cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Social Justice, Place, and Equitable Science Education: Broadening Urban Students’ Opportunities to Learn

In this paper, results from a 2-year informal science education study are presented. Children (aged 8–12) in this study participated in multi-aged groups to learn science within the context of paleontology and climate change. The goals of the project were to increase science content knowledge among underrepresented minority students and to enhance their interest in science. Providing urban students of color with opportunities to learn science may promote social justice and science as a civil right. Students in this study demonstrated science content knowledge and academic brilliance as they engaged in environmental science tasks. Results of paired t tests revealed science content knowledge increased significantly in Phase 1 (Saturday academy) of the study and on two of three content tests in Phase 2 (summer camp). Qualitative data revealed the depth of student learning and that student interest in science was generally positive. We conclude the program was moderately successful in terms of its goals and provided lessons learned in terms of engaging in equitable science teaching. This study adds to the extant literature on underrepresented students’ content knowledge and interest in science while participating in place-based, informal science education focused on paleontology and climate change.
Chromatin boundary elements organize genomic architecture and developmental gene regulation in Drosophila Hox clusters.

Chromatin boundary elements organize genomic architecture and developmental gene regulation in Drosophila Hox clusters
Improved synthetic route to quinoxyfen photometabolite 2-chloro-10-fluorochromeno[2,3,4-de]quinoline

BACKGROUND Quinoxyfen is a fungicide developed by Dow AgroSciences for the control of powdery mildew. Re-registration studies required gram quantities of 2-chloro-10-fluorochromeno[2,3,4-de]quinoline, a photometabolite of quinoxyfen. The only previous method of preparation of this photometabolite was by photolysis of quinoxyfen in less than one percent yield. Therefore, a new method allowing for the preparation of this photometabolite in gram quantities was required. RESULTS Several different metal catalyzed intramolecular cyclization approaches were investigated for the synthesis of 2-chloro-10-fluorochromeno[2,3,4-de]quinoline. While most methods failed to provide the desired product from a 2-bromophenyl derivative of quinoxyfen, a novel one-pot two-step synthesis led to the desired material in good yield from quinoxyfen. CONCLUSION A short and efficient synthetic route was developed to access 2-chloro-10-fluorochromeno[2,3,4-de]quinoline from readily available (4-fluoro-2-hydroxyphenyl)boronic acid and quinoxyfen and was found to be scalable, which enabled the preparation of the desired photometabolite in gram quantities thus meeting material requirements to complete regulatory studies for the re-registration of quinoxyfen.
Influence of grain growth on the structural properties of the nanocrystalline Gd 2 Ti 2 O 7

Abstract The microstructural evolution and grain growth kinetics of the nanocrystalline Gd 2 Ti 2 O 7 drastically affect its properties and functionalities as thermal barrier coatings and nuclear waste forms for actinide incorporation. Here, we report the synthesis of the dense nano-sized Gd 2 Ti 2 O 7 by high energy ball milling (HEBM), and spark plasma sintering (SPS), and also investigated the isothermally annealing induced grain coarsening and structural properties variations. As-prepared nano powder (D∼60 nm) by HEBM exhibited an amorphous nature, which was consolidated to a dense single phase crystalline pyrochlore nano-ceramic (D∼120 ± 10 nm) by SPS sintering at 1200 °C. Isothermal annealing was performed at different temperatures (1300 °C - 1500 °C) with holding time varying from 0.5 to 8 h, and the pyrochlore phase is stable with no indication of a transformation into a defect fluorite structure. A rapid initial grain growth was observed which increased with temperature and annealing durations due to the large driving force of the curvature-driven grain coarsening of the nano-ceramics, and grain growth saturates at longer durations. The calculated value of the time constant and activation energy for the nanocrystalline Gd 2 Ti 2 O 7 were 0.52 ± 0.02 and 240 ± 20 kJ/mol (∼2.48 eV), respectively. The enhanced grain growth kinetics with a lower value of activation energy can be explained by the effect of fast diffusion across the grain boundaries for dense nanoceramics.
Don't Shoot the Messenger: Still No Evidence That Video-Game Experience Is Related to Cognitive Abilities-A Reply to Green et al. (2017).

Green et al. (2017) raise two broad concerns with our two studies (Unsworth et al., 2015) showing little association between self-reported video-game experience and cognitive abilities: (a) Our analyses assumed linear gaming-cognition relationships and ignored possible confounding associations among different video-game genres, and (b) the video-game experience questionnaires were problematic and misapplied. We rebut these critiques in this Commentary.
Las poetas de la Generación del 50 y la imaginería indumentaria

La exigencia milenaria, impuesta por autoridad de la mirada masculina, de que las mujeres se cuiden la apariencia adscribe a la indumentaria femenina una significacion fundamental. Las mujeres de la Generacion del 50 descubren en esa relacion historica con la ropa una fuente enriquecedora para la expresion poetica. La poesia de Elvira Lacaci, Maria Beneyto, Blanca Sarasua, Francisca Aguirre, Pino Betancor, Maria Victoria Atencia y Elsa Lopez revela que las poetas aludan a la indumentaria para crear un lenguaje poetico original de amplia gama tematica, incluyendo la metapoesia, la injusticia clasista, estructuras de genero asfixiantes, la autorepresentacion y la reivindicacion de la marilinealidad.
Trajectory Specification Language for Air Traffic Control

Trajectory Specification is a method of specifying aircraft trajectories with tolerances such that the position at any given time in flight is constrained to a precisely defined bounding space. The bounding space at any given time is defined by tolerances relative to a reference trajectory that specifies position as a function of time. The tolerances are dynamic and are based on the aircraft navigation capabilities and the Traffic situation. This paper proposes a standard Trajectory Specification Language (TSL) based on the Extensible Markup Language (XML) to represent these specifications and to communicate them by datalink. The language can be used to downlink trajectory requests from air to ground and to uplink trajectory assignments from ground to air. The XML format can be converted to binary for operational use, if necessary, using Efficient XML Interchange (EXI) or Abstract Syntax Notation (ASN.1).
Factors influencing horizontal gene transfer in the intestine.

Antibiotic resistance (AR) is ancient. Use of antibiotics is a selective driving force that enriches AR genes and promotes the emergence of resistant pathogens. It also has been widely accepted that horizontal gene transfer (HGT) occurs everywhere and plays a critical role in the transmission of AR genes among bacteria. However, our understanding of HGT processes primarily build on extensive in vitro studies; to date, there is still a significant knowledge gap regarding in situ HGT events as well as the factors that influence HGT in different ecological niches. This review is focused on the HGT process in the intestinal tract, a ‘melting pot’ for gene exchange. Several factors that potentially influence in vivo HGT efficiency in the intestine are identified and summarized, which include SOS-inducing agents, stress hormones, microbiota and microbiota-derived factors. We highlight recent discoveries demonstrating that certain antibiotics, which are widely used in animal industry, can enhance HGT in the intestine by serving as DNA-damaging, SOS-inducing agents. Despite recent progress, research on in vivo HGT events is still in its infancy. A better understanding of the factors influencing HGT in the intestine is highly warranted for developing effective strategies to mitigate AR in animal production as well as in future agricultural ecosystems.
The North Carolina Respiratory Model

Computer-based mathematical models of respiration have been used for some decades to study respiratory control. Such models can mimic both steady state and dynamic behaviors to a wide variety of forcings[1] and have been particularly useful in gaining understanding of some of the chemical and circulatory factors underlying unstable, periodic breathing of the Cheyne-Stokes type[2]–[4].
Revealing the characteristics of antiviral agents

Rapid development of novel anti-hepatitis C virus (HCV) agents in recent years has greatly improved treatment outcomes. However, such rapid progress in anti-HCV treatment has not allowed us to fully argue the different characteristics of each anti-HCV agent, optimal multidrug combinations, and the selection of treatment enabling to efficiently eliminate drug resistant viruses. We here quantified the intrinsic antiviral effect of 15 anti-HCV agents either clinically available or under developmental phase using a cell culture system, and identified the parameters that represent the antiviral profile of drugs through mathematical analysis. A computer simulation that calculated the antiviral activity and the frequency of mutation rate under dual- and triple-multidrug treatment presented the argument for the advantage of multidrug treatments. In this review, we summarize the novel approaches to evaluate intrinsic antiviral efficacy of drugs by combining the virological and mathematical analyses.
Memes and symbolic violence: #proudboys and the use of memes for propaganda and the construction of collective identity

As a social media platform, Instagram has a strong influence on youth culture, identity, and perceptions of the world, with the application serving not only for youth to follow accounts that are as...
Persistent low fertility among the East Asia descendants in the United States: perspectives and implications

We focus on a small but growing segment of the U.S. population, those who identify as Chinese, Japanese and Korean (CJK), and compare CJK fertility to other race/ethnic groups in the United States. CJK women in the U.S. exhibit a distinct, pervasive, and persistent pattern of late and low fertility with nearly all births occurring within marriage; this pattern displays a strong parallel to their counterparts in their countries of origin. To accompany this description, we offer a perspective on fertility difference that has broad applicability and that does not consistently predict that differences will disappear/remain. This discussion unites the literature on assimilation, segmented assimilation and pluralistic outcomes and processes. We also discuss the possible implications of these findings for country level policies to increase fertility. Most generally, these discussions are a corrective to demographer’s penchant for predicting secular change and convergence.
Scoping the Chinese American Librarians Association Services with a National Survey

The Assessment and Evaluation Committee of the Chinese American Librarians Association (CALA) designed an online survey for its members in order to elicit various types of information. The primary goals of this survey were to facilitate a stronger organization by serving its members more efficiently and effectively. This survey was distributed to all members through CALA’s discussion list and website. The thirty three survey questions in six categories corresponded to the six areas of the CALA 2020 Strategic Plan. This article is a comprehensive report and analysis of the survey results. The survey data and conclusions may assist the board in gauging the level of CALA members’ awareness, perception, and usage of the association’s policies and services. It will also provide an understanding of its members’ level of satisfaction with the services provided by CALA. The findings of the survey can be used as an important reference for the association to better develop its future strategic plan and long-term goals, such as launching innovative and quality programs and services; using cutting-edge technologies to recruit and engage CALA members; creating professional development networking platforms; and promoting leadership training and services. The article will share the findings and interpretation of this survey in order to increase the awareness of issues, difficulties, and challenges with respect to organizational development.
Long-term retention in pre-exposure prophylaxis care among men who have sex with men and transgender women in the United States.

Introduction Retention in HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) care in real-world settings, outside of controlled trials or demonstration projects, remains poorly understood. Methods We evaluated retention in PrEP care outcomes among men who have sex with men (MSM) and transgender women prescribed PrEP through March 2017 at three clinical sites in the United States (US): Jackson, Mississippi; Providence, Rhode Island; and St. Louis, Missouri. We determined retention rates by attendance of clinical visits every three months, per US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines, as well as by the timing of patients' actual clinical visits. Multivariable analyses examined demographic and behavioural factors associated with retention. Results From 2013 to 2015, 282 MSM and transgender women were prescribed PrEP; 82% attended a follow-up visit. Based on CDC recommendations, 56% of patients were retained in PrEP care at the first follow-up visit, having attended a visit three months after initiation. However, 76% had a follow-up visit within eight months. Thirty-percent were retained at 12 months by CDC criteria, but 62% were retained when using a 16-month endpoint. Self-reported adherence was strongly correlated with retention. In multivariable analyses, younger age was associated with decreased odds of retention at initial follow-up, and completing college was associated with increased odds of retention at 16 months. Eight participants were newly diagnosed with HIV; six were African American, and seven were under 30 years of age. Conclusions Measuring retention in PrEP care using three-month follow-up intervals may underestimate true retention. Nevertheless, retention in PrEP care is suboptimal in real-world settings and should be the focus of future interventions.
Associations between hematology/oncology fellows' training and mentorship experiences and hematology-only career plans.

Abstract As the adult hematology and oncology fellowship training pathways have merged in the United States and concerns have arisen about the aging of practicing hematologists, the American Society of Hematology and hematology education leaders are looking to improve their understanding of the factors that contribute to fellows' plans to enter hematology-only careers. With the support of the American Society of Hematology, we collected and analyzed data from a survey of hematology/oncology fellows (n = 626) to examine the relationship between training and mentorship experiences and fellows' plans to enter hematology-only careers. Fellows who planned to enter hematology-only careers were significantly more likely to report having clinical training and mentorship experiences in hematology throughout their training relative to fellows with oncology-only or combined hematology/oncology career plans. After controlling for prior interest in hematology and demographic characteristics, exposure to hematology patients in medical school and fellowship, hematology research experiences, and hematology mentorship (research collaboration and career coaching) were positively and significantly associated with hematology-only career plans. These findings suggest that increasing opportunities for exposure to hematology patients, research opportunities and mentors throughout training could be helpful in building a strong pipeline of potential hematologists.
A Concept Mapping Study to Understand Multilevel Resilience Resources Among African American/Black Adults Living with HIV in the Southern United States

Resilience may help people living with HIV (PLWH) overcome adversities to disease management. This study identifies multilevel resilience resources among African American/Black (AA/B) PLWH and examines whether resilience resources differ by demographics and neighborhood risk environments. We recruited participants and conducted concept mapping at two clinics in the southeastern United States. Concept Mapping incorporates qualitative and quantitative methods to represent participant-generated concepts via two-dimensional maps. Eligible participants had to attend ≥ 75% of their scheduled clinic appointments and did not have ≥ 2 consecutive detectable HIV-1 viral load measurements in the past 2 years. Of the 85 AA/B PLWH who were invited, forty-eight participated. Twelve resilience resource clusters emerged—five individual, two interpersonal, two organizational/policy and three neighborhood level clusters. There were strong correlations in cluster ratings for demographic and neighborhood risk environment comparison groups (r ≥ 0.89). These findings could inform development of theories, measures and interventions for AA/B PLWH.
Law in Reality, Law in Context: On the Work and Influence of Stewart Macaulay

In this commentary on Stewart Macaulay’s intellectual contributions, Elizabeth Mertz and Lawrence Friedman review just one part of Macaulay’s substantial legacy within legal and sociolegal studies. Within legal studies he is well known for his work on contract law, and on the relationship between private and public regulation in institutional settings more generally. However, this essay assesses his influence well beyond the field of contract law, reaching into such areas of sociolegal studies as law in popular culture, the legal profession, and interdisciplinary legal education. A consistent thread draws these interests together: Macaulay’s insistent concern with how law actually works out in real life, in other words, in social context. His approach is systematic and disciplined, based on careful engagement with the social sciences whose methods and theories shed particular light on how to study law in action. The chapter’s first section gives an overview of Macaulay’s early engagement with realist and sociolegal traditions, taking him from how business people actually deal with contract law, through the effects of bureaucracies and international differences on the administration of law on the ground, to struggles with formal law in divorce courts. The second section of the chapter reviews Macaulay’s crucial contributions to the study of “popular legal culture,” which examines how law is represented to—and understood by—everyday people. This opened the door to studying the effects of law outside of courts and legislatures, and to a broadened empirical lens for examining how social order is maintained—whether through law or in spite of it! Inspired by this broader lens, Macaulay continually pressed for law schools to incorporate a better-informed view of law-in-action within their curricula, arguing that legal educators are failing their students when they don’t reach beyond the study of formal doctrine to how law and legal careers actually work in real life. This interest in a kind of legal realism brought him, later in his career, to join a younger group of scholars who sought to revive interest surrounding law-in-action within the law schools. Hoping to reacquaint law professors and students with the considerable amount of scholarship that had been conducted within sociolegal studies in intervening decades, Macaulay and his colleagues formed the “New Legal Realism” movement, to which Macaulay again contributed a number of path-charting writings.
Data-Driven Design of Microtransit Services via Optimal Transport and Simulated Annealing

Microtransit Service is a new trend under shared mobility, it is to increase ridership by linking current and prospective passengers with bus stops and train stations. This first/last mile problem has been a challenge for public transit agencies. In this paper, we focus on an emerging hub-to-spoke type of microtransit service. The service uses jitneys or minibuses for ride sharing, and requires passengers travel to and from stops to reach the vehicles. Compared with the Uber-like point-to-point service which offers convenience at the cost of time-consuming detours, the hub-to-spoke type service provides more affordable service yet with comparable delays if carefully designed. The service provider must decide a) the stop locations for pick-up and drop-off (PUDO) points; and b) passenger to stop allocation. The problem is NP-hard and computationally challenging since the demand is typically dense. We propose to consider the continuous approximation of the demand density function and study the continuous version of the problem. We develop OTSA, an integrated framework that combines optimal transport theory with simulated annealing to solve the problem. The efficiency of the algorithms are demonstrated with a city-scale implementation using data extracted from New York City Taxicab dataset.
Automated Detection of COVID-19 Cases on Radiographs using Shape-Dependent Fibonacci-p Patterns

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has been adversely affecting people's health globally. To diminish the effect of this widespread pandemic, it is essential to detect COVID-19 cases as quickly as possible. Chest radiographs are less expensive and are a widely available imaging modality for detecting chest pathology compared with CT images. They play a vital role in early prediction and developing treatment plans for suspected or confirmed COVID-19 chest infection patients. In this paper, a novel shape-dependent Fibonacci-p patterns-based feature descriptor using a machine learning approach is proposed. Computer simulations show that the presented system (1) increases the effectiveness of differentiating COVID-19, viral pneumonia, and normal conditions, (2) is effective on small datasets, and (3) has faster inference time compared to deep learning methods with comparable performance. Computer simulations are performed on two publicly available datasets; (a) the Kaggle dataset, and (b) the COVIDGR dataset. To assess the performance of the presented system, various evaluation parameters, such as accuracy, recall, specificity, precision, and f1-score are used. Nearly 100% differentiation between normal and COVID-19 radiographs is observed for the three-class classification scheme using the lung area-specific Kaggle radiographs. While Recall of 72.65 ± 6.83 and specificity of 77.72 ± 8.06 is observed for the COVIDGR dataset.
Bringing the State Police In: The Diffusion of U.S. Statewide Policing Agencies, 1905–1941

Policing is a prominent but understudied part of American politics. This article asks: Why did some, but not all, American states adopt a state police force in the early twentieth century? The state police force—a statewide policing agency with general jurisdiction over crimes throughout a state—was a prized progressive policy reform for decades. Yet many states declined to adopt the innovation. That puzzle becomes even more interesting given that all forty-eight states adopted the closely related innovation of a state highway patrol during the same period. This article applies diffusion theory to explain the origins of a familiar feature of American policing. Using a multimethod research design, I found that labor-capital struggles and regional pressures for diffusion were most important in shaping the adoption of state police forces. By contrast, adoptions of highway patrols appear to have been influenced by factors such as urbanization and fiscal capacity.
Who is Better at Anticipating Traffic Crashes, Human or Artificial Intelligence? A Gaze Data-based Exploratory Study.

Enhancing roadway safety is a priority of transportation. Hence, Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered crash anticipation is receiving growing attention, which aims to assist drivers and Automated Driving Systems (ADSs) in avoiding crashes. To gain the trust from ADS users, it is essential to benchmark the performance of AI models against humans. This paper establishes a gaze data-based method with the measures and metrics for evaluating human drivers' ability to anticipate crashes. A laboratory experiment is designed and performed, wherein a screen-based eye tracker collects the gaze data of six volunteers when they are watching 100 videos that include both normal and risky driving scenes. Statistical analyses (at the 0.05 significance level) of experimental data show that on average drivers can anticipate a crash up to 2.61+-0.100 seconds before it occurs. The chance whereby drivers have anticipated crashes before they occur, termed humans' recall, is 0.928+-0.0206. An AI model achieving the same recall value can anticipate crashes 2.22 seconds earlier than drivers on average, and the anticipation precision is 0.959. The study finds that crash involved traffic agents in driving scenes can vary drivers' instant attention level, average attention level, and spatial attention distribution. This finding supports AI models that learn a dynamic spatial-temporal attention mechanism for strengthening their ability to anticipate crashes. Results from the comparison suggests benefits of keeping human-in-the-loop, including further refining AI models with human inputs and using AI-rendered anticipation to increase the situational awareness of drivers in partial or conditional automation.
Deep learning identifies erroneous microarray-based, gene-level conclusions in literature.

More than 110 000 publications have used microarrays to decipher phenotype-associated genes, clinical biomarkers and gene functions. Microarrays rely on digital assaying the fluorescence signals of arrays. In this study, we retrospectively constructed raw images for 37 724 published microarray data, and developed deep learning algorithms to automatically detect systematic defects. We report that an alarming amount of 26.73% of the microarray-based studies are affected by serious imaging defects. By literature mining, we found that publications associated with these affected microarrays have reported disproportionately more biological discoveries on the genes in the contaminated areas compared to other genes. 28.82% of the gene-level conclusions reported in these publications were based on measurements falling into the contaminated area, indicating severe, systematic problems caused by such contaminations. We provided the identified published, problematic datasets, affected genes and the imputed arrays as well as software tools for scanning such contamination that will become essential to future studies to scrutinize and critically analyze microarray data.
Quantitative Functional Anatomy of Finger Muscles: Application to Controlled Grasp

The importance of the hand in basic activities of daily living has led to many investigations of the function of muscles which control hand movement. These studies have been both qualitative and quantitative. Qualitative studies have elucidated the role of particular muscles in obtaining a desired hand posture, and have helped to establish procedures for manual muscle testing. However, there are many applications where quantitative prediction of hand function is desirable.
Buffer Level Control of Unreliable Manufacturing Systems

We examine the form of the steady-state probability distribution, when a buffer level control is applied to an unreliable manufacturing system. We demonstrate how the internal dynamics of part flow in the network can lead to discontinuities in the probability densities.
A novel data center network architecture with zero in-network queuing

In-network queuing in the Internet-style networks enables the distributed operation and scalability across the network at the cost of excessive delay and tardy flow completion times. Data center networking, in contrast, are proposed to depart from this classical approach and avoid in-network queuing all together. In this new class of network solutions serving interdata center traffic, a densely packed fairly local area network of stationary end hosts are often managed by a single entity, allowing for fine-grained management and scheduling of flows across the data center. The overall objective of this work is to develop a framework, from first principles, which relies on the unique attributes of data centers to propose a transformative novel networking architecture with increased level of efficiency and significantly smaller latency. By separating the control and data planes, the proposed hybrid architecture avoids in-network queuing and results in significantly lower delay. The critical technical challenge is to design endend circuit switching mechanisms that account for monitoring as well as circuit reconfiguration delays. Furthermore, the design has to minimize the computational complexity of the scheduling algorithm as well as the cost of monitoring across the network. In this context, this paper underlines a family of recent technologies and networking advances as promising enablers and discusses the most significant set of challenges.
Ontology-Driven Conceptual Modelling: Advanced Concepts

There is a growing awareness amongst conceptual modellers that their tools (languages and methodologies) are in need of theoretical elucidation and foundation. Conceptual modeling frameworks, e.g. ER or UML, presuppose ontological notions such as entity, object, class, attribute, association, and aggregation, which are still used in a more or less intuitive und unreflected way. Furthermore, the design and maintenance of large scale information systems presupposes well-understood and reusable top-level ontologies.
Applying Human Factors to the Design of Performance Tools

After two decades of research in parallel tools for performance tuning, why are users still dissatisfied? This paper outlines the human factors issues that determine how performance tools are perceived by users. The information provides insight into why current performance visualizations are not as well received as they should be -- and what must be done in order to develop tools that are more closely aligned to user needs and preferences. Specific mechanisms are suggested for improving three aspects of performance visualizations: how the user explores the performance space, how the user compares different aspects of program behavior, and how the user navigates through complex source code.
Nonpathologic Factors Influencing Brainstem Auditory Evoked Potentials

(1978). Nonpathologic Factors Influencing Brainstem Auditory Evoked Potentials. American Journal of EEG Technology: Vol. 18, No. 4, pp. 177-209.
PIGEONS' DELAY DISCOUNTING FUNCTIONS ESTABLISHED USING A CONCURRENT-CHAINS PROCEDURE

Several studies have examined discounting by pigeons and rats using concurrent-chains procedures, but the results have been inconsistent. None of these studies, however, has established that discounting functions derived from estimates of indifference points can be obtained with a concurrent-chains procedure, so their validity remains in doubt. The present study used a concurrent-chains procedure within sessions combined with an adjusting-amount procedure across sessions to determine the present, subjective values of food reinforcers to be obtained after a delay. Discounting was well described by the hyperbolic discounting function, suggesting that the concurrent-chains procedure and the more typical adjusting-amount procedure are measuring the same process. Consistent with previous studies with rats and pigeons using adjusting-amount procedures, no significant effect of the amount of the delayed reinforcer on the degree of discounting was observed, suggesting that the amount effect may be unique to humans although consistent with the view that animals' choices are controlled by the relative, rather than the absolute, value of reinforcers.
Policy and Disposition Coalitions on the Supreme Court of the United States

Empirical studies of collegial courts typically analyze the dispositional votes of judges. Theoretical models of collegial courts, by contrast, typically assume that judges care about, and choose, policies. In this paper, we use data on the behavior of justices of the Supreme Court of the United States (from the Spaeth Supreme Court Database, 1953-2008) to show that this discrepancy is not innocuous: dispositional votes are different from policy choices, and that difference has implications for understanding the doctrine the Court produces. We present evidence that disposition coalitions differ from policy coalitions in a significant number of cases, and argue they differ along ideological lines. For this reason, we claim dispositional votes are not an adequate proxy for policy choice. Our preliminary analysis establishes two other claims. First, we show that within a natural court, policy coalitions are diverse rather than homogeneous. Second, we present evidence that the ideological content of opinions moves in tandem with the ideological makeup of the policy coalition supporting the majority opinion.
Importance sampling simulation of a symbol-by-symbol multiuser detector

Multiuser detection has been shown to outperform the conventional matched-filter receiver on the code-division multiple access (CDMA) channel. Our previous work developed a multiuser detector in which extended Kalman filter (EKF) estimates for user amplitudes and time delays are computed and used in a MAP detector. Importance sampling (IS) has been shown to greatly increase simulation efficiency for a variety of detection problems. In this paper, we describe an IS method which is compatible with our nonlinear time-varying detector. The simulation achieves IS gains on the order of 10/sup 8/, and the implications for computational accuracy are discussed. Simulation results show that the detector greatly outperforms the matched filter detector even under perfect power control, when significant user interference is present. In fact, the detector performance rivals that of BPSK on a purely Gaussian channel, indicating that the interference from other users has been "canceled". >
Usefulness of preimplantation B-type natriuretic peptide level for predicting response to cardiac resynchronization therapy.

Nearly 1/3 of patients with heart failure (HF) fail to respond to cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT). The purpose of this study was to evaluate the value of preimplantation brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) in predicting the clinical response to CRT. We retrospectively analyzed 164 patients who underwent CRT. Patients with New York Heart Association functional class III or IV HF symptoms despite maximal medical therapy, who were not on inotropic medications, had left ventricular ejection fraction 130 ms were included in the study. CRT response in patients who survived at 6-month follow-up was defined as no HF hospitalization and improvement of > or =1 grades in the New York Heart Association classification. BNP assays were performed before implantation and at 6-month follow-up. Patients had ischemic (47%) or nonischemic (53%) cardiopathy. Responders (n = 107) and nonresponders (n = 57) had similar baseline characteristics. Cardiac death and hospitalization for HF occurred in 5 (4.7%) and 18 (31.6%) patients, respectively. CRT responders compared with nonresponders exhibited higher preimplantation BNP levels (800 +/- 823 vs 335 +/- 348 pg/ml, p = 0.0002) and a significant reduction in the QRS duration after implantation (-6 +/- 34 vs +7 +/- 32 ms, p = 0.048). The preimplantation BNP was the only independent predictor of the CRT response (p = 0.001). A BNP value > or =447 pg/ml demonstrated a sensitivity of 62% and specificity of 79% in identifying CRT response. In a subgroup of 41 patients who underwent Doppler tissue imaging analysis, the preimplantation BNP was higher in patients presenting with intraventricular dyssynchrony (845 +/- 779 vs 248 +/- 290 pg/ml, p = 0.04). In conclusion, the preimplantation BNP value independently predicts CRT response and was superior to QRS duration reduction in identifying CRT responders.
Establishment Size and Local Employment Growth

In a sample of more than 2000 U.S. counties, smaller average establishment size is generally associated with faster subsequent growth rates of sectoral employment, both within and across sectors. The estimated effects are large in magnitude and thus economically important, and are consistent with several theories previously developed. These findings contribute toward a more precise understanding of the role of small businesses in economic growth and labor markets.
Design and methodology of the LA Sprouts nutrition, cooking and gardening program for Latino youth: A randomized controlled intervention.

Abstract Objective The LA Sprouts 12-week nutrition, cooking and gardening intervention targets obesity reduction in Latino children. While other gardening and nutrition programs are shown to improve dietary intake, LA Sprouts is unique in that it utilized a curriculum demonstrated to decrease obesity. This methodology paper outlines the design and processes of the LA Sprouts study, and discusses key strategies employed to foster successful implementation of the program. Setting After-school program in four Los Angeles elementary schools. Subjects 3rd–5th grade students. Design Randomized controlled trial. Gardens were built on two of four school campuses, and the 90-minute weekly lessons focused on strategies to increase fruit and vegetable consumption, gardening at school and home, and cooking healthy meals/snacks. Data collection was conducted pre- and post-intervention and included basic clinical and anthropometric measures, dietary intake and psychosocial constructs measured by questionnaire, and an optional fasting blood draw. Results Baseline data was collected from 364 children, and 320 (88%) completed follow-up. No participants withdrew from the program (data were missing for other reasons). Intervention students attended 9.7 ± 2.3 lessons. Fasting blood samples were collected on 169 children at baseline, and 113 (67%) at follow-up. Questionnaire scales had good internal consistency (IC) and intra-rater reliability (IRR; in child scales: 88% items with IC > 0.7 and 70% items with IRR > 0.50; in parent scales: 75% items with IC > 0.7). Conclusions The intervention was successfully implemented in the schools and scales appear appropriate to evaluate psychosocial constructs relevant to a gardening intervention.
Sextus Empiricus on Non-Assertion

It is well-known from the writings of Sextus Empiricus that Sceptics, or at least those Pyrrhonian Sceptics for whom Sextus makes himself spokesman, took pains to mark themselves off from other philosophers by issuing disclaimers about their own philosophical utterances. The Outlines of Pyrrhonism is liberally sprinkled with warnings of the following sort: the Sceptic does not "dogmatize" (8oy[Lar;eLv); he neither "affirms" (TLOEvVL) nor "denies" (v he adopts a stance of "non-assertion" (c he says only "what appears to himself' (,or iavrr qaLv6pWvov); he does not "positively claim" (PEIPOoiWaDM and many of his utterances "cancel themselves" (avxT& GpL-npLyp&(PLv) along with all other statements. In this paper I want to raise some questions about the force of these disclaimers, about their bearing on some typical Sceptical "claims" and arguments. At the outset I shall consider all the above sorts of expressions together as disclaimers of assertion, even though, as we shall see, Sextus himself puts them to work in interestingly different ways.' I have the following kinds of questions in mind. To begin with, if we take these caveats seriously (and there seems little doubt that they were meant to be taken so), there is the rather large problem of how to construe the remainder of the Sceptic utterances to which they were plainly intended to apply. If the Sceptic is not making an assertion in uttering the words "it is day" when in fact it is day, "I am chilled" when a cool breeze begins to blow, or "there is no proof' after a long disquisition on the subject, what sorts of saying are these and how do they function for him? As for the disclaimers themselves, what is their status, and how are they related to first-order utterances? A problem closely tied in with these questions concerns the relation between the posture of non-assertion and the notion of "assent" (awyxarTa;0Ea0k) to appearances (vpaLvogva), which must play
Synthesis of 1,8-bis(trimethylgermyl)naphthalene

Abstract Reaction of 1,8-dilithionaphthalene with trimethylchlorogermane yields the title compound. In contrast to the silicon analog, the extent of lithium transfer in this system is negligible.
Exposure to prenatal nicotine transiently increases neuronal nicotinic receptor subunit α7, α4 and β2 messenger RNAs in the postnatal rat brain

This study determined the effects of prenatal nicotine exposure (2 mg/kg/day) in Sprague Dawley CD rats via subcutaneously implanted osmotic minipumps, during gestational days 7-21, on postnatal levels of neuronal nicotinic receptor alpha4, alpha7 and beta2 subunit messenger RNAs. Northern analysis of postnatal day 1, 7, 14 and 28 hippocampal/septal and cortical total RNA using alpha-[32P]dCTP-labeled alpha4, alpha7 and beta2 complementary DNA probes identified a single (5.7-kb) alpha7 messenger RNA, three (2.4-, 3.8- and 8.0-kb) alpha4 messenger RNAs and four (3.7-, 5.0-, 7.5- and 10.0-kb) beta2 messenger RNAs. In comparison to prenatal saline, prenatal nicotine produced several significantly higher messenger RNA levels (cortical: 5.7-kb alpha7, 2.4-, 3.8- and 8.0-kb alpha4, 10.0-kb beta2; hippocampal/septal: 2.4- and 8.0-kb alpha4); these increases occurred predominantly on, but were not restricted to, postnatal day 14. Effects of nicotine were generally resolved by postnatal day 28. Collapsing the data across sex and age, a significant treatment effect indicated that hippocampal/septal and cortical 8.0-kb alpha4 messenger RNA levels and 10.0-kb beta2 messenger RNA levels were significantly higher following prenatal nicotine exposure. This is the first study indicating that prenatal nicotine produces alterations in developing postnatal rat neuronal nicotinic receptor messenger RNA levels, possibly by premature stimulation of neuronal nicotinic receptors. These results further implicate the teratogenic potential of nicotine in postnatal neuronal development.
Association of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) with Health Related Quality of Life and Disease State of HIV Infected Patients

The literature on the potential clinical and non-clinical benefits of participation in food assistance programs for people living with HIV in developed countries is scarce. We conducted a cross-sectional study of 165 HIV infected adults to determine the impact of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) on HIV disease status and health related quality of life (HQROL). There was no significant association between SNAP participation and disease status; CD4 cell count (β = 0.02, P = 0.837) and viral load (β = 0.02, P = 0.836). The mean scores for all the HRQOL domains were lower compared to the US population, but none were associated with SNAP participation. Higher scores on the general health domain, were marginally associated with SNAP participation (β = 0.16, P = 0.071). In this study, SNAP participation was not significantly associated with less disease progression, and only marginally associated with quality of life among this population of HIV infected individuals.
Exploring the Sequential Lineup Advantage Using WITNESS

Advocates claim that the sequential lineup is an improvement over simultaneous lineup procedures, but no formal (quantitatively specified) explanation exists for why it is better. The computational model WITNESS (Clark, Appl Cogn Psychol 17:629–654, 2003) was used to develop theoretical explanations for the sequential lineup advantage. In its current form, WITNESS produced a sequential advantage only by pairing conservative sequential choosing with liberal simultaneous choosing. However, this combination failed to approximate four extant experiments that exhibited large sequential advantages. Two of these experiments became the focus of our efforts because the data were uncontaminated by likely suspect position effects. Decision-based and memory-based modifications to WITNESS approximated the data and produced a sequential advantage. The next step is to evaluate the proposed explanations and modify public policy recommendations accordingly.
Phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase p85 SH2 domain specificity defined by direct phosphopeptide/SH2 domain binding

We have developed a competition binding assay to quantify relative affinities of isolated Src-homology 2 (SH2) domains for phosphopeptide sequences. Eleven synthetic 11-12-amino acid phosphopeptides containing YMXM or YVXM recognition motifs bound to a PI 3-kinase p85 SH2 domain with highest affinities, including sequences surrounding phosphorylated tyrosines of the PDGF, CSF-1/c-Fms, and kit-encoded receptors, IRS-1, and polyoma middle T antigens; matched, unphosphorylated sequences did not bind. A scrambled YMXM phosphopeptide or sequences corresponding to the GAP or PLC-gamma SH2 domain binding motifs of the PDGF, FGF, and EGF receptors bound to the p85 SH2 domain with 30-100-fold reduced affinity, indicating that this affinity range confers specificity. Binding specificity was appropriately reversed with an SH2 domain from PLC-gamma: a phosphopeptide corresponding to the site surrounding PDGF receptor Tyr1021 binds with approximately 40-fold higher affinity than a YMXM-phosphopeptide. We conclude that essential features of specific phosphoprotein/SH2 domain interactions can be reconstituted using truncated versions of both the phosphoprotein (a phosphopeptide) and cognate SH2 domain-containing protein (the SH2 domain). SH2 domain binding specificity results from differences in affinity conferred by the linear sequence surrounding phosphotyrosine.
Experimental petrology and global tectonics —A preview☆

The new global tectonics provides a convenient tectonic framework for igneous and metamorphic petrology in the five environments: oceanic plates, continental plates, divergent plate boundaries, convergent plate boundaries, and transform plate boundaries. Models have been developed involving: 1. (1)the generation of oceanic crust from basalt and serpentinite at mid-ocean ridges; 2. (2) metamorphism and hydration of the crust to yield greenschist, hornblende-gabbro, or amphibolite; 3. (3) lateral transport of the crust by sea-floor spreading; 4. (4) subduction of the crust at convergent plate boundaries, with 5. (5) blueschist metamorphism associated with oceanic trenches; 6. (6) transformation of the subducted crust into quartz-eclogite; 7. (7) partial fusion of amphibolite or quartz eclogite and subducted oceanic sediments to yield the calc-alkaline magma series; and 8. (8) the emplacement of batholiths in high-temperature metamorphic rocks at the base of the island or continental margin arc complexes. We have assumed starting materials, beginning with mantle peridotite beneath the oceanic rises, and a series of processes involving partial fusion of mantle peridotite, crystallization, hydration, solid-solid phase transformations, dehydration, and partial fusion of the diverse materials in the subducted oceanic crust. Experimental petrology makes possible the testing of models and determination of the pressures and temperatures for the operation of these processes. Water is an important component. For processes at the oceanic ridges we do not know how much water is juvenile and how much is introduced from the ocean. The hydrated oceanic rocks are subducted and then dehydrated, but there remains some uncertainty about whether this water is carried deep enough to participate in the generation of calc-alkaline magmas, and possibly juvenile water is involved. The combined approaches of geophysics, geochemistry, geology, and experimental petrology within the framework of the new global tectonics are providing new insights into the differentiation of the earth.