivers' expectations of responsibility between the driver and system in who performs individual driving functions.
Microstructure-guided numerical simulations to predict the thermal performance of a hierarchical cement-based composite material

Abstract This paper presents a microstructure-guided numerical homogenization technique to predict the effective thermal conductivity of a hierarchical cement-based material containing phase change material (PCM)-impregnated lightweight aggregates (LWA). Porous inclusions such as LWAs embedded in a cementitious matrix are filled with multiple fluid phases including PCM to obtain desirable thermal properties for building and infrastructure applications. Simulations are carried out on realistic three-dimensional microstructures generated using pore structure information. An inverse analysis procedure is used to extract the intrinsic thermal properties of those microstructural components for which data is not available. The homogenized heat flux is predicted for an imposed temperature gradient from which the effective composite thermal conductivity is computed. The simulated effective composite thermal conductivities are found to correlate very well with experimental measurements for a family of LWA-PCM composites considered in the paper. Comparisons with commonly used analytical homogenization models show that the microstructure-guided simulation approach provides superior results for composites exhibiting large property contrast between phases. By linking the microstructure and thermal properties of hierarchical materials, an efficient framework is available for optimizing the material design to improve thermal efficiency of a wide variety of heterogeneous materials.
Sequencing Energy Flow Models to Account for Shortgrass Prairie Energy Dynamics

The first eight Chapters of this book have been devoted to an informal presentation of the mathematical foundations of ecosystem modeling theory. Some of the text and problems have been couched in terms of ecosystems, but we have dealt mainly with abstract mathematics. Even with “ecosystem” equations we have used energy flow rate functions (the “collisions” type predation rates) which would be better suited to idealized chemical reaction networks than to ecosystem modeling. Such is the nature of instruction.
Nanotechnologies for Cancer Sensing and Treatment

Current cancer treatment usually involves the application of catheters for anticancer drug delivery to reduce tumor size, followed by surgery to remove the tumor (if possible). Then, more therapy and radiation is used to kill as many tumor cells as possible. The goal of this collective treatment is to target and kill cancerous tissue while affecting as few healthy cells as possible. Due to their nonspecificity, current cancer therapies have poor therapeutic efficacy and can also have severe side effects on normal tissues and cells. Over the last decade, an increase in the survival rate of cancer patients has been achieved, but there is still a need for improvement. In addition, cancer is often diagnosed and treated too late, i.e., when the cancer cells have already invaded and metastasized to other parts of the body. At this stage, treatment methods are limited in their effectiveness. Thus, scientists have been focusing efforts on finding alternative methods to detect cancer at earlier stages and remove such cancerous tissues more effectively. Nanoparticles (i.e., particles with dimensions less than 100 nm in at least one dimension) have become very attractive for improving cancer diagnostics, sensing, and treatment due to their novel optical, magnetic, and structural properties not available in conventional (or micron) particles or bulk solids. Nanoparticles have been extensively studied for various applications including delivering anticancer drugs to tumorous tissues and/or enhancing imaging capabilities to better diagnose and treat cancer. Moreover, nanotechnology has been used to create in situ sensors for cancer cell detection. In this review, recent work related to the improved targeted therapy for specific ­cancers (whether by developing more specific anticancer agents or by altering delivery methods) are summarized. Discussions on the advantages and disadvantages of the most widely studied nanoparticles used in sensors (i.e., liposome nanoparticles, polymer-based nanoparticles, quantum dots, nanoshells, and superparamagnetic particles) in cancer imaging followed by anticancer drug delivery are highlighted. Lastly, several key advances in the development of sensors to detect cancer are discussed.
Boreal Peatland Ecosystems: Our Carbon Heritage

The boreal forest, or taiga, perhaps the last remaining undisturbed forest region in the world, is in reality a mosaic of uplands, peatlands, and lakes. Peatlands currently represent a substantial part of this forest region, and in many cases these carbon-rich ecosystems may dominate the regional landscape, forming complex peatlands of fens and bogs. Much of today’s boreal forest lies in glaciated terrain and has developed its current vegetation cover only within the last 10,000–12,000 years. During this time period, the Holocene, the boreal landscape has undergone dramatic change, with peatlands paludifying many boreal landscapes and sequestering a large store of carbon. At present this is estimated to be about 455 Pg or one third of the world’s soil carbon. Thus, through their presence, peatlands have substantially changed the boreal landscape (Chap. 3) and sequestered a large amount of atmospheric carbon (Chap. 9). Throughout the boreal region, peatlands remove carbon from the atmosphere via photosynthesis, depositing the carbon-rich organic matter in dead and decaying plant mass as peat. Carbon storage as peat in the boreal region occurs under extremely variable conditions, for example the pH may vary from 3.5 to 8.5, and deep peat deposits form under both acidic and basic conditions. Peat may form in relatively dry acrotelmic bogs or in fens having water levels at the ground-layer surface. Surface soil temperatures, vegetation, flora, hydrology, and pore water chemistry are all factors that are critical to peat formation and all are highly variable in boreal peatlands. Appreciation of how these ecosystem components vary and how they interact is fundamental to our understanding of peat accumulation (Chap. 14). Bryophytes play critical roles in boreal peatlands and carbon is sequestered in both undecomposed parts of Sphagnum and true mosses. Thus, even though Sphagnum mosses may play a pivotal role in the development of bogs and poor fens, true mosses play an equivalent role in rich
Smartphone near infrared monitoring of plant stress

Abstract The most widely used method for monitoring plant stress is the use of near infrared (NIR) spectrophotometry to calculate normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), as defined by [NIR reflectance − red reflectance]/[NIR reflectance + red reflectance]. NDVI measures the chlorophyll absorption in the red spectrum relative to the scattering by cellular structure in NIR, and has been used to monitor vegetation health and subsequently its stress from aerial or satellite images. Rather than using an NIR spectrophotometer or an NIR camera that is rather expensive, we attempted to use a commercial smartphone, utilizing its (potentially unintended) ability in recognizing near infrared (NIR) color. Some of the most recent versions of smartphones have eliminated the NIR block filters on their cameras, and able to recognize NIR in their red pixels of CMOS array. Through attaching an inexpensive high pass filter at 800 nm to a smartphone camera, we were able to collect the NIR reflectance (with a high pass optical filter) and the red reflectance (without a filter), enabling NDVI assessments. This method was verified by measuring the NDVI values from a series of chlorophyll solutions, and showed a strong linear correlation with R2 = 0.948, corroborating the smartphone’s ability in evaluating NDVI. Using the leaves from three different plant species, the NDVI values were evaluated using the smartphone and compared with the plants’ chlorophyll contents using acetone extraction and subsequent spectrophotometry. A good linear relationship was found with R2 = 0.88–0.92. We further evaluated the NDVI values against the plants’ water contents (measured by oven-drying), showing the non-linear relationship with the NDVI saturation above 50% water content. The assay time was almost instantaneous, requiring only a smartphone and a high pass filter, thus allowing inexpensive, easy-to-use, rapid, and early prediction of plant stress that can be used for field and household applications.
Who Create Jobs? Venture Capital, Research Grants, and Regional Employment in the U.S.

ABSTRACTWe build on the exploratory and exploitative learning literature that suggests that venture capital and governmental research grants may impact regional employment in a different manner. Us...