cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A new phylogeny of tetraodontiform fishes (Tetraodontiformes, Acanthomorpha) based on 22 loci.

Abstract Tetraodontiform fishes represent one of the most peculiar radiations of teleost fishes. In spite of this, we do not currently have a consensus on the phylogenetic relationships among the major tetraodontiform lineages, with different morphological and molecular datasets all supporting contrasting relationships. In this paper we present the results of the analysis of tetraodontiform interrelationships based on two mitochondrial and 20 nuclear loci for 40 species of tetraodontiforms (representing all of the 10 currently recognized families), as well as three outgroups. Bayesian and maximum likelihood analyses of the concatenated dataset (18,682 nucleotides) strongly support novel relationships among the major tetraodontiform lineages. Our results recover two large clades already found in mitogenomic analyses (although the position of triacanthids differ), while they strongly conflict with hypotheses of tetraodontiform relationships inferred by previous studies based on morphology, as well as studies of higher-level teleost relationships based on nuclear loci, which included multiple tetraodontiform lineages. A parsimony gene-tree, species-tree analysis recovers relationships that are mostly congruent with the analyses of the concatenated dataset, with the significant exception of the position of the pufferfishes + porcupine fishes clade. Our findings suggest that while the phylogenetic placement of some tetraodontiform lineages (triacanthids, molids) remains problematic even after sequencing 22 loci, an overall molecular consensus is beginning to emerge regarding the existence of several major clades. This new hypothesis will require a re-evaluation of the phylogenetic usefulness of several morphological features, such as the fusion of several jaw bones into a parrot-like beak, or the reduction and loss of some of the fins, which may have occurred independently more times than previously thought.
Oxypurinol inhibits free radical release from the cerebral cortex of closed head injured rats.

Abstract Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a significant cause of mortality and morbidity. Although the sequence of events underlying the resultant neuronal loss is still poorly understood, there are indications that oxygen-free radical generation is critically involved. Free radical generation in the cerebral cortex of closed head injury rats was monitored by measuring free radical release into cortical superfusates containing the spin trap agent 4-pyridyl-1-oxide- N -tert-butylnitrone (POBN, 100 mM). ESR analysis of the superfusates revealed six line spectra ( α N = 15.4 G and α H β = 2.5 G) characteristic of POBN-OH adducts. Administration of oxypurinol (40 mg/kg) 15 min prior to TBI prevented the formation of these radical adducts.
North and South Korean Space Development: Prospects for Cooperation and Conflict

North and South Korea both have developed rocket technology for military and civilian applications, but their space programs differ in many important aspects. As late developing space powers, neither country poses a serious direct threat to U.S. space assets, but a successful U.S. cooperative engagement strategy towards the Koreas could help achieve U.S. policy objectives. The domestic politics of the two Koreas are very different, and Korean space development will depend upon a number of variables including inter-Korean relations and whether the two Koreas unify, domestic politics and budget constraints, the overall strategic environment, as well as opportunities for Korea in the realm of international space cooperation. The United States has opportunities to implement an engagement strategy in Korea, but it could be complicated by different U.S. objectives in North and South Korea, and by linkage to other issues. Despite the complexities, Washington should be prepared for a number of possibilities.
“Si no comemos tortilla, no vivimos:” women, climate change, and food security in central Mexico

In recent years, it has become clear that food security is intimately related to complex environmental, social, political, and economic issues. Even though several studies document the impact of climate on food production and agriculture, a growing segment of research examines how climate change impacts food systems and associated livelihoods. Furthermore, while women play a crucial role in providing food security for their families, little research exists that examines the nexus among gender relations, climate change, and household food security. This study investigates these relationships by asking: (1) how is the production and reproduction of knowledge about food security and climate change shaped by gender and lived experience, and (2) how does this knowledge influence attitudes and strategies for maintaining food security in a changing climate? Drawing on the results of research in two communities in central Mexico, I argue that women’s perceptions of and strategies for maintaining food security are derived from their socio-political, environmental, and economic contexts. This study contributes to both the growing literature on the gender dynamics of climate change, as well as debates about the role of bioengineered seeds in helping farmers to adapt to a changing climate.
Multi-tenant Data Center and cloud networking evolution

Multi-tenant cloud networking is undergoing an evolution to address scalability, efficiency, and agility in allocating compute, storage and network resources to tenants. This paper provides an overview of existing and evolving cloud networking technologies.
Does the Radiofrequency Procedure for Fecal Incontinence Improve Quality of Life and Incontinence at 1-Year Follow-Up?

PURPOSE:Fecal incontinence is a socially isolating disease that causes physical and psychologic distress. Radiofrequency delivered to the anal canal is a surgical modality for fecal incontinence that has been noted to be safe and potentially effective. The aim of this study was to evaluate improveme
Recent performance of the SNS H(-) ion source and low-energy beam transport system.

Recent measurements of the H− beam current show that SNS is injecting about 55 mA into the RFQ compared to ∼45 mA in 2010. Since 2010, the H− beam exiting the RFQ dropped from ∼40 mA to ∼34 mA, which is sufficient for 1 MW of beam power. To minimize the impact of the RFQ degradation, the service cycle of the best performing source was extended to 6 weeks. The only degradation is fluctuations in the electron dump voltage towards the end of some service cycles, a problem that is being investigated. Very recently, the RFQ was retuned, which partly restored its transmission. In addition, the electrostatic low-energy beam transport system was reengineered to double its heat sinking and equipped with a thermocouple that monitors the temperature of the ground electrode between the two Einzel lenses. The recorded data show that emissions from the source at high voltage dominate the heat load. Emissions from the partly Cs-covered first lens cause the temperature to peak several hours after starting up. On rare occasions, the temperature can also peak due to corona discharges between the center ground electrode and one of the lenses.
Model-driven coordinated management of data centers

Management of computing infrastructure in data centers is an important and challenging problem, that needs to: (i) ensure availability of services conforming to the Service Level Agreements (SLAs); and (ii) reduce the Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE), i.e. the ratio of total power, up to half of which is attributed to data center cooling, over the computing power to service the workloads. The cooling energy consumption can be reduced by allowing higher-than-usual thermostat set temperatures while maintaining the ambient temperature in the data center room within manufacturer-specified server redline temperatures for their reliable operations. This paper proposes: (i) a Coordinated Job, Power, and Cooling Management (JPCM) policy, which performs: (a) job management so as to allow for an increase in the thermostat setting of the cooling unit while meeting the SLA requirements, (b) power management to reduce the produced thermal load, and (c) cooling management to dynamically adjust the thermostat setting; and (ii) a Model-driven coordinated Management Architecture (MMA), which uses a state-based model to dynamically decide the correct management policy to handle events, such as new workload arrival or failure of a cooling unit, that can trigger an increase in the ambient temperature. Each event is associated with a time window, referred to as the window-of-opportunity, after which the temperature at the inlet of one or more servers can go beyond the redline temperature if proper management policies are not enforced. This window-of-opportunity monotonically decreases with increase in the incoming workload. The selection of the management policy depends on their potential energy benefits and the conformance of the delays in their actuation to the window-of-opportunity. Simulations based on actual job traces from the ASU HPC data center show that the JPCM can achieve up to 18% energy-savings over separated power or job management policies. However, high delay to reach a stable ambient temperature (in case of cooling management through dynamic thermostat setting) can violate the server redline temperatures. A management decision chart is developed as part of MMA to autonomically employ the management policy with maximum energy-savings without violating the window-of-opportunity, and hence the redline temperatures. Further, a prototype of the JPCM is developed by configuring the widely used Moab cluster manager to dynamically change the server priorities for job assignment.
Effects of naloxone and fentanyl in acutely decerebrated dogs.

Abstract Cardiovascular, respiratory and analgesic effects of fentanyl and naloxone were studied in normotensive acutely decerebrated dogs. Naloxone (1 mg/kg, i.v.) increased skin twitch reflex latency, mean blood pressure, pulse pressure, respiratory rate and minute volume. Fentanyl (50 μg/kg, i.v.) decreased heart rate and blood pressure while the animals were artificially ventilated. The skin twitch reflex latency was not significantly altered. Nine minutes later, naloxone (1 mg/kg, i.v.) was administered and the fentanyl-induced cardiovascular depression was reversed above the control level. The skin twitch reflex latency remained unchanged. These findings give further evidence that the endogenous opioid system plays an important role in the brainstem control of circulation and respiration. The mechanism of the anomalous analgesic response of the acutely decerebrated dog requires further investigation.
New benchmark for image segmentation evaluation

Image segmentation and its performance evaluation are very difficult but important problems in computer vision. A major challenge in segmentation evaluation comes from the fundamental conflict between generality and objectivity: For general-purpose segmentation, the ground truth and segmentation accuracy may not be well defined, while embedding the evaluation in a specific application, the evaluation results may not be extensible to other applications. We present a new benchmark to evaluate five different image segmentation methods according to their capability to separate a perceptually salient structure from the background with a relatively small number of segments. This way, we not only find a large variety of images that satisfy the requirement of good generality, but also construct ground-truth segmentations to achieve good objectivity. We also present a special strategy to address two important issues underlying this benchmark: (1) most image-segmentation methods are not developed to directly extract a single salient structure; (2) many real images have multiple salient structures. We apply this benchmark to evaluate and compare the performance of several state-of-the-art image segmentation methods, including the normalized-cut method, the watershed method, the efficient graph-based method, the mean-shift method, and the ratio-cut method.
Superior optical limiting performance of simple metalloporphyrin derivatives

Several simple metalloporphyrins based on 5,10,15,20-tetrakis(p-hexadecyloxyphenyl)-21H,23H-porphine were found to be excellent optical limiters toward nanosecond laser pulses at 532 nm. In particular, the optical limiting performance of the porphyrin derivative with lead as the center metal matches that of currently the best benchmark optical limiter chloroindium tetra(t-butyl)-phthalocyanine. The optical limiting results of the molecules were correlated with their ground- and excited-state parameters in terms of the five-level reverse saturable absorption model.
A preliminary crystallographic study of isocitrate dehydrogenase from Azotobacter vinelandii.

Abstract Large single crystals of isocitrate dehydrogenase from Azotobacter vinelandii have been grown by vapor diffusion from ammonium sulfate and phosphate solutions. The crystals are tetragonal, space group P42212 with cell dimensions a = 122.1 A , c = 163.9 a . There are two molecules of 80,000 molecular weight per asymmetric unit. Native data to 5.5 A resolution have been collected on a diffractometer. A rotation function using data between 10 A and 6 A resolution indicates three possible orientations of the non-crystallographic 2-fold axis relating the two molecules.
Maternal control and self-control in the 3-year-old child

A situation was observed in which mothers were asked to control their preschool children’s behavior. In a playroom divided into four parts by tape on the floor, each quadrant contained a table and chair, with toys on either three or all four of the tables. The mother was asked to attempt to keep her 3-year-old child from crossing the dividing lines and playing with toys in the three quadrants designated off limits. Although the availability of nonforbidden toys had only a marginal effect, the mothers were significantly able to decrease their children’s activity. Mothers whose children entered off-limits areas of the room most often spent the most time issuing instructions and commands to the child. Children who spent the most time vocalizing seemed to have the best self-control, that is, spent the least time playing with forbidden toys. The measures of child noncompliant behaviors were significantly correlated with each other. Other techniques used by mothers included distraction, retrieval and holding, reasoning, and bargaining.
The spectrum of syphilis in patients with human immunodeficiency virus infection

Abstract Five patients infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) with unusual manifestations of syphilis are reported. The high prevalence of HIV seropositivity among our patients with syphilis, the rapid progression to tertiary disease, the increased severity of the clinical manifestations, inappropriate antibody responses to infection, relapse without reexposure despite "adequate" treatment, and lack of response to penicillin therapy have been observed in these and in other patients. Data are presented to explain these unusual observations.
Endotoxemic renal failure in mice: Role of tumor necrosis factor independent of inducible nitric oxide synthase

Endotoxemic renal failure in mice: Role of tumor necrosis factor independent of inducible nitric oxide synthase. Background Renal failure is a frequent complication of sepsis with a high mortality. Tumor necrosis factor (TNF) has been suggested to be a factor in the acute renal failure in sepsis or endotoxemia. Recent studies also suggest involvement of nitric oxide (NO), generated by inducible NO synthase (iNOS), in the pathogenesis of endotoxin-induced renal failure. The present study tested the hypothesis that the role of TNF in endotoxic renal failure is mediated by iNOS-derived NO. Methods Renal function was evaluated in endotoxemic [ Escherichia coli lipopolysaccharide (LPS), 5 mg/kg IP] wild-type and iNOS knockout mice. The effect of TNF neutralization on renal function during endotoxemia in mice was assessed by a TNF-soluble receptor (TNFsRp55). Results An injection of LPS to wild-type mice resulted in a 70% decrease in glomerular filtration rate (GFR) and in a 40% reduction in renal plasma flow (RPF) 16 hours after the injection. The results occurred independent of hypotension, morphological changes, apoptosis, and leukocyte accumulation. In mice pretreated with TNFsRp55, only a 30% decrease in GFR without a significant change in RPF in response to LPS, as compared with vehicle-treated mice, was observed. Also, the serum NO concentration was significantly lower in endotoxemic wild-type mice pretreated with TNFsRp55, as compared with untreated endotoxemic wile-type mice (260 ± 52 vs. 673 ± 112 μmol/L, P Conclusions These results demonstrate a role of TNF in the early renal dysfunction (16 h) in a septic mouse model independent of iNOS, hypotension, apoptosis, leukocyte accumulation, and morphological alterations, thus suggesting renal hypoperfusion secondary to an imbalance between, as yet to be defined, renal vasoconstrictors and vasodilators.
Primary human hepatocytes in spheroid formation to study hepatitis C infection.

Background Hepatitis C (HCV) is a worldwide health problem, affecting nearly 170 million people. Current models for studying Hepatitis C have focused primarily on the use of poorly permissive cell lines and viral constructs, because of the lack of a suitable animal model or an in vitro system for studying functional infection. As hepatocytes are the primary reservoir for the virus in vivo , we report on a model using primary human hepatocytes cultured in spheroid formation. Materials and methods The hepatocytes were harvested from uninfected liver resections and cultured as spheroids (that promotes a differentiated phenotype) or monolayers. Spheroids expressed the putative receptors CD81 and human scavenger receptor B1 in a variable pattern throughout the culture period. Samples were inoculated with infectious HCV serum, and HCV RNA was detected using RT-PCR. RNA was detected in the cells and culture medium by 3 days and 5 days after inoculation, respectively. Selection of HVR1 variants occurred in a differential pattern based on culture technique, suggesting that viral selection was dependent on host phenotype. Detection of NS5A by Western blot analysis of infected samples and immunofluorescence for HCV core protein was seen only in infected spheroids. Conclusion The use of spheroid formation to study Hepatitis C is associated with the establishment of HVR1 selection and functional infection. This represents a promising alternative model to study Hepatitis C.
Seasoning effect based side channel attacks to AES implementation with phase change memory

Side channel attacks have received much attention as of recent. Compared with cryptanalysis that focus on the algorithms themselves, side channel attacks are usually much more practical and realistic. Side channel attack is closely related to hardware and implementations. Many cryptographic algorithms that are secure by themselves become insecure when they are poorly implemented or are running on devices with special properties. In this work, we examine the probability of side channel attacks on phase change memory which is envisioned as a candidate of universal memory to replace DRAM or SRAM. The attacks exploit the seasoning effect of phase change memory, a phenomenon of PCM cell behavior change as a function of operative cycles. We conducted detailed experiments using PCM modeling tools that accurately simulate the seasoning effect of PCM cells. The results show that for pipelined AES cipher that is not properly implemented when using PCM as the storage device, side channel attacks may lead to serious security risks. We also provide suggestions for secure implementation of AES to prevent such attacks.
Planning and control of robot orientational path

A novel geometric method for the planning and controlling the orientation of a robot's end-effector as it moves along a prescribed translational path is presented. To eliminate the influence of geometric changes to the path and to be able to predict the orientation, the proposed method plans rotational paths with respect to a natural local coordinate frame formed by three unit vectors, namely, the tangent, normal, and binormal vectors, defined by the geometry of the path. A motion control strategy is developed to maintain the desired rotational speed or acceleration of the end effector. Examples are presented which show the practicality of the method. >
Multicultural Counselor Training Experiences: Training Effects and Perceptions of Training Among a Sample of Predominately Hispanic Students

The effectiveness of multicultural training among a sample of predominately Hispanic counseling students was examined. The results of a series of 2-factor repeated measures analysis of variance and follow-up paired-samples t tests suggest that multicultural training was effective in increasing students' multicultural competencies and in improving their cognitive racial attitudes. Students' affective racial attitudes were not changed. Students' perceptions of their multicultural training suggest that students from diverse racial/ethnic backgrounds may experience multicultural training differently and unique life experiences may help explain this difference. Counselor educators may wish to use a variety of training experiences to provide multicultural training that is effective across diverse student populations.
The use of free tissue transfer in advanced osteoradionecrosis of the mandible.

m o r p adiation-induced osteomyelitis (or osteoradionecrois [ORN]) can be a devastating complication of radition therapy to the head and neck. It is generally efined as exposed bone within a radiated field that ails to heal over a 3-month period (Fig 1). The incience of ORN of the mandible varies from 4% to 30% f patients who have undergone radiation. It is conidered a late complication of radiation therapy and esults from complex alterations in homeostasis of the adiated tissues. Radiation arteritis develops, leading o a hypocellular, hypovascular, and hypoxic environent as described by Marx. The most important risk actors for developing ORN are the radiation dose and ime elapsed since radiation therapy. The latter refers o the pathophysiology of radiation injury, which is rogressive in nature. With regard to the former, it is lear that increasing the dose of external beam radition therapy in excess of 5,000 cGy significantly ncreases the risk of developing ORN. Furthermore, he mode of delivery of radiation therapy (external eam vs brachytherapy) has an impact on the severity f ORN. The more localized delivery of radiation chieved with brachytherapy limits the affected area nd hence the severity of the disease. Notani et al onfirmed that patients with early ORN who underent brachytherapy, with or without low-dose exteral beam radiation, were more responsive to conserative therapy than patients who underwent high-
Fiber optic high-temperature thermometer using sapphire fiber

Sapphire (single crystal alumina) has superior optical and mechanical properties. With a very high melting point of about 2050°C, sapphire fiber is an excellent candidate in optical fiber sensing area for high-temperature measurements. This paper presents a new type of sapphire-fiber-based extrinsic Fabry-Perot interferometric (EFPI) temperature sensor. The spectral interference pattern is generated by a sapphire diaphragm placed in front of the sapphire fiber. The sensing element is interrogated by a white-light source. Temperature is demodulated from the spectral change of interference pattern. Prototype sensor is tested at high temperature up to 1545°C. Both theoretical and experimental analysis are presented. Preliminary data shows the sensor is very promising for measuring ultra-high temperature.
Influence of Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Variation on Human Hippocampus Morphology

Background Morphological abnormalities in hippocampus have been implicated in neuropsychiatric disorders, including depression, schizophrenia, and dementia. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) has been demonstrated to have neurogenic effects in the hippocampus in rats. However, influence of VEGF variation on hippocampus morphology in humans has yet to be shown. Here, an integrated genetic and neuroimaging approach was used to investigate whether VEGF variation influences hippocampus morphology in humans. Methods High-resolution magnetic resonance imaging and voxel-based morphometry were used to identify the influence of genetic variation of VEGFA [rs833068 (SNP-1), rs833070 (SNP-2), rs2146323 (SNP-3) and rs3025020 (SNP-4)] on brain morphology in 47 healthy individuals. Results Variation in VEGFA SNP-2 and SNP-3 showed significant effects on hippocampus concentration. Conclusions The findings suggest that effects of VEGF in hippocampus found in rats extend to humans; further understanding of effects of VEGFA variation might have important implications in identifying individuals more vulnerable to hippocampus pathology as well as those neuropsychiatric populations most likely to benefit from VEGF-mediated interventions.
Spiritual and Religious Abuse: Expanding What is Known About Domestic Violence

Domestic violence reportedly affects more than 5 million Americans each year, more than 85% of whom are women. Many of these women turn to their faith-based communities for support and guidance, but little is known about how the church members they turn to perceive or understand domestic violence. This article reports the outcomes of three focus groups in three diverse communities of faith in the African American community that resulted in a better understanding of how church leaders and congregants view spirituality and religion and how they converge with domestic violence. Implications for research and practice are presented for domestic violence intervention
Consumer Products: How are the Hazards Perceived?:

Two questionnaire studies were conducted examining potential components of perceptions of consumer product hazardousness. In Study 1 subjects rated 72 consumer products on perceived hazardousness, ...
Early Diagnosis of Nocardia asteroides Endophthalmitis by Retinal Biopsy: Case Report and Review

Hematogenous nocardial endophthalmitis is a rare but devastating infection. Of a total of 10 cases (one described for the first time and nine reported previously in the Englishlanguage literature), the lung appeared to be the primary focus of infection in eight (80%). Six (60%) of the cases occurred in individuals receiving corticosteroid therapy; these individuals had undergone renal transplantation (two cases) or cardiac transplantation (one case) and had underlying conditions that included lymphoma (two cases) and chronic active hepatitis (one case). In two immunocompetent individuals, infection followed dissemination from traumatic wounds. Common clinical findings were a rapid decrease in visual acuity and eye pain. All nine of the previously reported cases resulted in total blindness of the involved eye; five patients died not long after diagnosis. In the present report (the first in a cardiac transplant recipient), a favorable outcome with restoration of vision followed early diagnosis through the recently developed technique of fine-needle retinal biopsy. Nocardial infection of the eye is a rarely reported occurrence. Infection may develop after minor trauma to the eye in healthy people or following hematogenous dissemination, typically from a pulmonary focus, in immunocompromised individuals. Nocardial endophthalmitis has been associated with a high mortality, and survivors have invariably had total blindness in the involved eye; most survivors underwent enucleation. We report a case of Nocardia asteroides endophthalmitis in a heart transplant recipient in which early diagnosis by retinal biopsy resulted in a favorable outcome. Additionally, we have reviewed other reports of nocardial eye infection.
Multifunctional optical correlator for picosecond ultraviolet laser pulse measurement

A compact multifunctional optical correlator system for pulse width measurement of ultrashort ultraviolet (UV) pulses has been designed and experimentally demonstrated. Both autocorrelation and cross-correlation functions are measured using a single nonlinear crystal, and the switching between two measurements requires no adjustment of phase matching and detector. The system can measure UV pulse widths from sub-picoseconds to 100 ps, and it involves no auxiliary pulse in the measurement. The measurement results on a burst-mode picosecond UV laser show a high-quality performance on speed, accuracy, resolution, and dynamic range. The proposed correlator can be applied to measure any ultrashort UV pulses produced through sum-frequency generation or second-harmonic generation.
EXPLICATION AND TEST OF A MODEL OF COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE

This research investigated the concept of communicative competence. A definition and a five-component model of communicative competence is proposed. Interaction management, empathy, affiliation/support, behavioral flexibility, and social relaxation are identified as components of competence, with interaction management playing a central role. In an experiment designed to partially test the model, 239 Ss were assigned to evaluate a confederate's role-played communicative competence in one of four interaction management treatment conditions. Results indicated a strong, positive, linear relationship between interaction management and communicative competence. Positive correlations between competence and other components of the model were observed. The competent communicator is thus described as empathic, affinitive and supportive, and relaxed while interacting; he is capable of adapting his behavior as the situation within an encounter changes and as he moves from encounter to encounter. The manner in which the interaction is managed contributes, in part at least, to his fellow interact ants' perceptions of his competence.
FAMILY RULES: MARITAL QUID PRO QUO.

BECAUSE they are so obviously and invariably composed of only one man and one woman each, marriages in our society are usually described in terms of sexual differences, which are of course considered innate or at least fixed characteristics of the individuals involved. All manner of behaviors quite removed from primary sexual differences can be brought into the framework of male-female differences, which framework then becomes an explanatory model of marriage. This view pervades our popular mythology of sexual stereotypes, it influences marriage manuals and similar advisory accouterments, and it certainly guides our scientific study of the marital relationship, no matter how inconsistent or unspecific this theory proves to be. The rich variety of forms which anthropologists have shown us "masculinity" and "femininity" take in marriage across the world should indicate something is amiss with the assumption that absolute, specific sexual differ
A Survey of Graduate Adult Education Programns and Thie Adult Learning and Development Curriculum

Eighty-three programs were randomly selected from a population of 105 Adult Education programs listed in Peterson's Guides (1992) to complete a telephone survey questionnaire about program demographics and the nature of and emphasis on adult learning and development curricula. Demographic data revealed an alarming number of adult education program eliminations and the increased use of adjunct faculty. Substantially all surveyed institutions listed one or more required or elective courses in the area of adult learning and development, even though some educators were unaware of the existence of the Standards for Graduate Programs in Adult Education (Commission of Professors of Adult Education, 1986).
Visual servoing of an omni-directional mobile robot for alignment with parking lot lines

ODIS is an omni-directional mobile robot designed to autonomously or semi-autonomously inspect automobiles in a parking lot. Periodically, its position and orientation references need to be reset. This paper considers visual servoing to parking lot lines as one possible approach. Analysis and simulations demonstrate that a surprisingly simple proportional controller in the image coordinates can accomplish position and orientation alignment with parking lot lines. Unlike previous work, no image Jacobian matrix is necessary. Knowledge of the camera focal length is not required, but the camera and vehicle axes are assumed to be aligned, and the vehicle is assumed to rotate about the camera frame's y-axis.
Solar Cell Screening Technique

Nomenclature A = solar cell active area ffd = dark curve form factor ffg = light curve form factor 7 = current Ik = value of current at Pk 7SC = short circuit current, light /V curve It = terminal current, value of / when V= Vt , dark I-V curve Pk = power at I+Ik, V+ Vk, dark /V curve Pk = maximum value of (It — I) V, dark /V curve Pm = maximum power for illuminated solar cell T — kelvin temperature V = voltage Vk — value of voltage at P^ Foc = open circuit voltage, light /V curve Vt = terminal voltage, dark /V curve a = maximum power parameter j3 = temperature parameter 7 = low-intensity efficiency parameter 97 = efficiency = intensity of incident light
FPGA Communication Framework

FPGA-CF is an open-source, portable, extensible communications package that consists of a small hardware core (less than 600 slices) and and a host-software library/API. It enables a host PC to transmit data at 120 Mb/s to Xilinx-based FPGA boards via Ethernet using standard internet protocols. The hardware core is directly connected to the Xilinx internal configuration port (ICAP) and supports all ICAP functionality. The core also provides an extensible user-channel interface and provides up to 15, 8-bit user-data channels. The host software API supports both Java and C++ and provides high-level functionality for making connections and transmitting data. The utility of the system is demonstrated by implementing an on-chip test/debug system.
Perishability, the actual world, and the existence of God

In this paper I shall formulate and defend what I take to be a fresh argument for the rationality of theistic belief. Specifically, I propose to establish the reasonableness of believing the following proposition to be true: Every possible world that includes the existence of perishable objects includes the existence of God.' Success in this endeavour would, of course, ensure the reasonableness of believing that the possible world which happens to be actual including, as it does, the existence of perishable objects includes the existence of God. I intend to show that the reasonableness of believing the aforesaid proposition to be true is consequent upon careful scrutiny and explication of a doctrine that constitutes an absolutely indispensable ingredient of theistic metaphysics. As will become clear in the sequel, the one and only presupposition of the argument to be developed is the very modest one which cannot but be made (if only implicitly) by every argument for the reasonableness of theistic belief: namely, that it is reasonable to believe that the proposition expressed by 'God exists' does not suffer from conceptual incoherence, i.e. is such that there is at least one possible world at which it is true. While I do not know (nor am I acquainted with anyone who does) how to proceed to establish that what is expressed by 'God exists' is not in the conceptual company of, e.g. 'Round squares exist', it seems to me that the rather notorious unsuccess of ontological 'dis-proofs' of God's existence (those arguments which purport to establish that there is no possible world at which it is true that God exists) cannot but suggest the prima facie reasonableness of the largely intuitive or preanalytic conviction that theistic belief quite independently of whether it is true or false does not suffer from conceptual disorder. It is instructive to note that recent arguments concerned with establishing the truth or rational acceptability of theism have been largely ontological in character.2 Such arguments, of course, employ no contingent propositions
When will my child go blind? Prognosis versus uncertainty and fear—a conceptual analysis

W henwill my child go blind? Parents of children with degenerative and progressive eye disorders, such as retinal dystrophies, often ask this question, one of both fact and value. Some parents ask the question prematurely, as when the child with well-controlled glaucoma is doing beautifully. Others wait to confront the issues until the very end stages of their child’s ocular disease. Searching for data to help answer the parent’s query, physicians might turn to colleagues or the literature and ask, “What is the incidence of blindness in this condition for a patient like mine?” or, more generically, “What is the prognosis?” The word “prognosis” comes ultimately from an Ancient Greek word meaning “foreknowledge.” MerriamWebster’s dictionary tells us that it is the “prospect of recovery from the usual course” of a disease. Prognosis is an attempt to infer the likelihood of future events on the basis of data gathered through empirical research in which investigators examine the outcomes of similarly diseased individuals. It may be presented as percentages, percentiles, odds ratios, or with less precise terminology, such as “likely” or “unlikely.” Often it’s simply a number, and when presented as such, could be perceived as a parentalistic model of the physician–patient relationship. Blindness means many different things to parents. A definition of “legal blindness,” the World Health Organization criteria, or criteria created to classify patients for school intervention are but “cut offs” and statistics. To the parent, the initial question posed is steeped in deeper values. It is tied less to statistical prediction than to the parents’ uncertainties and fear. Parents wonder whether blindness will indeed occur, the timing of this frightening event, and also what such an event will mean to them as parents and to their child as a person. The loss of vision is a profound assault on a patient’s autonomy and a parent’s self-image as a “good” or “successful” parent. There is a difference not only in what the child
Performance analysis of epidemic routing under contention

Epidemic routing has been proposed as a robust transmission scheme for sparse mobile ad hoc networks. Under the assumption of no contention, epidemic routing has the minimum end-to-end delay amongst all the routing schemes proposed for such networks. The assumption of no contention was justified by arguing that since the network is sparse, there will be very few simultaneous transmissions. Some recent papers have shown through simulations that this argument is not correct and that contention cannot be ignored while analyzing the performance of routing schemes, even in sparse networks.Incorporating contention in the analysis has always been a hard problem and hence its effect has been studied mostly through simulations only. In this paper, we find analytical expressions for the delay performance of epidemic routing with contention. We include all the three main manifestations of contention, namely (i) the finite bandwidth of the link which limits the number of packets two nodes can exchange, (ii) the scheduling of transmissions between nearby nodes which is needed to avoid excessive interference, and (iii) the interference from transmissions outside the scheduling area. The accuracy of the analysis is verified via simulations.
Implications of Economic Income for Earnings Usefulness Judgments

Various studies consider the ex ante (pre-decision) or ex post (post-decision) uses of accounting information (e.g., Demski, 1974; Beaver and Demski, 1979; Beaver, 1981). Although these uses are distinct conceptually, the same information can be pertinent to both uses in multiperiod settings (see, e.g., the discussion in Demski, 1974). Also, several manuscripts (e.g., Beaver and Demski, 1979; Beaver, 1981; Vickrey, 1984; Miller and Rock, 1985) suggest that the abnormal security returns related to earnings can be partial functions of both ex ante probability revision and ex post state revelation in multiperiod settings. This article demonstrates that if the ex ante and ex post uses of information are linked empirically, then the returns/earnings studies may have: (a) misconstrued the usefulness of earnings, and (b) ignored the separate issues of the usefulness of earnings in ex ante probability revision and in ex post state revelation. It should aid in eliminating these deficiencies by motivating returns/earnings studies that investigate the extent to which the abnormal returns related to earnings are partial functions of ex ante probability revision and ex post state revelation. Studies of this type have great potential for enhancing our understanding of the effects of earnings.
MPACT and citation impact: Two sides of the same scholarly coin?

Abstract This article provides the first comparison of citation counts and mentoring impact (MPACT) indicators — indicators that serve to quantify the process of doctoral mentoring. Using a dataset of 120 library and information science (LIS) faculty members in North America, this article examines the correlation between MPACT indicators and citation counts. Results suggest that MPACT indicators measure something distinct from citation counts. The article discusses these distinctions, with emphasis on differences between faculty ranks. It considers possible explanations for weak correlations between citations and mentoring at the full professor rank as well as implications for faculty activity analysis and broader institutional evolution.
Use and Abuse of Abbreviations in Technical Communication

The function of technical writing as represented by the articles published in this journal is very simple-the clear communication of information and ideas. The operative word is dclear.d Above all else, technical communications must have clarity. They must be unambiguous. They must erect minimal barriers between the mind of the writer and mind of the reader. The purpose of writing a paper is to communicate, and anything impairing clarity of technical writing weakens its effectiveness, undermining the reason for doing it in the first place. At best, barriers to clear communication represent sloppy writing and are disrespectful to the reader, who is investing time and effort in the author’s words and thoughts. At worst, especially in medical writing, barriers to clear communication can be dangerous to patients and misleading to other scientists, whose own research and careers depend on understanding clearly the work of others. One significant barrier to clear technical communication is the use and abuse of abbreviations. An abbreviation is a shortened form of a word or phrase used in place of the whole word. Abbreviations are usually formed by omitting presumably unneeded letters within a word or combining the initial letters of words within a phrase. When read as words, abbreviations become acronyms. Symbols are alphanumeric characters used in place of a word. The distinction between abbreviations and symbols is not sharp, although different rules of punctuation have
Dynamic Mechanical Properties of Graphite-Epoxy and Carbon-Epoxy Composites

Dynamic elastic moduli and damping of carbon- and graphite-filled epoxy composites have been measured over the temperature range of 85 to 300° K. The epoxy resin matrix was cured with diethylenetriamine. Dynamic elastic moduli increase with filler content in both cases; however, graphite powder is more effective than carbon powder in increasing the modulus. For the graphite composite, experimental data agree with Wu's equation for disk-shaped filler particles with a modulus of 56 × 1010 dyne/cm2. For the carbon composite, experimental data cannot be effec tively compared to any theoretical model, probably because the carbon powder is composed of agglomerated particles. The effect of voids on the dynamic modulus of a particulate composite is also discussed. The β damping peak (∼ 250° K) does not change in its intensity with filler con tent, while the intensity of the γ peak (∼ 150°K) is decreased as the amount of filler is increased. The relation between the filler content and the intensity of the β peak s...
Corral: A Solver for Reachability Modulo Theories

Consider a sequential programming language with control flow constructs such as assignments, choice, loops, and procedure calls. We restrict the syntax of expressions in this language to one that can be efficiently decided by a satisfiability-modulo-theories solver. For such a language, we define the problem of deciding whether a program can reach a particular control location as the reachability-modulo-theories problem. This paper describes the architecture of Corral, a semi-algorithm for the reachability-modulo-theories problem. Corral uses novel algorithms for inlining procedures on demand (Stratified Inlining) and abstraction refinement (Hierarchical Refinement). The paper also presents an evaluation of Corral against other related tools. Corral consistently outperforms its competitors on most benchmarks.
The Utility of the Formal Elements Art Therapy Scale in Assessment for Substance Use Disorder

This study explored the use of the Formal Elements Art Therapy Scale (FEATS) with a population of persons with a DSM-IV diagnosis of Substance Use Disorder who were court ordered for treatment. Two groups of adults (N = 40) were closely matched on age, gender, race, socioeconomic status and education level, and were administered the Person Picking an Apple From a Tree (PPAT) art assessment. The drawings were scored using the Formal Elements Art Therapy Scale (Gantt & Tabone, 1998). Acceptable inter-rater reliability was established on 9 of the 12 FEATS elements. Statistical analyses indicated that three FEATS elements in the PPAT accurately predicted group membership and that together, the 12 FEATS elements successfully distinguished the two groups with 85% accuracy. Implications of these findings for art therapy research and practice are discussed.
Orbit stability improvement at the NSLS X-ray ring

We describe recent improvements in both the short and long-term orbit stability at the NSLS X-ray Ring. The short-term stability has been improved by increasing the gain and the bandwidth of the global harmonic feedback systems. The long-term horizontal orbit drift over the course of a fill has been reduced by including the RF-frequency in the orbit feedback. Work is in progress to further reduce orbit drift by compensating for thermally induced mechanical motions of the beam position monitors.