cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Lifting the Banking Veil: Credit Standards’ Harmonization Through Lending Transparency

We explore whether the transparency in banks’ lending activities enhances the harmonization of credit terms that a bank offers across its different geographic regions. We take advantage of a novel loan-level reporting initiative by the European Central Bank, which requires repo borrowing banks that pledge their asset-backed securities as collateral to disclose granular information on loan characteristics and performance. We find that loans originated under the transparency regime share more similar interest rate, loan-to-collateral-value ratio and maturity compared to same-purpose loans issued by the same bank in different regions. Underperforming regional branches and those with less easily accessible peer-branches experience greater convergence in their credit terms, suggesting that transparency facilitates learning across a bank’s different geographic regions. Additionally, banks that face stronger regulatory scrutiny are more likely to alleviate credit term disparities under the transparency regime. Overall, our findings suggest that transparency enhances the within-bank harmonization of lending practices.
“May we not see God?”: Henry David Thoreau’s Doctrine of Spiritual Senses

This article argues that Henry David Thoreau believed in the essential unity of the five senses and privileged each as a source of wild and divine knowledge, which, when combined, created a full picture that might result in a true approximation of God in and beyond nature—the hallmark of Thoreau’s fundamentally incarnational theology. Thoreau treated each sense not only as a source of divine knowledge but as a site of theological discourse: for touch, the relationship between sin and grace; for smell, the conundrum of an eternal divinity acting in historical time; for taste, the efficacy of sacraments; for hearing, the possibility of continuing revelation; and for sight, the ability for human beings to actually see God. The senses were the practical entry point to Thoreau’s theological system, which was concerned with the discovery and redemption of internal “wildness” and reconnection to the mysterious, divine source of that wildness, to the unaccountable in nature.
Trend and change point detection in mean annual and seasonal maximum temperatures over Saudi Arabia

Spatio-temporal variation associated with temperature can impact water availability and sustainability of the ecosystem. In this study, we investigated the trend and change point occurrences in annual mean of daily maximum temperature (AMMT) and seasonal mean of daily maximum temperature (SMMT) based on 24 meteorological stations during the period of 1985–2018 located in Saudi Arabia. Out of 24 stations, 11 stations are located in the North-East quadrant (NE-Region), and the remaining 13 stations are located in the Western part of Saudi Arabia (W-Region). The trend analysis was performed using Mann-Kendall (MK) and modified MK (with autocorrelation correction) tests, and Sen’s slope was used to estimate the trend magnitude in the AMMT and SMMT time series. In addition, the sequential MK test was employed to detect abrupt changes, beginning of significant trends, and trend fluctuations in AMMT and SMMT time series. It was observed that 69% of the evaluated time series (AMMT and SMMT) have significant increasing (warming) trends. It was found that the AMMT trend magnitude over Saudi Arabia is 0.047 °C/year during the evaluated period. It was also observed that the NE-Region has higher warming rates in all the seasons. In both regions, the highest (lowest) warming was during the Spring (Autumn) season. Overall, the sequential MK test found that an abrupt change in the AMMT series occurred in 1998. The stations located in the W-Region showed an earlier abrupt change (1997) and the start of significant trend (1999) in the AMMT time series.
Forty-fold Speedup of NV - Center Magnetometry with Sequential Bayesian Experiment Design

In magnetometry using quantum defects in diamond (NV- centers), we demonstrate forty-fold speedup with sequential Bayesian experiment design as compared with conventional NV-magnetometry using frequency-swept measurements.
Carrie Menkel-Meadow: Leading Us Towards Justice AND Peace

In the 1960s, as today, and likely in all eras, there has been a tension and often debate regarding how best to work towards social change. From a big picture standpoint, can there be justice without peace, and can there be peace without justice? From a more individual perspective, is change best achieved through activism or even violence, or is change best achieved through communication, empathy and understanding? If both approaches can sometimes be appropriate, how do we decide which choice is best in a given situation? Professor Carrie Menkel-Meadow, through both her life history and her scholarship, has helped us to see that both paths are important, and that the role of the activist can be blended with the role of the mediator or peacemaker. This essay will explore how she has highlighted the path of “And” – showing and explaining that it is not only possible but also desirable to seek justice as well as peace, to be both activist and neutral. Of course, tensions will remain. With regard to particular issues in specific moments we all must decide which path we can and should take. Which activism is best and which goes too far? With whom can we or should we negotiate, and when should we instead say “I can’t negotiate with this person or group?” When should we talk and listen and when are we realistically beyond that possibility? These questions do not have simple answers, but Carrie’s life and work offer important insights.
Contralateral breast cancer after curative-intent treatment for ductal carcinoma in situ: Rate and associated clinicopathological and imaging risk factors

Abstract Purpose Patients who have ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) are undergoing bilateral mastectomy at increasing rates. One of the reasons is to minimize contralateral breast cancer (CBC) risk. The purpose of this study is to determine the rate of and risk factors associated with CBC in women treated for DCIS. Methods A retrospective study was performed of women with DCIS at surgery from 2007 to 2014 who had at least five-year follow-up. Patient attributes, imaging findings, histopathology results, and surgical and long-term outcomes were collected. Features associated with a CBC were assessed with multivariable logistic regression models. Results 613 women (mean 56 years, range 30–87) with DCIS underwent breast-conserving surgery (BCS) (n = 426), unilateral mastectomy (n = 101), or bilateral mastectomy (n = 86), with mean follow-up of 7.9 years. Of the 527 women who had BCS or unilateral mastectomy, 7.4% (n = 39) developed a CBC (DCIS in 12 and invasive cancer in 27). 4.1% (5/122) of women treated with adjuvant endocrine therapy developed a CBC, compared to 8.4% (34/405) who were not treated (p = .11). Features associated with CBC risk were younger age at menarche (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] of 0.76, p = .03) and low nuclear grade of DCIS (aOR of 5.43 for grade 1 versus 3, p = .01). Conclusion In women treated for DCIS, the overall rate of CBC was low at 7.4%. Younger age at menarche and low nuclear grade of DCIS had significant associations with higher CBC risk.
Haunted City: Nuremberg and the Nazi Past . By Neil Gregor. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. 2007. Pp. 390. Cloth $45.00. ISBN 9780300101072.

Nuremberg a city associated with Nazi excesses, party rallies, and the extreme antiSemitic propaganda published by Hitler ally Julius Streicher has http://www.academia.edu/9118068/Haunted_City_Nuremberg_and_the_Nazi_Past
Provenance-aware storage systems

A Provenance-Aware Storage System (PASS) is a storage system that automatically collects and maintains provenance or lineage, the complete history or ancestry of an item. We discuss the advantages of treating provenance as meta-data collected and maintained by the storage system, rather than as manual annotations stored in a separately administered database. We describe a PASS implementation, discussing the challenges it presents, performance cost it incurs, and the new functionality it enables. We show that with reasonable overhead, we can provide useful functionality not available in today's file systems or provenance management systems.
III-V compound semiconductor strip-loaded waveguide devices for PICs: design for minimum crosstalk and high density

ABSTRACT Compact, low-cost photonic integrated circuits (PICs) have long been a desire of systems engineers.Unfortunately, the majority of PICs in use today use regrown buried heterostructure waveguides to achievelow crosstalk at reasonable packing density. These regrown structures are very expensive and limit PlCapplications to high performance niches. The alternative low-cost approach is to use etched-rib, or strip-loaded, waveguides. Strip-loaded waveguides are simple to manufacture but may have guided slab-modescarrying unwanted light between devices within the PlC. These slab modes can result in very high crosstalkor low device density. This paper addresses techniques for control of stray light in strip-loaded PICs.Methods include mesa isolation of waveguides and ion implantation outside the waveguide rib. In addition,some devices such as Mach-Zehnder interferometers and waveguide power combiners generate radiationand slab modes as a fundamental means of operation. Improved designs for both of these structures withproper removal of both radiated and slab-mode light and high contrast-ratio operation will be covered.2. INTRODUCTIONPhotonic integrated circuits (PICs) are attractive for applications involving data transfer and signal
Measuring mathematics discourse in technology-supported collaborative activities

This paper presents a classroom observation protocol and analysis method that efficiently capture key student and teacher discursive moves. We developed this protocol for use in a study comparing classrooms using Eduinnova, handheld computer-supported collaborative learning software, with classrooms using a popular, non-collaborative software application aimed at the same topic. Analysis of data from the observations clearly shows differences between student discourse in these classrooms but also reveal some challenges in the CSCL classroom.
Regulatory T Cells Prevent Transfer of Type 1 Diabetes in NOD Mice Only When Their Antigen Is Present In Vivo

Regulatory T cells (Tregs) can potentially be used as tools to suppress pathogenic T cells in autoimmune diseases such as type 1 diabetes. For use in therapy it is critically important to determine whether suppression by Tregs requires a population specific for the target of autoimmunity, such as pancreatic β cells in type 1 diabetes. Current reports in the NOD mouse model of type 1 diabetes are in conflict as to whether suppression of disease by Tregs is Ag-dependent. We have addressed this question by evaluating the effects of islet-specific TGF-β-induced Tregs in recipient mice in which the Treg Ag is either present or absent. Our data show that Treg numbers in pancreas are reduced in the absence of Ag and that there are Ag-dependent differences in the effects of Tregs on pathogenic T cells in the pancreas. By examining protection from diabetes induced by T cell transfer, we have clearly demonstrated that Tregs suppress only in the presence of their Ag and not in mice in which the islets lack the Treg Ag. Our results also suggest that in sufficiently large populations of polyclonal Tregs, there will be adequate numbers of islet-specific Tregs to suppress diabetes.
Multi-Megajoule NIF: Ushering In a New Era in High Energy Density Science

This paper describes the status of the stadium-sized National Ignition Facility (NIF), the world's largest laser system and first operational multi-megajoule laser. The 192-beam NIF, located at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), is 96% complete and scheduled for completion in March 2009. The NIF laser will produce nanosecond laser pulses with energies up to approximately 4 MJ in the infrared (laser wavelength = 1.053-{micro}m) and 2MJ in the ultraviolet (laser wavelength = 0.35-{micro}m). With these energies NIF will access conditions of pressure and temperature not previously available on earth, allowing it to conduct experiments in support of the nation's national security, energy, and fundamental science goals. First ignition experiments at NIF are scheduled for FY2010. This paper will provide an overview of the NIF laser and the ignition, energy, and fundamental science activities at NIF.
Invention in James M. Hoppin's HOMILETICS: Scope and Classicism in Late Nineteenth-Century American Rhetoric

Abstract Although conventional views about late nineteenth-century rhetoric highlight a shift from oratory to composition and from classical rhetoric to a “new” rhetoric with origins in Scottish rhetoricians (with a loss of scholarship and quality), James M. Hoppin's Homiletics can be grouped with an increasing number of works that complicate such views. Hoppin focuses on oratory; reveals an especially broad and scholarly knowledge of classical, religious, and foreign rhetorics; uses a complex of ideas called “uniformitarianism” to justify his primary focus on classical rhetoric; and achieves high quality. His concept of invention has both classical and Christian roots in a complex relationship reflecting both scope and narrowness.
The expression of genes in human preimplantation embryos

The study of gene expression in human preimplantation embryos is establishing itself as a necessary dimension of developmental biology and medical genetics. Transcripts identified in human preimplantation embryos include housekeeping genes, transcription and growth factor genes, sex-determining genes, tissue-specific genes and novel genes, as well as genes of unknown function. Strategies are being developed which will eventually permit the most sophisticated gene expression studies on single human embryos of co-ordinated transcription and translational regulation. There is both a need for international co-operation for the systematic construction of expression maps and a need to establish databases of expression patterns during different stages of human development. Understanding how genes are regulated in humans is essential for understanding both normal development and disease. Until recently, studies of gene expression and regulation during embryogenesis were almost exclusively limited to prokaryotes and to eukaryotes other than man. The introduction of artificial reproductive technologies in conjunction with the development of recombinant molecular technologies applicable to single cells has made possible the study of human development at its earliest stages (Pergament and Bonnicksen, 1994). Although there are still enormous technical challenges, robust strategies have been, and continue to be, developed for connecting DNA sequence to such endophenotypes as timing and level of gene expression at the single cell level. Questions currently being asked in human developmental genetic studies concern the pronucleus, the zygote and the preimplantation embryo: what genes are expressed? When are they expressed? What functions do they perform and how, in sequence or in combination? And, what elements control and regulate their expression? This review provides an overview of current knowledge about the expression of different embryonic genes during early human development and discusses future prospects, which includes a need for international co-operation similar to the Human Genome Project. Copyright © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
What Factors Promote Sustained Online Discussions and Collaborative Learning in a Web-Based Course?

Although the pedagogical advantages of online interactive learning are well known, much needs to be done in instructional design of applicable collaborative learning tasks that motivate sustained student participation and interaction. This study investigates the factors that encourage student interaction and collaboration in both process and product oriented computer mediated communication (CMC) tasks in a Web-based course that adopts interactive learning tasks as its core learning activities. The analysis of a post course survey questionnaire collected from three online classes suggest that among others, the structure of the online discussion, group size and group cohesion, strictly enforced deadlines, direct link of interactive learning activities to the assessment, and the differences in process and product driven interactive learning tasks are some of the important factors that influence participation and contribute to sustained online interaction and collaboration.
Small-signal Laplace-domain model for digital predictive current mode controls

Predictive current mode control is one of the promising digital current mode control method featuring fast dynamic response and low cost implementation. To understand the benefit and the limitation of each implementation, choose the modulation scheme and design the control loop, this paper proposes small signal Laplace-domain models for a family of digital predictive current mode controls, including peak current control, valley current control and average current control with single edge modulation and symmetric/asymmetric double edge modulation. The model is extended to the multi-sampled implementation. The proposed model considers the dynamic nonlinearity caused by the feedback of sideband frequency components of virtual inductor current, so that it is more precise than conventional Z-domain model based on averaging modeling concept and discretization. Implementation selection and sampling number selection guideline are also discussed. The theoretical analysis of this paper is verified by both simulations and experimental results.
A Synthetic Receptor for Choline and Carnitine

A synthetic receptor is described with the appropriate shape and size for alkylated trimethylammonium ions such as choline and carnitine. The structure features a deep, concave binding site, lined with aromatic walls that provide cation−π interactions between host and guest. Molecular mechanic calculations suggest that the host's shape is maintained through intermolecular hydrogen bonding with DMSO solvent molecules. The cavity is too small to accommodate larger ions. Choline and carnitine are recognized and bound with high affinity even though no complementary charges are involved in the process.
Spectral Detail of Phonon Conduction and Scattering in Graphene

This paper examines the thermodynamic and thermal transport properties of the 2D graphene lattice. The interatomic interactions are modeled using the Tersoff interatomic potential and are used to evaluate phonon dispersion curves, density of states and thermodynamic properties of graphene as functions of temperature. Perturbation theory is applied to calculate the transition probabilities for three-phonon scattering. The matrix elements of the perturbing Hamiltonian are calculated using the anharmonic interatomic force constants obtained from the interatomic potential as well. An algorithm to accurately quantify the contours of energy balance for three-phonon scattering events is presented and applied to calculate the net transition probability from a given phonon mode. Under the linear approximation, the Boltzmann transport equation (BTE) is applied to compute the thermal conductivity of graphene, giving spectral and polarization-resolved information. Predictions of thermal conductivity for a wide range of parameters elucidate the behavior of diffusive phonon transport. The complete spectral detail of selection rules, important phonon scattering pathways, and phonon relaxation times in graphene are provided, contrasting graphene with other materials, along with implications for graphene electronics. We also highlight the specific scattering processes that are important in Raman spectroscopy based measurements of graphene thermal conductivity, and provide a plausible explanation for the observed dependence on laser spot size.Copyright © 2011 by ASME
Model-based control of thermal stresses during LEC growth of GaAs I. Validation of thermal model

Abstract A numerical model and a heat flux control system (HFCS) are used to control thermal stresses during LEC growth of GaAs. This model-based control strategy has resulted in growth of low dislocation density crystals. In this first part of the study, the growth configuration, design details of the HFCS, and the numerical model of the process are described, and experiments aimed at validation of the thermal aspects of the model are discussed. Results indicate good agreement between the experimental and modeling results. In the early stages of growth the difference between the predicted and measured temperature fields is found to be within the overall accuracy of model assumptions. The model accuracy in predicting the stresses in the crystal beyond the initial stages of growth is found to be ± 0.2 × CRSS of the matrix evaluated at its melting point temperature. The process model is, therefore, sufficiently accurate to provide for unambiguous and accurate control of stresses in the growing crystal at levels lower than the CRSS of the matrix.
Physiologic Diversity and Development of Intrinsically Photosensitive Retinal Ganglion Cells

Intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells (ipRGCs) mediate numerous nonvisual phenomena, including entrainment of the circadian clock to light-dark cycles, pupillary light responsiveness, and light-regulated hormone release. We have applied multielectrode array recording to characterize murine ipRGCs. We find that all ipRGC photosensitivity is melanopsin dependent. At least three populations of ipRGCs are present in the postnatal day 8 (P8) murine retina: slow onset, sensitive, fast off (type I); slow onset, insensitive, slow off (type II); and rapid onset, sensitive, very slow off (type III). Recordings from adult rd/rd retinas reveal cells comparable to postnatal types II and III. Recordings from early postnatal retinas demonstrate intrinsic light responses from P0. Early light responses are transient and insensitive but by P6 show increased photosensitivity and persistence. These results demonstrate that ipRGCs are the first light-sensitive cells in the retina and suggest previously unappreciated diversity in this cell population.
Memorialization in white: Chaucerian topology and the defaute of subjectivity

This essay argues that the Middle English defaute, signifying both lack and loss, characterizes the work of mourning in Chaucer’s The Book of the Duchess. Crucial to memorialization are the interplays between the poem’s articulations of toponyms and its figurations of ‘White’ as simultaneously a deceased body of feminine beauty and a virtual map of courtliness. For the survivor, recollection and writing are acts of consolation through the non-linear and non-geometric topology of time and space.
Bisphosphonates and metastatic breast carcinoma.

BACKGROUND Metastasis to the skeleton occurs in approximately 75% of patients with advanced breast cancer. It is the cause of much morbidity and decreased quality of life in these patients. METHODS Zoledronic acid (Zoledronate) is a new, potent third-generation bisphosphonate that has recently been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of both osteolytic and osteoblastic bone metastases. A Phase 3 clinical trial comparing the efficacy of Zoledronic acid 4 and 8 mg compared with Pamidronate 90 mg every 3–4 weeks has been completed. RESULTS A 15 minute infusion of 4 mg of zoledronic acid is at least as effective as 90 mg of pamidronate in preventing skeletal complications in patients with metastatic breast cancer. CONCLUSIONS Bisphosphonate treatment can delay skeletal events in patients with breast carcinoma that is metastatic to bone. Future trials will build on the results achieved with bisphosphonate treatment. Cancer 2003;97(3 Suppl):848–53. © 2003 American Cancer Society. DOI 10.1002/cncr.11123
Studies of parasite-host interaction using geographical strains of the blow fly Phaenicia sericata and its parasite Nasonia vitripennis.

Phaenicia sericata (Meigen) (Diptera: Calliphoridae) collected from widely separated areas (Florida; Kirkland Lake, Ontario; and New York) were used to measure the longevity and reproductive success of a laboratory strain of their parasite, Nasonia vitripennis (Walker) (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae). Parasite-host interaction experiments were conducted on either a group (simultaneous exposure of 10 female parasites to 50 hostpupae) or individual (1 female parasite on 10 hosts) basis. Group tests using 3-day-old parasites were run for 1-day periods in 2 consecutive generations, and in another experimenta group test was run for a 6-day period. Measurements of blow fly longevity, pupal survival, and pupal weights showed a similarity between the New York and Kirkland strains, but the Florida strain showed significantly lower longevity, pupal weight, and percent pupal survival. The longevity of the Florida strain increased in 7 generations indicating an adaptation to experimental conditions. The parasites were most productive on the New York and Ontario strains. The Florida strain produced the fewest parasites per host pupa in the group tests, but the most parasites per host in the individual tests where an excess of hosts was provided. Data were transformed to determine the weight of host biomass required in the production of an individual parasite. Parasites required significantly less host biomass from the Florida hosts than from the Ontario or New York strains. The possibility of using geographical host strains to study the evolution of interacting populations is discussed.
Variation in teenage mothers' experiences of child care and other components of welfare reform: selection processes and developmental consequences.

Developmental evaluations of the current wave of welfare reform programs present challenges with regard to (1) assessing child outcomes; (2) accounting for heterogeneity among low-income families in both baseline characteristics and involvement in self-sufficiency activities and supports, and (3) development of alternatives to experimental approaches to causal inference. This study (N = 1,079) addresses these challenges by examining effects on 4- to 6-year-old children of different patterns of child care, self-sufficiency activities, and other service utilization indicators among experimental-group mothers in a 16-site welfare reform program. Outcomes in areas of cognitive ability and behavior problems were investigated. The study identified seven subgroups of participants engaging in different patterns of service utilization and activity involvement. A two-stage simultaneous equation methodology was used to account for selection, and effects on child cognitive ability of participation in specific patterns of services and activities were found. For example, children of mothers characterized by high levels of involvement in center-based child care, education, and job training showed higher levels of cognitive ability than children of mothers in groups characterized by high involvement in center-based care and education, or center-based care and job training. In addition, children of mothers in groups with high levels of involvement in any of these activities showed higher levels of cognitive ability than those with low levels of involvement. The bulk of selection effects occurred through site-level differences, rather than family-level socioeconomic status or maternal depression indicators. Implications for welfare reform program and policy concerns are discussed.
Transport of nutrients and eutrophication control by an urban runoff diversion system protecting a drinking water reservoir

Urban runoff from five storms during the 2003–2004 and 2004–2005 rainy seasons was sampled at the exit point of runoff diversion forebays leading to engineered retention ponds to protect a drinking water reservoir. Samples were collected from three different drainage areas both years and were analysed for water quality parameters including total dissolved solids, electrical conductivity (EC), dissolved organic carbon, bacterial count and nutrients in the water phase. In the second year of the study, samples were also taken at the entry point into the forebays and analysed to determine if the forebays contributed to removal of analytes prior to diversion in the retention ponds. EC, which had been used as the determining factor of whether runoff is used to recharge or diverted to holding ponds, did not relate to nutrient levels. This indicated that EC is insufficient to determine water quality because runoff with low EC may contain high levels of nutrients that can support eutrophication. Monitoring of nutrients themselves is essential for decisions.
Buckled plate vibrations and large amplitude vibrations using high-order triangular elements

A high-order triangular membrane finite element is combined with a fully conforming triangular plate bending element to solve the geometrically nonlinear problems of plates where the membrane and flexural behaviors are coupled and the effect of the inplane boundary conditions is as significant as the flexural boundary conditions. Each of the three orthogonal displacement components is represented by a two-dimensional polynomial of the same quintic order with no bias against one another giving the element a total of 54 degrees of freedom. The nonlinear stiffness matrices are formulated and a Newton-Raphson iteration procedure is used. Examples include the analyses of plane stresses of a parabolically loaded square plate, large deflections of a square plate under lateral pressure, postbuckling of a square plate, linear free vibration of a buckled rectangular plate, large amplitude free vibration of a square plate with and without inplane stresses. Various flexural and inplane boundary conditions are considered. Results are compared with those obtained by alternative finite element methods, analytical approximate methods, and an experiment. Physical interpretations of the results and explanations of the discrepancies among various solutions are provided. The results indicate that the present development is capable of accurately solving a wide variety of geometrically nonlinear plate problems.
Gap junctions couple astrocytes and oligodendrocytes.

In vertebrates, a family of related proteins called connexins form gap junctions (GJs), which are intercellular channels. In the central nervous system (CNS), GJs couple oligodendrocytes and astrocytes (O/A junctions) and adjacent astrocytes (A/A junctions), but not adjacent oligodendrocytes, forming a “glial syncytium.” Oligodendrocytes and astrocytes each express different connexins. Mutations of these connexin genes demonstrate that the proper functioning of myelin and oligodendrocytes requires the expression of these connexins. The physiological function of O/A and A/A junctions, however, remains to be illuminated.
Energy v. performance in wireless networks

Wireless energy consumption is a significant and growing problem in mobile and sensor computing. I will discuss several examples of trade-offs between energy and performance in wireless networks, including some counter-intuitive, unintended consequences of cross-layer interactions between link-layer energy-saving techniques and higher-layer transport protocols. These examples demonstrate that performance-energy trade-offs are poorly understood. I will argue that this is one area where theory can have significant practical impact. What we need is a principled and formal way of designing energy-saving algorithms whose performance trade-offs are precisely quantifiable. I will show some examples of the types of problems that can marry theory and practice in this area.
A Generalized Conjecture about Cutting a Polygon into Triangles of Equal Areas

In 1970 it was proved that a square cannot be cut into an odd number of triangles of equal areas. In 1990 it was proved that any centrally symmetric polygon has that property. In the present paper we propose a broad generalization, which would also imply that any polygon whose edges are parallel to the x - or y -axes has that property. We prove that the generalization holds for polygons with at most six sides.
Optimized virtual orbital space for high‐level correlated calculations

The second order Hylleraas functional and a Newton–Raphson orbital optimization technique have been used to generate an active, optimized virtual orbital space (OVOS) of substantially reduced dimension for correlated calculations. Numerical examples for CH2(1A1), C6H6, and potential curves for B2H6 and H2O2 using MBPT and coupled‐cluster theory demonstrate that most of the correlation energy can be obtained with a much smaller number of optimized virtual orbitals, and effectively ∼100% of the correlation energy if the OVOS result is combined with the exact second‐order energy that is evaluated as a byproduct of the OVOS generation. This suggests a potentially wide applicability of the OVOS method in high accuracy quantum mechanical calculations.
Dolutegravir: a new HIV integrase inhibitor for the treatment of HIV infection

ABSTRACT Dolutegravir is a second-generation HIV integrase strand transfer inhibitor (INSTI) and the most recent antiretroviral approved for treatment of HIV-1 infection. Dolutegravir in combination with two nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors is one of the preferred regimens recommended by the Department of Health and Human Services HIV treatment guidelines for treatment-naive adults and adolescents. This recommendation is based on clinical trial data where dolutegravir demonstrated superiority compared with guideline preferred regimens containing efavirenz and ritonavir-boosted darunavir and noninferiority compared with first-generation INSTI, raltegravir. Dolutegravir also demonstrated superiority when compared with raltegravir in treatment-experienced, integrase-naive patients and clinical efficacy in patients with resistance to first-generation INSTIs. Overall, dolutegravir has demonstrated excellent tolerability, limited drug interactions, minimal drug resistance and once-daily dosing for t...
Imaging in Radiculopathy

All patients presenting with signs and symptoms of lumbar radiculopathy must undergo a thorough history taking and physical examination. Often, however, the diagnosis remains unclear; it is accurate anatomically, but the underlying cause of the lesion is not confirmed, or the symptoms are so severe that more information on the anatomy is required. Therefore, the next step in the diagnostic process is imaging studies. This article discusses imaging modalities, including plain radiographs, magnetic resonance imaging, computed tomography (CT), CT myelogram, selective nerve root block, and bone scan.
The two types of cranial appendages in Giraffa camelopardalis (Mammalia, Artiodactyla)

The current consensus is that only one type of horn, the ossicone, exists in the giraffe and that the central or median horn is both structurally and developmentally similar to the paired parietal horns. We have shown that the paired ossicones are composites of three structures: an innermost large frontoparietal boss base, the ossicone, and outermost layers of secondary bone growth. The median hom, to which we assign the name ‘giraffacone’, is a composite of only two structures: the median frontonasal boss and the overlying secondary bone growth. In older males, secondary bone growth due to combat clashes covers the entire calvaria. In females, there is little or no such secondary bone growth over the ossicones and the rest of the skull roof. Consequently, the median horn consists only of the frontal boss. The shape of the ossicones without the secondary bone layer, as revealed in young males and females, is herein described. It is shown how a distinction can be made between the variation in shape due to secondary bone growth and the variation of the ossicone. It is apparent that ossicone shape is not as variable as previously thought. We found secondary bone growth in the horns of Palaeomeryx and in the ossicones of Giraffinae, Giraffokeryx punjabiensis, Samotherium africanum and Sivatheriinae.
Coherent Control of THz Wave Generation in Ambient Air

Our study of THz wave generation in the pulsed laser induced air plasma with individually controlled phase, polarization, and amplitude of the optical fundamental wave (omega) and its second harmonic (2omega) indicates that the third-order nonlinear optical process mixing the omega and 2omega beams in the ionized plasma is the main mechanism of the efficient THz wave generation. The polarity and the strength of the emitted THz field are completely controlled by the relative phase between the omega and 2omega waves. The measured THz field amplitude is proportional to the pulse energy of the fundamental beam and to the square root of the pulse energy of the second-harmonic beam once the total optical pulse energy exceeds the plasma formation threshold. The optimal THz field is achieved when all waves (omega, 2omega, and THz waves) are at the same polarization in the four-wave-mixing process.
Growth in literacy, cognition, and working memory in English language learners

This cohort sequential study explored the components of working memory that underlie English reading and language acquisition in elementary school children whose first language is Spanish. To this end, children (N=410) in Grades 1, 2, and 3 at Wave 1 were administered a battery of cognitive (short-term memory [STM], working memory [WM], rapid naming, phonological processing, and random letter and number generation), vocabulary, and reading measures in both Spanish and English. These same measures were administered 1 and 2 years later. The results showed that (a) a three-factor structure (phonological STM, visual-spatial WM, and verbal WM) captured the data within both language systems, (b) growth in both the executive and STM storage components was uniquely related to growth in second language (L2) reading and language acquisition, and (c) the contribution of growth in the executive component of WM to growth in L2 processing was independent of growth in storage, phonological knowledge, inhibition, and rapid naming speed. The results suggested that growth in the phonological storage system does not supersede growth of the executive component of WM as a major contributor to growth in children's L2 reading and language.
Lipidomics joins the omics evolution

The end of the 20th century was marked by the genomics revolution, and one might say that the beginning of the 21st century is marked by efforts to bring our knowledge of a cell's proteins, known as proteomics, to a par with our growing knowledge of a cell's transcripts, known as transcriptomics. Many of us believe that the next evolution of the omics revolution will be to map all of the metabolites of a cell, known as metabolomics. Leading the way in these efforts is the work in many laboratories on one subset of the metabolome, the lipidome, aimed at mapping all of the lipids of a cell, known as lipidomics (1–4). The ultimate goal is to evolve an integrated omics picture (the “interactome”) of the genes, transcripts, proteins, and metabolites to fully describe cellular functioning. One leading effort in the lipidomics evolution is described in this issue of PNAS (5).
C-Peptide Levels as a Criterion in Treatment of Maturity-Onset Diabetes

C-Peptide levels, both basal and glucose-stimulated, were contrasted in diet-controllable vs. nondiet-controllable maturity-onset diabetic patients. Fasting and glucose-stimulated plasma C-peptide values in diet-controlled diabetics were similar to those in normal subjects. Diabetic patients who were not solely diet controllable could be differentiated into two subgroups. One diet failure subgroup was truly insulin dependent, in that insulin treatment could not be stopped for even a brief period. In these patients, fasting C-peptide levels were very low, in the same range as in the majority of juvenile-onset diabetic patients. In the second diet failure subgroup, it was possible to manage patients without insulin therapy for varying periods of time, although most patients eventually needed insulin. Fasting C-peptide levels in this second subgroup were also in the same range as those in normal subjects. However, their C-peptide responses to glucose were significantly blunted. Measurement of C-peptide may f...
Modelling Variably Saturated Flow with HYDRUS-2D.

D. RASSAM, J. SIMUNEK, and M.TH. VAN GENUCHTEN. ND Consult, Brisbane, Australia. 2003. Paperback plus CD-ROM. $80.00. ISBN 0-646-42309-6. The highly nonlinear character of flow through partially saturated porous media has created great obstacles to development of accurate and accessible solutions
Effects of Classwide Positive Peer “Tootling” to Reduce the Disruptive Classroom Behaviors of Elementary Students with and without Disabilities

The purpose of this study was to examine the use of a classwide positive peer reporting intervention known as “tootling” in conjunction with a group contingency procedure to reduce the number of disruptive behaviors in a third-grade inclusive classroom. Nineteen elementary students including four students with disabilities (i.e., specific learning disabilities and/or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) were taught how to report their classmates’ positive behaviors using the “tootling” intervention. Results indicated that the use of the “tootling” intervention in combination with a group contingency procedure decreased students’ disruptive classroom behaviors, establishing a functional relation. Limitations of the study, implications for using tootling as a classwide positive behavior support, and future research questions are discussed.
The rotorfermentor. II. Application to ethanol fermentation

The kinetics of microbial growth and product formation are described as applied to the high cell concentration scheme of the rotorfermentor. A bench scale pilot plant was designed and built in order to demonstrate the operational feasibility of the rotorfermentor. The fermentation of glucose to ethanol by Saccharomyces cerevisiae ATCC 4126 was used. When the rotorfermentor was used with a glucose feed concentration of 104 g/liter almost 100% glucose utilization was obtained and the ethanol productivity rate was 27.3 g ethanol/liter hr which was found to be about 10 times greater than the ethanol productivity obtained from an ordinary continuous stirred tank (CST) fermentor. The ethanol experimental results obtained from the rotorfermentor and an ordinary CST fermentor were used as a basis to assess the economic feasibility of the rotorfermentor. The economics of an industrial scale ordinary CST fermentor with and without cell recycle is compared with a rotorfermentor unit for the same ethanol production throughput. For the process conditions considered in this case, calculations showed that the rotorfermentor may replace both a CST fermentor and cell centrifuge resulting in lower capital equipment costs and lower power consumption requirements.
Pregnancy, birth and risk: an introduction

In this introduction, I use my nearly 40 years of work in the area to reflect on the total medicalisation of pregnancy and childbirth that informs even the critical sociology that purports to examine the issue. The risks that are faced in pregnancy and birth are not only the inherent dangers that midwives have worked with across time and space but also those particular risks introduced by medicalisation itself. Medicalisation blinds us to those risks on the one hand, while it blinds us to the skills and knowledge that midwives and birthing women themselves have on the other. The women and midwives researched in these articles show us that in pregnancy and birth, as in most of life, it is not just a matter of ‘real risk’ versus ‘perceived risk’ as risk theorists (too) often describe it. There is rather an intelligent balancing of risks, weighing of risks and contextualising of risks. What we see in this issue is a glimpse into the ways in which people intelligently, creatively and determinedly balance risks.
Surface energy approach and AFM verification of the (CF)n treated surface effect and its correlation with adhesion reduction in microvalves

The purpose of this paper is to outline an approach that will determine the optimal surface pairs to use in a MEMS device with demonstrated stiction problems. The approach uses the contact angle and atomic force microscopy (AFM) pull-off measurements to predict adhesion at the solid?solid interface. The results are compared to microvalves that have been fabricated with different surfaces at the seat/membrane interface. For microfabricated mechanical devices with surfaces that touch or have a small gap distance, stiction can occur during fabrication or during use. Fabricating multiple devices with different surfaces to determine the lowest stiction can be costly and time consuming. Identifying the surface pair with the least amount of surface adhesion before fabrication can lead to a reduction in device failure due to stiction, and/or time it takes to find the lowest energy surfaces via trial and error. Surface energies are obtained using the van Oss equation based on the contact angle measurements, and surface energy can be used to show the relative adhesions between two surface pairs. An AFM pull-off test is performed using nano- and micro-sized tips to quantify the effect of the different surfaces on adhesion between the solid?solid surface pairs, including SiO2/PI, CFn/PI, CFn/SiO2 and CFn/CFn. The work of adhesion of the surface pairs is obtained using the Derjaguin?Muller?Toporotov (DMT) and Johnson?Kendall?Roberts (JKR) theories. The surfaces treated with a C4F8/Ar plasma to form a CFn coating showed the least amount of surface adhesion. The CFn surface treatment effects on adhesion are quantified and correlated with the reduction in the opening pressure of the microvalve whose interfaces are coated with a CFn film. The AFM pull-off test was more closely related to adhesive forces between the surfaces of the valves as seen in the opening pressure data. The adhesion calculation based on the contact angle measurements predicts the adhesion force with a similar trend but does not take into account the meniscus forces.