cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Valuing Pest Susceptibility to Control

This chapter focuses on the issues of preference and value, of which most biologists have only a vague understanding. Understanding the valuation of natural resources such as pest susceptibility, particularly from the perspective of economics, is an important foundation for the management of insect resistance. It provides a general overview of the classification of goods from an economic perspective, focusing on those types that pertain to insect resistance management (IRM) and integrated pest management (IPM). It also discusses the valuation of pest density and of pest susceptibility at a single point in time. These attributes of pest quantity and quality are the primary factors in most discussions of IPM and IRM, as well as the critical variables in most economic models. A complete evaluation of the costs and benefits of IRM and IPM should consider impacts beyond pest quantity and quality to address factors such as environmental quality and human health. This chapter extends this accounting of values to consider time preferences by discussing the use of discounting future values. Given that IRM requires management over multiple years, one must quantitatively compare values from different times to evaluate different strategies. Accounting is considered for risk preferences by discussing methods commonly used to incorporate uncertainty into the decision-making process. Ultimately, it develops simple illustrations of how these methods have been applied with a brief overview of economic IRM models.
Response to open peer commentaries on "The pitfalls of deducing ethics from economics: why the Association of American Medical Colleges is wrong about pharmaceutical detailing".

The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) is urging academic medical centers to ban pharmaceutical detailing. This policy followed from a consideration of behavioral and neuroeconomics research. I argue that this research did not warrant the conclusions drawn from it. Pharmaceutical detailing carries risks of cognitive error for physicians, as do other forms of information exchange. Physicians may overcome such risks; those determined to do so may ethically engage in pharmaceutical detailing. Whether or not they should do so is a prudential judgment about which reasonable people may disagree. The AAMC's ethical condemnation of detailing is unwarranted and will subvert efforts to maintain a realm of physician discretion in clinical work that is increasingly threatened in our present practice environment.
Federal Purchase and Administration of Submarginal Land in the Great Plains

The title proposed for this paper suggests the ineptitude of the term "submarginal land" as a name for the policy which is the subject of this discussion. Little, if any, of the land in the Great Plains is "submarginal" in the sense that it is not adapted to agriculture of some type under proper conditions of tenure and size of holdings. The objective of the program of purchase, therefore, as applied to the Great Plains has not been, in any important degree, the withdrawal of land from agriculture; but rather, to make possible a change in the type of agriculture. It is well known that the serious conditions that have attracted so much attention to this great region since about 1930 have been due largely to the persistence of the low phase of the rainfall cycle aggravated by coincidence of a period of unusually low prices for the staples of the region. The ill effects of these unfavorable conditions have been intensified by the type of farming and of land tenure that had developed, much of it during the preceding generally high phase of the rainfall cycle, which coincided more or less closely with a period of good to high prices for the staples of the region during more than a decade and a half preceding 1930. Specifically, the type of farming has been characterized by an undue concentration on wheat production as a cash crop in roughly the eastern half of the region and in the western portion by a necessary dependence on cattle or sheep for market, but also sporadic attempts to produce wheat. The unfortunate consequences of these unfavorable conditions in the form of bankruptcy, foreclosures, tax delinquencies, serious erosion, enforced liquidation of assets, and extensive and more or less aimless emigration have been so adequately described that it is not necessary to expand upon them in this paper. Indicated desirable readjustments in types of farming take the form of greater dependence on cattle and feed crops in the areas now largely concentrating on wheat, and in the strictly range areas, less intensity of grazing and where practicable production of supplementary forage crops. Such readjustments, however, and particularly the introduction of a greater degree of stability into
Potential Problems (and Solutions) of Mentoring in the Preparation of School Administrators.

In a few university administrator preparation programs, experienced principals are being used effectively as mentors to aspiring principals. The mentoring relationship has been found to be more pos...
Electrical characterization and comparison of CIGS solar cells made with different structures and fabrication techniques

Abstract In a previous paper [1], we reported on Cu(In,Ga)Se2-based (CIGS) solar cell samples collected from different research laboratories and industrial companies with the purpose of understanding the range of CIGS materials that can lead to high-quality and high-efficiency solar panels. Here, we report on electrical measurements of those same samples. Electron-beam induced current and time-resolved photoluminescence (TRPL) gave insights about the collection probability and the lifetime of carriers generated in each absorber. Capacitance and drive-level capacitance profiling revealed nonuniformity in carrier-density profiles. Admittance spectroscopy revealed small activation energies (≤ 0.03 eV) indicative of the inversion strength, larger activation energies (> 0.1 eV) reflective of thermal activation of absorber conductivity and a deeper defect level. Deep-level transient spectroscopy (DLTS) probed deep hole-trapping defects and showed that all samples in this study had a majority-carrier defect with activation energy between 0.3 eV and 0.9 eV. Optical-DLTS revealed deep electron-trapping defects in several of the CIGS samples. This work focused on revealing similarities and differences between high-quality CIGS solar cells made with various structures and fabrication techniques.
Scratching the Surface of Windows Server 2016 and System Center Configuration Manager Current Branch

Lehigh University has set a goal to implement System Center Configuration Manager by the end of 2017. This project is being spearheaded by one of our Senior Computing Consultants who has been researching and trained in the Microsoft Virtualization stack. We will discuss our roadmaps, results from our proof-of-concept environments, and discussions in driving this project.
The Prevalence and Impact of Migraine and Severe Headache in the United States: Figures and Trends From Government Health Studies.

Background and objectives In this targeted systematic review, we aimed to identify up-to-date prevalence estimates of migraine and severe headache in adults from population-based US government surveys. Our goal was to assess the stability of prevalence estimates over time, and to identify additional information pertinent to the burden and treatment of migraine and other severe headache conditions. Methods We searched for the most current publicly available summary statistics from the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NHAMCS), and the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS). We extracted and summarized data from each study over time and as a function of demographic variables. Results The prevalence and burden of self-reported migraine and severe headache in the US adult population is high, affecting roughly 1 out of every 6 American and 1 in 5 women over a 3-month period (15.3% overall [95% CI 14.75-15.85], 9.7% of males [95% CI 9.05-10.35] and 20.7% of females [95% CI 19.84-21.56]). The prevalence has been remarkably stable over a period of 19 years. The prevalence of migraine or severe headache in 2015 was highest in American Indian or Alaska Natives (18.4%) compared with whites, blacks, or Hispanics, with the lowest prevalence in Asians (11.3%). There is a higher burden of migraine in those aged 18-44 (17.9%), people who are unemployed (21.4%), those with family income less than $35,000 per year (19.9%), and the elderly and disabled (16.4%). Headache is consistently the fourth or fifth most common reason for visits to the emergency department, accounting for roughly 3% of all emergency department visits annually. In reproductive aged women, headache is the third leading cause of emergency department visits. Conclusions Severe headache and migraine remain important public health problems that are more common and burdensome for women, particularly women of childbearing age, and other historically disadvantaged segments of the population. These inequities could be exacerbated if new high-cost treatments are inaccessible to those who need them most.
The emission and interference aspects of broad band over power lines to HF receivers

This paper concerns the measurements and modeling of broadband over power line (BPL) signals at a test site along the East coast of the United States. The investigation sought to: (1) discriminate between BPL emissions and power line noise in the near field; (2) determine the maximum level of magnetic field intensity levels (H FIELD) at a given distance in the near field (3) utilizing a method of moments routine, develop a numerical electromagnetic model of the power line emission (H y and E x ) characteristics; and (4) draw a comparison between the BPL emissions and the ambient background noise levels as they might impact performance of an example HF receiver.
Recent advances on mixed-matrix membranes for gas separation: Opportunities and engineering challenges

In the past decades, gas separation using polymeric membranes has received considerable attention and become one of the fastest growing research areas. However, existing polymeric membranes may not be able to keep up with the increasing separation needs for challenging gas mixtures such as N2/CH4 and light olefin/paraffin pairs on industrial scale due to their so-called permeability-selectivity bound. On the other hand, scaling-up issues poise huge challenges for highly permeable and highly selective inorganic membranes. Mixed-matrix membranes, composite membranes, provide an evolutionary solution to debottleneck the permeability-selectivity and scale-up issues currently faced by polymeric and inorganic membranes, respectively. Inorganic fillers in mixed-matrix membranes improve gas permeability and/or selectivity, outperforming polymeric membranes. Combined with relatively economical and simple scaling-up compared to inorganic membranes, mixed-matrix membranes could potentially be a next-generation membrane concept for gas separation applications. This review provides a brief summary on the recent progress in both flat sheet and hollow fiber mixed-matrix membranes with an emphasis on those made over the last five years. A separate section is dedicated to discussing engineering challenges transitioning from laboratory-scale to large-scale synthesis of mixed-matrix membranes. Finally, future prospects and perspectives in mixed-matrix membranes research are briefly outlined.
Decision Theory: Bayesian

Decision theory studies the logic and the mathematical properties of decision making under uncertainty. Statistical decision theory focuses on the investigation of decision making when uncertainty can be reduced by information acquired through experimentation. This article reviews the Bayesian approach to statistical decision theory, as was developed from the seminal ideas of Savage. Specifically, it considers: the principle of maximation of expected utility and its axiomatic foundations; the basic elements of Bayesian statistical decision theory, illustrated using standard statistical decision problems; measuring the value of information in decision making and the concept of admissibility.
Stem Cells and Diabetes

Diabetes mellitus, which affects 346 million people, is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. Pancreatic β cells play a central role in the progression of diabetes. In addition, pancreas or islet transplantation has been used to treat type 1 diabetes patients. However, the shortage of immune-compatible tissues is one of the major obstacles to the widespread use of transplantation therapy. Developing efficient strategies to derive functional pancreatic β cells is important for both cell replacement therapy and disease modeling of diabetes. In this chapter, we discuss potential sources of stem/progenitor cells to derive pancreatic β cells, including human embryonic stem cells (hESCs), induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), adult pancreatic stem/progenitor cells, and adult non-pancreatic stem cells. In addition, we discussed recent progresses in the research field of β cells replication and somatic cell reprogramming. In conclusion, the studies to derive functional pancreatic β cells are progressing rapidly, but need to be further improved for clinical application.
Operating Characteristics of Partial Least Squares in Right-Censored Data Analysis and Its Application in Predicting the Change of HIV-I RNA

It is often of interest to effectively use the information on a large number of covariates in predicting response or outcome. Various statistical tools have been developed to overcome the difficulties caused by the high-dimensionality of the covariate space in the setting of a linear regression model. This paper focuses on the situation where the outcomes of interest are subjected to right censoring. We implement the extended partial least squares method along with other commonly used approaches for analyzing the high dimensional covariates to a data set from AIDS clinical trials (ACTG333). Predictions were computed on the covariate effect and the response for a future subject with a set of covariates. Simulation studies were conducted to compare our proposed methods with other prediction procedures for different numbers of covariates, different correlations among the covariates and different failure time distributions. Mean squared prediction error and mean absolute distance were used to measure the accuracy of prediction on the covariate effect and the response, respectively. We also compared the prediction performance of different approaches using numerical studies. The results show that the Buckley-James based partial least squares, stepwise subset model selection and principal components regression have similar predictive power and the partial least squares method has several advantages in terms of interpretability and numerical computation.
Survival and energy use of Ixodes scapularis nymphs throughout their overwintering period.

The blacklegged tick (Ixodes scapularis) spends up to 10 months in the soil between feeding as larvae and questing for hosts as nymphs the following year. We tracked the survival and energy use of 4320 engorged larvae evenly divided across 288 microcosms under field conditions from September to July on sites with high (>12 nymphs/150 m2) and low (<1.2 nymphs/150 m2) densities of naturally questing I. scapularis in New York State. Subsets of microcosms were destructively sampled periodically during this period to determine tick survivorship and physiological age. Across all sites tick mortality was low during the winter and increased in the spring and early summer, coincident with increasing energy use. Neither energy use nor mortality differed significantly between sites with high vs low natural tick density, but we did observe a significant positive relationship between soil organic matter content and the survival of I. scapularis during the spring. Our results suggest that the off-host mortality and energy use of I. scapularis nymphs is relatively low in the winter and increases significantly in the spring and early summer.
Assessment and Treatment of Problem Behavior Maintained by Termination of Interruptions.

Purpose Previous research has identified termination of interruptions to repetitive behaviour as a reinforcer capable of maintaining problem behaviour. Effective treatments have included functional communication training and multiple schedules of reinforcement. Methods In the present study, a functional analysis determined that the aggression of an eight-year-old boy with autism spectrum disorder was maintained by termination of interruptions of repetitive behaviour. An intervention was implemented consisting of differential reinforcement of other behaviour and response cost. Results The intervention produced and maintained a reduction in aggression and increased tolerance for interruptions of systematically increasing durations. Conclusions This case study demonstrates an alternative approach to the treatment of problem behaviours such as aggression maintained by termination of repetitive behaviour that includes teaching the individual to tolerate interruption of repetitive behavior.
Adversarial domain adaptation for cross data source macromolecule in situ structural classification in cellular electron cryo-tomograms.

Motivation Since 2017, an increasing amount of attention has been paid to the supervised deep learning-based macromolecule in situ structural classification (i.e. subtomogram classification) in cellular electron cryo-tomography (CECT) due to the substantially higher scalability of deep learning. However, the success of such supervised approach relies heavily on the availability of large amounts of labeled training data. For CECT, creating valid training data from the same data source as prediction data is usually laborious and computationally intensive. It would be beneficial to have training data from a separate data source where the annotation is readily available or can be performed in a high-throughput fashion. However, the cross data source prediction is often biased due to the different image intensity distributions (a.k.a. domain shift). Results We adapt a deep learning-based adversarial domain adaptation (3D-ADA) method to timely address the domain shift problem in CECT data analysis. 3D-ADA first uses a source domain feature extractor to extract discriminative features from the training data as the input to a classifier. Then it adversarially trains a target domain feature extractor to reduce the distribution differences of the extracted features between training and prediction data. As a result, the same classifier can be directly applied to the prediction data. We tested 3D-ADA on both experimental and realistically simulated subtomogram datasets under different imaging conditions. 3D-ADA stably improved the cross data source prediction, as well as outperformed two popular domain adaptation methods. Furthermore, we demonstrate that 3D-ADA can improve cross data source recovery of novel macromolecular structures. Availability and implementation https://github.com/xulabs/projects. Supplementary information Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Environmental Concern in China: A Multilevel Analysis

AbstractExisting cross-national studies have identified that country-level economic and environmental factors can affect environmental concern at the individual-level. However, we know little in re...
Are there Field Triage Criteria that Can Predict Low-Yield Air Medical Transports?

Introduction Air medical transport of trauma patients from the scene of injury plays a critical role in the delivery of severely injured patients to trauma centers. Over-triage of patients to trauma centers reduces the system efficiency and jeopardizes safety of air medical crews. Hypothesis The objective of this study was to determine which triage factors utilized by Emergency Medical Services (EMS) providers are strong predictors of early discharge for trauma patients transported by helicopter to a trauma center. Methods A retrospective chart review over a two-year period was performed for trauma patients flown from the injury site into a Level I trauma center by an air medical transport program. Demographic and clinical data were collected on each patient. Prehospital factors such as Glasgow Coma Score (GCS), Revised Trauma Score (RTS), intubation status, mechanism of injury, anatomic injuries, physiologic parameters, and any combinations of these factors were investigated to determine which triage criteria accurately predicted early discharge. Hospital factors such as Injury Severity Score (ISS), length-of-stay (LOS), survival, and emergency department disposition were also collected. Early discharge was defined as a hospital stay of less than 24 hours in a patient who survives their injuries. A more stringent definition of appropriate triage was defined as a patient with in-hospital death, an ISS >15, those taken to the operating room (OR) or intensive care unit (ICU), or those receiving blood products. Those patients who failed to meet these criteria were also used to determine over-triage rates. Results An overall early discharge rate of 35% was found among the study population. Furthermore, when the more stringent definition was applied, over-triage rates were as high as 85%. Positive predictive values indicated that patients who met at least one anatomic and physiologic criteria were appropriately transported by helicopter as 94% of these patients had stays longer than 24 hours. No other criteria or combination of criteria had a high predictive value for early discharge. Conclusions No individual triage criteria or combination of criteria examined demonstrated the ability to uniformly predict an early discharge. Although helicopter transport and subsequent hospital care is costly and resource consuming, it appears that a significant number of patients will be discharged within 24 hours of their transport to a trauma center. Future studies must determine the impact of eliminating "low-yield" triage criteria on under-triage of scene trauma patients.
Short Paper: Understanding the Attention Model of Humans in Sarcastic Videos

Sarcasm is a common part of human communication that has long been ignored by sentiment analysis researchers. Sarcasm is also an important aspect in entertainment industry for TV series, movies etc. Recently, some works have shown the applicability of multimodality (e.g., image and text) in sarcasm research from a sentiment analysis perspective instead of text only approaches. However, none of those studies harness video. We argue videos can be interesting to study to understand the nature of sarcasm on social media. We study how sarcastic videos can gain an individual's attention and popularity at large. We show how an AI agent can suggest areas that might gain a viewer's attention in a sarcastic video. Identification of both attention gaining areas (AGA) and objects contained in sarcastic videos can be compared with the AGAs and objects in previously successful/popular sarcastic videos. In this paper, we present an AI agent to identify the optimal AGAs and one empirical study of objects commonly shown in directed sarcastic video settings.
Epitope mapping of African swine fever virus (ASFV) structural protein, p54

In the absence of a vaccine for African swine fever virus (ASFV), diagnostic tools are critical for early detection and implementation of control measures. Along with other immunogenic proteins, p54 is a good serological target for conducting ASF detection and surveillance. In this study, a panel of 12 mouse monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) was prepared against a baculovirus-expressed p54(60-178) polypeptide. Further screening showed that five mAbs were positive for reactivity against ASFV-infected cells and recombinant p54 proteins. Mapping studies using five polypeptides and 12 oligopeptides, showed that mAb #154-1 recognized a conserved polypeptide sequence, p54(65-75), and was placed into Group 1. Mabs #143-1 and #7 recognized a region covered by p54(93-113) and were placed into Group 2. Group 3 consisted of mAbs #101 and #117, which recognized p54(118-127). Sera from pigs infected with the low virulent OURT 88/3 strain recognized the same p54 region covered by the Group 3 mAbs. When tested in a neutralization format, only mAb #143-1 showed neutralization activity above background. Together, the results identify important antigenic and immunogenic regions located on p54, which provide new tools for improving ASFV diagnostics.
Isothermal Titration Calorimetry Resolves Sequential Ligand Exchange and Association Reactions in Treatment of Oleate-Capped CdSe Quantum Dots with Alkylphosphonic Acid

This article examines a prototypical nanocrystal surface reaction, the replacement of carboxylate ligands with alkylphosphonate on CdSe quantum dots (QDs), in an anhydrous solvent using isothermal ...
Artificial intelligence for accelerating time integrations in multiscale modeling

Abstract We developed a novel data-driven Artificial Intelligence-enhanced Adaptive Time Stepping algorithm (AI-ATS) that can adapt timestep sizes to underlying biophysical dynamics. We demonstrated its values in solving a complex biophysical problem, at multiple spatiotemporal scales, that describes platelet dynamics in shear blood flow. In order to achieve a significant speedup of this computationally demanding problem, we integrated a framework of novel AI algorithms into the solution of the platelet dynamics equations. Our framework involves recurrent neural network-based autoencoders by the Long Short-Term Memory and the Gated Recurrent Units as the first step for memorizing the dynamic states in long-term dependencies for the input time series, followed by two fully-connected neural networks to optimize timestep sizes and step jumps. The computational efficiency of our AI-ATS is underscored by assessing the accuracy and speed of a multiscale simulation of the platelet with the standard time stepping algorithm (STS). By adapting the timestep size, our AI-ATS guides the omission of multiple redundant time steps without sacrificing significant accuracy of the dynamics. Compared to the STS, our AI-ATS achieved a reduction of 40% unnecessary calculations while bounding the errors of mechanical and thermodynamic properties to 3%.
Promoting Problem Solving About Health Management: A Mixed-Methods Pilot Evaluation of a Digital Health Intervention for Older Adults With Pre-Frailty and Frailty.

Background: There is a need for interventions to promote health management of older adults with pre-frailty and frailty. Technology poses promising solutions, but questions exist about effective de...
A theory of state-centered international entrepreneurship

In response to the need for increased integration of theories of international entrepreneurship with theories of institutional work, this paper explains how state-led international entrepreneurship...
Effects of Self-Monitoring Physical Activity Using Technology in Primary Care: A Pilot Intervention.

BACKGROUND Physical activity (PA) is a primary factor in reducing the risk of chronic diseases, yet only half of U.S. adults meet recommended levels. OBJECTIVE To evaluate a PA self-monitoring pilot intervention using technology in obese adult primary care patients. METHODS The project had a prospective, single group, pretest/posttest design using an accelerometer with a smartphone app. Obese adult primary care patients (N = 31) were followed over 6 months. Demographic (age, race, sex, marital status, educational level) and PA-relevant (PA, body mass index [BMI], self-efficacy for exercise [SEE]) data were collected at enrollment. PA and BMI were recorded monthly for 6 months. SEE was reassessed at 6 months. RESULTS PA and BMI showed gradual improvement; however, changes in PA (p = .130), BMI (p = .326), and SEE (p = .877) at 6 months were not statistically significant. A strong, negative relationship was found between PA and BMI (r = -.727, p < .01). Anecdotal data indicated the smartphone app was acceptable to patients. CONCLUSIONS Data-supported clinician-initiated PA self-monitoring with a smartphone app was acceptable and showed favorable trends in improving PA and BMI in obese adult patients. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING Prescribing PA self-monitoring using technology may be easily implemented.
Increasing Community College Graduation Rates: A Synthesis of Findings on the ASAP Model from Six Colleges across Two States.

This paper presents new estimates of the effects of the City University of New York’s (CUNY’s) Accelerated Study in Associate Programs (ASAP) model, evaluated using a randomized controlled trial fi...
A Survey on Deep-Learning Methods for Pedestrian Behavior Prediction from the Egocentric View

This paper surveys deep-learning-based pedestrian behavior prediction algorithms from the ego-vehicle's perspective. To safely deploy autonomous vehicles, pedestrian behavior must be understood and predicted for safe and efficient vehicle-pedestrian interactions. With more and more algorithms proposed in the past 2–3 years, it is vital to summarize how the state-of-the-art algorithms estimate pedestrian behavior. To achieve a full view of current algorithms in this domain, in this paper we review (1) prediction output types, (2) network input features, (3) network architecture, and (4) the datasets available for training/testing. As pedestrian behavioral studies show many factors impact a pedestrian's willingness to cross the street, prediction algorithms are evolving to include more rich visual annotations accordingly. Networks architecture is changing from temporal to spatio-temporal networks to account for the influences traffic agents have on one another as well. More innovative benchmark datasets are also published to support more research efforts. The survey depicts the current research frontier in predicting pedestrian behaviors to build the foundation for future research in the area.
An assessment of artificial burrows for burrowing owls in Northern California

This study assesses artificial burrows as a management tool for burrowing owls (Athene cunicularia) at two study sites in northern California. The results of t-tests showed that artificial burrows that received annual surface maintenance (n = 113) at one site were occupied for a significantly (p ≤ 0.003) greater number of years than non-maintained (n = 51) artificial burrows at the other site. Maintained burrows were occupied for a mean of 1.90 years (SD = 2.04), compared to a mean of 0.45 years (SD = 0.97) for non-maintained burrows. Even with maintenance, occupancy rates dropped from 31% during the first year to 8% during the third year post-installation. Maintenance or reinstallation of the entire burrow system appears to be crucial for longer-term use. The results of chi-squared goodness-of-fit tests showed no significant difference in nesting success (≥ 1 fledgling/pair) between natural and artificial burrows at either of the study sites (χ2 = 2.75 and 6.76, df = 3, p > 0.05). Of 120 burrowing owls raised in maintained artificial burrows, 70% were re-sighted occupying artificial burrows during subsequent breeding seasons, compared to 30% occupying natural burrows. Only 3% of these owls occupied their natal burrow during the first nesting season post-fledging. Of those owls that were re-sighted during two or more nesting seasons, almost half (48%) occupied different artificial burrows from one year to the next.
Introduction to Tabu Search

This article provides an introductory treatment to tabu search, which is one of the most popular metaheuristic methods for solving difficult combinatorial optimization problems. Tabu search is based on local search, but attempts to avoid early termination at local optima, as these might have objective function values that are far inferior to the globally optimal one. Tabu search employs a limited memory of attributes of recent moves to avoid move reversals and looping, and also to guide the search procedure into unexplored areas of the solution space, thus improving the likelihood of finding a near-optimal solution. We present the basic tabu search approach, discuss common enhancements with respect to implementing this method, and provide a brief review of sample applications to which tabu search has been effectively applied. Keywords: tabu search; metaheuristics; combinatorial optimization problems; TSP; scheduling problem
MIXED BLESSINGS: WOMEN AND BLONDE HAIR

Blonde women constitute a curious and interesting case- in the context of deviance-in that they are to some extent positive deviants , due to the fact that they have been considered as surpassing normative expectations of appearance and have received some positive evaluation and treatment. Yet, they have also been subject to stigmatization, or negative evaluation and treatment. Thus, the reaction has not been consistent. Qualitative research served as the basis for this study; twenty blonde women were interviewed. Firstly, in some respects, blonde women are positive deviants; they have been idealized in Western traditions and thus encounter positive evaluations. The blonde women interviewed for this study were cognizant of this fact and reported that positive attention and positive treatment were common experiences. Nevertheless, blonde women are also recipients of negative evaluations. The blonde women in this sample analyzed the culturally constructed stereotypes that have been applied to them, as follows: innocence, sexy/fun, easy and dumbness/stupidity. They also presented strategies that they had to develop to deal with the last stereotype, which included the following: ignoring the stereotype or joking about it, self-fulfilling the prophecy, overcompensating (including taking on the ice princess role), fighting back, and passing. Also, blonde women felt that their relationships with other women were negatively impacted by their hair color. In essence, blonde women experience mixed evaluations.
Multiplex Molecular Panels for Diagnosis of Gastrointestinal Infection: Performance, Result Interpretation, and Cost-Effectiveness

Gastrointestinal disease is a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide, especially among young children and immunocompromised patients. Diarrhea may result from infection with a variety of microbial pathogens, including bacteria, viruses, or parasites. Historically, the diagnosis of infectious diarrhea has been made using microscopy, antigen tests, culture, and real-time PCR. A combination of these traditional tests is often required due to the inability to distinguish between infectious etiologies based on the clinical presentation alone. Recently, several multiplex molecular assays have been developed for the detection of gastrointestinal pathogens directly from clinical stool samples. These panels allow for the detection and identification of up to 20 pathogens in as little as 1 h. This review will focus on the multiplex molecular panels that have received clearance from the FDA for the diagnosis of diarrheal disease and will highlight issues related to test performance, result interpretation, and cost-effectiveness of these new molecular diagnostic tools.
Randomized clinical trial examining the incremental efficacy of a 90-minute motivational alcohol intervention as an adjunct to standard batterer intervention for men

AIMS: The efficacy of batterer intervention programs to reduce intimate partner violence (IPV) is questionable with individuals with alcohol problems particularly unlikely to benefit. We examined whether adding adjunctive alcohol intervention to batterer intervention reduced the likelihood of substance use and violence relative to batterer intervention alone. DESIGN: Randomized clinical trial. SETTING: Batterer intervention programs in Rhode Island, USA. PARTICIPANTS: 252 hazardous drinking men in batterer intervention programs. Participants were randomized to receive 40 hours of standard batterer program (SBP), or the SBP plus a 90-minute alcohol intervention (SBP+BAI). None withdrew due to adverse effects. Data were collected at baseline, 3-, 6-, and 12-month follow-up, with follow-up rates of 95%, 89%, and 82%, respectively. MEASUREMENTS: Substance use was measured with a well-validated calendar-assisted interview. Violence was measured with a validated questionnaire. Arrest records were obtained for all participants. The primary substance use outcome was drinks per drinking day (DPDD) and the primary violence outcome was frequency of any physical IPV. FINDINGS: Relative to SBP alone, men receiving SBP+BAI reported consuming fewer DPDD at 3-month follow-up (B=-1.36,95%CI=-2.65,-.04,p=.04) but not 6-month or 12-month follow-up. In secondary analyses, men receiving SBP+BAI reported significantly greater abstinence at 3- (B=.09,95%CI=.03,.14,p=.002) and 6-month (B=.06,95%CI=.01,.11,p=.01) follow-up but not 12-month follow-up. There were no significant differences in physical IPV between men receiving SBP and men receiving SBP+BAI. In secondary analyses, men receiving SBP+BAI reported less severe physical aggression at 3-month (IRR=.18,95%CI=.05,.65, p=.009) but not 6-month or 12-month follow-up. Men receiving SBP+BAI reported less severe psychological aggression (B=-1.24,95%CI=-2.47,-.02,p=.04) and fewer injuries to partners at 3- and 6-month follow-up (IRR=.33,95%CI=.12,.92,p=.03), with differences fading by 12 months. Conclusions: Men with a history of intimate partner violence and hazardous drinking who received a batterer intervention plus an alcohol intervention showed improved alcohol and violence outcomes initially, but improvements faded by 12 months. Language: en
Organizational pressures on forecast evaluation: Managerial, political, and procedural influences

This paper proposes a theory to explain why some forecasting organizations institutionalize forecast accuracy evaluation while others do not. The theory considers internal and external aspects of managerial, political, and procedural factors as they affect forecasting organizations. The theory is then tested using data from a survey of the US Federal Forecasters Group. Though some support for the theory is developed, multiple alternative explanations for results and the ‘public’ nature of the sample organizations prevent wide-scale generalization. The results suggest that larger organizations are more likely to have some form of forecast evaluation than smaller units. The institutionalization of forecast accuracy evaluation is closely linked to internal managerial and procedural factors, while external political pressure tends to reduce the likelihood of institutionalization of evaluation of forecast accuracy.© 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Experimental investigation of link tension and roller-sprocket impact in roller chain drives

Abstract This paper presents the results from a recent experimental investigation into the dynamic behavior of roller chain drives. A strain gage mounted on a link side plate was used to determine chain tension during normal operation over a wide range of linear chain speeds and preloads. The test machine also included specially instrumented idler sprocket that allowed the measurement of the horizontal and vertical components of the bearing reaction force. The roller-sprocket impact force was then computed by an experimental transfer function approach facilitated by a Bruel & Kjaer 2032 dual channel spectrum analyser. Observations about the data include: • • As is typically assumed, under quasi-static conditions, dynamic effects can be neglected without introducing significant error. • • As chain speed increases, dynamic effects become increasingly important. • • As is the case for belt drives, the average tight side chain tension can be expressed in the classical form of the preload, the driven load, and the load due to centrifugal force with only modest error over a wide range of linear chain speeds. • • The tension in a chain link increases very rapidly as the link exits the driven sprocket. The increase from loose side to tight side average tension occurs over less than two sprocket teeth. • • The tension in a chain link decreases very rapidly as the link enters the drive sprocket. The decrease from tight side to average loose side tension occurs over less than two sprocket teeth. • • Transient spikes are present in the tension data at the point were the link exits the driven sprocket and at the point where the link enters the driven sprocket. • • Impact force tends to increase as chain tension increases, however the relationship is not monotonic. • • Impact force tends to increase as chain speed increases, however the relationship is not monotonic. • • For a chain traveling in the horizontal direction, the vertical component of the impact force is much larger than the horizontal component. • • The magnitude of the horizontal component of the impact force increases more rapidly than the magnitude of the vertical component as the chain speed increases, indicating that the angle of impact (as measured from a vertical line) increases as chain speed increases.
A comparative study of the isomers of ReOCl3(PMe3)2 and ReOCl3(PEt3)2. The isolation and characterization of ReH7(PR3)2 and ReO(OEt)Cl2(PR3)2 (R=Me or Et) and the photoelectron spectrum of ReH7(PMe3)2

Abstract The reactions of mer–trans-ReOCl3(PPh3)2 with PMe3 and PEt3 provide a route to the isomers fac–cis-ReOCl3(PR3)2 and mer–trans-ReOCl3(PR3)2 (R=Me or Et) which can be converted to ReH7(PR3)2 (R=Me or Et) in ca. 60% yield by reaction with LiAlH4 in THF and subsequent hydrolysis of the reaction mixtures. The properties of these heptahydrides have been examined, including studies of the remarkable stability of aqueous solutions of ReH7(PMe3)2 and the measurement of the gas-phase He(I) photoelectron spectrum of this complex. While the fac–cis and mer–trans isomers of ReOCl3(PR3)2 (R=Me or Et) do not convert to ReO(OEt)Cl2(PR3)2 upon reaction with ethanol, these ethoxides can be prepared by the reaction of mer–trans-ReO(OEt)Cl2(PPh3)2 with PMe3 and PEt3. The reactions of the isomers of ReOCl3(PMe3)2 with ethylamine, followed by the treatment of the reaction products with acetone, afford the salt [Me3PCMe2CH2C(O)CH3]ReO4. The compounds fac–cis-ReOCl3(PEt3)2, trans-ReO(OEt)Cl2(PMe3)2 and [Me3PCMe2CH2C(O)CH3]ReO4 have been structurally characterized by X-ray crystallography.
Death by Decapitation: A Case Study of the Scientific Definition of Animal Welfare

Assessments of animal experience and consciousness are embedded in all issues of animal welfare policy, and the field of animal welfare science has been developed to make these evaluations. In light of modern studies of the social construction of scientific knowledge, it is surprising how little attention has been paid to date on how crucial evaluations about animals are made. In this paper, I begin to fill that gap by presenting a historical case study of the attempt to define the pain and distress of one common practice in animal research-the use of the tabletop guillotine to decapitate laboratory rodents. I describe the negotiations involved in reaching consensus on the meaning of the available data and caution animal care and use committees that they should always work with the realization that our scientific knowledge of what animals experience is partial and provisional knowledge at best.
Modeling the thermospheric response to solar flares

[1] Measurements of the incoming solar extreme ultraviolet (EUV) irradiance now allow models to be driven at higher temporal resolution and with better accuracy than with proxy-based models. Using solar irradiance measurements from the Solar EUV Experiment (SEE) instrument to drive the Global Ionosphere-Thermosphere Model, the global thermospheric response to the 28 October 2003 and 6 November 2004 solar flares is presented. The model indicates that the thermospheric density at 400 km can increase by as much as 14.6% in under 2 hours because of the flare and takes 12 hours to settle to close to a nominal state. Intense dayside heating launches nightward propagating gravity waves that transport energy efficiently to the nightside at velocities near the local sound speed plus the bulk wind velocity. Measurements from the Champ satellite indicate that the simulated day to night propagation time is similar to the observed one. Substantial density enhancements occur near the midnight sector as the wave converges on itself. In some locations the nightside perturbations are as large as those on the dayside. The convergence of the wave also leads to significant adiabatic heating of the nightside thermosphere. Eventually, the wave is reflected back toward the dayside but is quickly damped.
A joint history of the nature of genetic variation and the nature of schizophrenia.

This essay traces the history of concepts of genetic variation and schizophrenia from Darwin and Mendel to the present. For Darwin, the important form of genetic variation for evolution is continuous in nature and small in effect. Biometricians led by Pearson agreed and developed statistical genetic approaches utilizing trait correlations in relatives. Mendel studied discontinuous traits and subsequent Mendelians, led by Bateson, assumed that important genetic variation was large in effect producing discontinuous phenotypes. Although biometricians studied ‘insanity’, schizophrenia genetics under Kraepelin and Rudin utilized Mendelian approaches congruent with their anatomical-clinical disease model of dementia praecox. Fisher showed, assuming many genes of small effect, Mendelian and Biometrical models were consilient. Echoing prior conflicts, psychiatric genetics since then has utilized both biometrical models, largely in twins, and Mendelian models, based on advancing molecular techniques. In 1968, Gottesman proposed a polygenic model for schizophrenia based on a threshold version of Fisher’s theory. Since then, rigorous studies of the schizophrenia spectrum suggest that genetic risk for schizophrenia is more likely continuous than categorical. The last 5 years has seen increasingly convincing evidence from genome-wide association study (GWAS) and sequencing that genetic risk for schizophrenia is largely polygenic, and congruent with Fisher’s and Gottesman’s models. The gap between biometrical and molecular Mendelian models for schizophrenia has largely closed. The efforts to ground a categorical biomedical model of schizophrenia in Mendelian genetics have failed. The genetic risk for schizophrenia is widely distributed in human populations so that we all carry some degree of risk. …Variations, as Darwin and most breeders recognized, were of two types. There were sports, large discontinuous variations, relatively rare … [and] there were the less obvious but more pervasive and plentiful minor variations which occurred in every character of the organism. (Provine,1 p. 5) This essay sketches a joint history of the concepts of genetic variation and schizophrenia from the time of Darwin and Mendel in the mid-19th century to the present. The nature of genetic variation can be thought of both at the individual level (Are most important differences in individuals the result of single genes of large effect or many genes of small effect?) and at the population level (Is the distribution of genetic liability normal or very bumpy with a small proportion of individuals at high risk and the rest at low risk?).
Observation of coherent synchrotron radiation at the Cornell linac

Abstract The behavior of the far infrared radiation produced by the passage of a mm long bunch of electrons through a vertical 0.44 T magnetic field is found to