cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Neural quadratic discriminant analysis: Nonlinear decoding with v1-like computation

Linear-nonlinear LN models and their extensions have proven successful in describing transformations from stimuli to spiking responses of neurons in early stages of sensory hierarchies. Neural responses at later stages are highly nonlinear and have generally been better characterized in terms of their decoding performance on prespecified tasks. Here we develop a biologically plausible decoding model for classification tasks, that we refer to as neural quadratic discriminant analysis nQDA. Specifically, we reformulate an optimal quadratic classifier as an LN-LN computation, analogous to "subunit" encoding models that have been used to describe responses in retina and primary visual cortex. We propose a physiological mechanism by which the parameters of the nQDA classifier could be optimized, using a supervised variant of a Hebbian learning rule. As an example of its applicability, we show that nQDA provides a better account than many comparable alternatives for the transformation between neural representations in two high-level brain areas recorded as monkeys performed a visual delayed-match-to-sample task
New species of Primula (Primulaceae) from Utah

Named as a new species from the House Range of Millard County, Utah, as Primula domensis Kass & Welsh.
Neutron Inelastic Scattering in Silicon-28 to 4.15 MeV

The absolute 125-deg differential gamma-ray production cross section for the 1780-keV transition in the 28Si(n,n′γ)28Si reaction has been measured from 1.96- to 4.15-MeV bombarding energy. This tra...
A Theoretically and Ethically Grounded Approach to Mindfulness Practices in the Primary Grades

As mindfulness practices become more widely implemented in schools, they are attracting both keen interest and strong criticism. It is important that mindfulness-based programs adhere to sound child development principles, be aligned with the neuroscience of stress, be integrated in a holistic manner by teachers throughout the school day, and support the ethical application of “right-minded” values toward increasingly self-determined and equitable classrooms. This article describes the priorities, mechanisms of change, and practical strategies for realizing these ideals in the classroom. The project described is the first to experimentally test the Calm Classroom© (Luster Learning Institute) program, and has also enhanced it for the primary grades in order to evaluate the effectiveness of mindfulness and related practices in supporting students.
Phase I and pharmacodynamic study of the histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor romidepsin plus erlotinib in previously treated advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

8088^ Background: Preclinical studies have demonstrated anti-tumor efficacy of the combination of the HDAC inhibitor romidepsin plus erlotinib in NSCLC models insensitive to erlotinib monotherapy (...
Prognostic significance of the AJCC staging in patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the oropharynx.

5529 Background: There have been significant changes in the epidemiology of head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCC), with an increase in the incidence of oropharyngeal (OP) cancer and opposi...
A Focal Plane Imager with High Dynamic Range to Identify Fabrication Errors in Diffractive Optics

We describe the prototype of a focal plane imager for the characterization of fabrication errors in diffractive optics. We also demonstrate the use of a high dynamic range imaging method to identify small errors in a hologram and a grating that are traceable to the fabrication method.
Black Carbon on Coarse Woody Debris in Once- and Twice-Burned Mixed-Conifer Forest

One important outcome of wildfire is the production of charcoal. Charcoal is highly resistant to decomposition and its physical and chemical properties enhance soil fertility and influence nutrient cycling. We compared the amount of black C (the carbon fraction of charcoal) on coarse woody debris (CWD; ≥7.6 cm diameter) and total CWD biomass at sites burned once in a high-severity fire with sites that burned in an initial high-severity fire and then reburned eight to ten years later. Twice-burned sites contained an average of 655 kg ha−1 of black C on CWD, significantly more (P = 0.004) than the 323 kg ha−1 present in once-burned sites. Total average CWD biomass was significantly greater in once-burned sites compared to twice-burned sites (P < 0.001). Black C accounted for 0.7 % of CWD biomass in once-burned sites and 2.9 % of CWD biomass in twice-burned sites. Short-interval reburns of patches burned in an initial high-severity fire increased the amount of black C on CWD while simultaneously reducing total CWD biomass.
The Pursuit of a Dream: Education Can Be Improved

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses how teaching methods can be improved by providing students with better learning skills, referring to the personal experiences of the researcher, Joseph D. Novak, with scientific learning. The elementary school experiences of Joseph were largely frustrating as most of what was presented to him seemed repetitious, simple, and boring. By his senior year in college, he became passionate about learning, especially science, and read extensively. He also began helping out in a plant physiology laboratory and began some of his own experimental work. Several of his botany professors were excellent mentors who helped him gain confidence in his capabilities as a science student. The extent to which learner- and teacher-held epistemologies influence the quality of learning is still recognized by only a minority of educators, but this situation appears to be improving rapidly. In a period of 10 days, while writing this chapter, Joseph was contacted for help by six researchers in the United States and other countries that are centering their research on questions about the relationship of learner epistemologies and success in meaningful learning.
Learning Entity Type Embeddings for Knowledge Graph Completion

Missing data is a severe problem for algorithms that operate over knowledge graphs (KGs). Most previous research in KG completion has focused on the problem of inferring missing entities and missing relation types between entities. However, in addition to these, many KGs also suffer from missing entity types (i.e. the category labels for entities, such as /music/artist). Entity types are a critical enabler for many NLP tasks that use KGs as a reference source, and inferring missing entity types remains an important outstanding obstacle in the field of KG completion. Inspired by recent work to build a contextual KG embedding model, we propose a novel approach to address the entity type prediction problem. We compare the performance of our method with several state-of-the-art KG embedding methods, and show that our approach gives higher prediction accuracy compared to baseline algorithms on two real-world datasets. Our approach also produces consistently high accuracy when inferring entities and relation types, as well as the primary task of inferring entity types. This is in contrast to many of the baseline methods that specialize in one prediction task or another. We achieve this while preserving linear scalability with the number of entity types. Source code and datasets from this paper can be found at (https://github.ncsu.edu/cmoon2/kg).
Fabrication of DNA microarrays using unmodified oligonucleotide probes.

Microarrays printed on glass slides are often constructed by covalently linking oligonucleotide probes to a derivatized surface. These procedures typically require relatively expensive amine- or th...
Battered Women and the Criminal Justice System: The Service Providers' Perspective

This article reports on a study of the service providers' perspective on what battered women face when entering the criminal justice system. Victim non-co-operation with the system can manifest itself in various ways and at several points in the process. The article begins with a review of the available literature on the criminal justice system's responses to women battering. Then the experiences and perceptions of service providers in Ohio concerning these responses are described, and, consequently, the findings according to factors which may affect service providers responses are analyzed. The article concludes with an assessment of the policy implications of the system's response to women battering.
Trauma from Visible and Infrared Lasers

The introduction of the laser into biology and medicine has stimulated, as it were, greater interest not only in the studies of photo-chemistry but also in studies of the effect of photons on living matter. There are many new applications where the laser is needed in biology and medicine. Now there are selective single wavelengths available, not investigated previously. Tremendous energy and power densities are now possible. There is now, then, a new facet of trauma from light.
Controlling attosecond transient absorption with tunable, non-commensurate light fields.

We demonstrate a transient absorption scheme that uses a fixed-spectrum attosecond pulse train in conjunction with a tunable probe laser to access a wide range of nonlinear light-atom interactions. We exhibit control over the time-dependent Autler–Townes splitting of the 1s4p absorption line in helium, and study its evolution from a resonant doublet to a light-induced sideband with changing probe wavelength. The non-commensurate probe also allows for the background-free study of two-infrared-photon emission processes in a collinear geometry. Using this capability, we observe two different emission pathways with non-trivial delay dependencies, one prompt and the other delayed. We identify the nonlinear processes underlying these emissions by comparing the experimental results to calculations based on the time-dependent Schrodinger equation.
Birth asphyxia and perinatal outcome in a low resourced setting in northern KZN : review

Aim: To identify avoidable factors for birth asphyxia during the antenatal and intrapartum care. Method: All asphyxiated babies born at Lower Umfolozi District War Memorial Hospital (LUDWMH) from November 2010-January 2011 were analysed. Babies with congenital anomalies, congenital infections and extreme prematurity were excluded. Substandard care and avoidable factors were identified and divided into patient-related, healthcare worker-related and administrative associated; and recorded with a coding system similar to that of the Perinatal Problem Identification Programme (PPIP). Results: There were 20 intrapartum asphyxiated babies. Analysis of antenatal care showed healthcare worker-related avoidable factors in 20% and patient related avoidable factors in 20%. Analysis of intrapartum care showed healthcare worker related avoidable factors in 40%, administrative avoidable factors in 30% and patient related factors in 20%. The most common patient related factor was a delay in seeking help during labour (25%). The most common health worker related avoidable factor was fetal distress not detected during fetal monitoring. The main administrative problem was a delay in caesarean section due to an inadequate number of staffed theatres (84%). Conclusion: This audit identifies resource deficiencies. Healthcare workers must have regular in-service training and education on fetal monitoring, interpretation and timeous action when an abnormal CTG occurs. The hospital management must be involved in delays in CS due to staff shortages and alternate arrangements made to ensure optimal service delivery at all times. There still exists in our community, a number of women who don't access healthcare to an appropriate level during pregnancy. Health education for the general public and pregnant women in this area should be emphasised.
Conservation of historic water systems in Champaner-Pavagadh, Gujarat, India

ABSTRACTChampaner-Pavagadh, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Gujarat, is an interesting and unusual case study in how religion, culture, terrain, and climate interact in creating water systems that ...
The Effects of Molybdenum Additions on the Sintering and Mechanical Behavior of Ultrafine-Grained Tungsten

Tungsten (W) is a brittle material at room temperature. Although the lack of ductility remains a difficult challenge, solid solution alloying of tungsten with rhenium offers an effective approach to improve tungsten’s room temperature brittleness. There are strong motivations to seek a substitute element for rhenium, because it is prohibitively expensive, for manufacturing solid solution tungsten alloys with improved mechanical behavior. As one of the potential substitute elements, the effects of molybdenum were studied in terms of its effects on densification and the grain growth of samples produced with nano-tungsten powder by pressureless sintering. A study on the mechanical properties of sintered tungsten-molybdenum alloy, including hardness, indentation toughness and bending stress–strain relationships, is also reported. It was found that alloying tungsten with molybdenum clearly reduced tungsten grain size, significantly increased hardness and indentation toughness, and also resulted in an appreciable improvement in tungsten’s tensile behavior during bending.
Does Audit Firm Tenure Matter to Audit Committee Members? Evidence from an Accounting Dispute

This study examines the effects of Big 4 audit firm tenure on audit committee member support for the auditor in an auditor/management dispute over a subjective accounting issue. One hundred eighteen U.S. public company audit committee members participated in an experiment with audit firm tenure (short/long) manipulated randomly between subjects. Consistent with source credibility theory, the results indicate that participants in the long audit firm tenure group provide more support for the auditor in the dispute than participants in the short tenure group. The results also reveal that audit committee support for the auditor is positively related to audit committee member experience and CPA status, as well as perceived management pressure to meet analyst expectations, but negatively related to perceived management experience in financial reporting. Finally, we find that audit committee members' perceptions of audit firm reliability (i.e., credibility and dependability) mediate the audit firm tenure-auditor...
ACM SIGMETRICS International Workshop on Critical Infrastructure Network Security

The second ACM SIGMETRICS International Workshop on Critical Infrastructure Network Security took place in Irvine, California, USA on June 18th 2018 in conjunction with ACM SIGMETRICS 2018. As in the previous year, the workshop received widespread community support and as a consequence we were able to conduct a successful workshop. The workshop provided a forum for scientists and engineers from research institutions and universities to present their findings on critical infrastructure security. It also provided a forum for an exchange of ideas and in-depth discussions on the future research directions in this area. The workshop featured several invited and contributed talks from researchers from institutions such as the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Princeton University, Sandia National Laboratories, Delft University (The Netherlands), ENEA (Italy), Northeastern University, Hamburg University (Germany), National University of Singapore, California Institute of Technology, New York University and University of Kentucky. To disseminate the outcome of this workshop, we are pleased to include extended abstracts of selected workshop presentations in Performance Evaluation Review (PER), the quarterly publication of ACM SIGMETRICS. A brief overview of the included papers is outlined below.
Reasons High School Students Use Marijuana: Prevalence and Correlations With Use Across Four Decades

Objective:Changes in the legality and prevalence of marijuana raise questions about whether adolescents’ reasons for using marijuana and associations between reasons for use and recent marijuana us...
Wearable Haptic Pneumatic Device for Creating the Illusion of Lateral Motion on the Arm

This paper presents the design of a novel haptic wearable device capable of creating the illusion of a continuous lateral motion on the forearm to mimic a stroking gesture commonly used in social touch. The device is composed of a fabric sleeve with a linear array of thermoplastic pneumatic actuators. The actuators are sequentially inflated and deflated, carefully controlling the amount of inflation of each actuator using an electronic pressure regulator. The travelling wave of pressure up the arm creates the illusion of lateral motion, even though no physical lateral motion occurs. We evaluate the device in a human-subject study to determine the optimal actuation parameters that create the most continuous and pleasant sensation. The results of the study indicate that short inflation times create a more continuous and pleasant sensation, but the pressure change during inflation does not affect continuity and pleasantness.
Early Neurodevelopmental Exposure to Low Lead Levels Induces Fronto-executive Dysfunctions That Are Recovered by Taurine Co-treatment in the Rat Attention Set-Shift Test: Implications for Taurine as a Psychopharmacotherapy Against Neurotoxicants

Lead (Pb2+) is a developmental neurotoxicant that causes lifelong cognitive dysfunctions. In particular, Pb2+-induced frontoexecutive dysfunctions emerge later in life when the cortex is fully myelinated, thereby permitting the ability to assess the extent to which Pb2+ has developmentally impacted higher order cognitive and behavioral systems. The present study evaluated the effects of developmental Pb2+-exposure (150 ppm lead acetate in the drinking water) in Long Evans Hooded rats through the Attention Set-Shift Test (ASST) between postnatal days (PND) 60–90. Treatment groups were comprised of Control (0 ppm), Perinatal (150 ppm), and Perinatal+Taurine (150 ppm + 0.05% Taurine in the drinking water) rats (N = 36; n = 6 per treatment group for each sex). Frontoexecutive functions were evaluated based on trials-to-criterion (TTC) and errors-to-criterion (ETC) measures for simple and complex discriminations (SD & CD), intradimensional and extradimensional shifts (ID & ED), as well as reversals (Rev) of the CD, I-, and ED stages, respectively. Post-testing, the prelimbic (PrL), infralimbic (IL), orbital ventral frontal (OV), orbital ventro-lateral (OVL), and hippocampal (HP) brain regions were extracted and processed through Liquid Chromatography/Mass Spectrophotometry (LC/MS) for determining the GABA and Taurine ratios relative to Glutamate, Dopamine, Norepinephrine, Epinephrine, and Serotonin. The ASST data revealed that Perinatal rats are negatively impacted by developmental Pb2+-exposures evidenced by increased TTC and ETC to learn the SD, ID, and ID-Rev with unique sex-based differences in frontoexecutive dysfunctions. Moreover, Perinatal+Taurine co-treated rats exhibited a recovery of the frontoexecutive dysfunctions observed in Perinatal rats to levels equivalent to Control rats across both sexes. The LC/MS data revealed altered brain sub-region specific patterns across the PrL, IL, OV, OVL, and HP in response to developmental Pb2+-exposure that produced an altered neurochemical signaling profile in a sex-dependent manner, which may underlie the observed frontoexecutive dysfunctions, cognitive inflexibility, and associated motivation deficits. When taurine co-treatment was administered concurrently for the duration of developmental Pb2+-exposure, the observed frontoexecutive dysfunctions were significantly reduced in both ASST task performance and neurochemical ratios that were comparable to Control levels for both sexes. Altogether, the data suggest that taurine co-treatment may facilitate neuroprotection, mitigate neurotransmitter excitability balancing, and perhaps ameliorate against neurotoxicant exposures in early development as a potential psychopharmacotherapy.
Epigenetic Markers of Aging Predict the Neural Oscillations Serving Selective Attention

Chronological age remains an imperfect measure of accumulated physiological stress. Biological measures of aging may provide key advantages, allowing scientists focusing on age-related functional changes to use metrics derived from epigenetic factors like DNA methylation (DNAm), which could provide greater precision. Here we investigated the relationship between methylation-based age and an essential cognitive function that is known to exhibit age-related decline: selective attention. We found that DNAm-age predicted selective attention abilities and fully mediated the relationship between selective attention and chronological age. Using neuroimaging with magnetoencephalography, we found that gamma activity in the anterior cingulate was robustly predicted by DNAm-derived biological age, revealing the neural dynamics underlying this DNAm age-related cognitive decline. Anterior cingulate gamma activity also significantly predicted behavior on the selective attention task, indicating its functional relevance. These findings suggest that DNAm age may be a better predictor of cognitive and brain aging than more traditional chronological metrics.
Skeletal muscle mitochondrial function and exercise capacity are not impaired in mice with knockout of STAT3.

Whether signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) can regulate the activity of complex I and II of the electron transport chain and mitochondrial oxidative capacity in skeletal mus...
Small Size Object Detection Using the Image Fusion

Different methods and models of processing and analysis of multispectral images are presented in the chapter. The correct choice for mathematics for multispectral images processing is described. Based on shown methods, models and mathematics the informational and analytical model is created.
The coloniality of disaster: Race, empire, and the temporal logics of emergency in Puerto Rico, USA

Abstract This essay uses the case of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico to discuss “the coloniality of disaster”: how catastrophic events like hurricanes, earthquakes, but also other forms political and economic crisis deepen the fault lines of long-existing racial and colonial histories. It argues that disaster capitalism needs to be understood as a form of racio-colonial capitalism and that this in turn requires us to question our understandings of both “resilience” and “recovery.” The article focuses on the “wait of disaster” as a temporal logic of state subjugation and on how Puerto Ricans responded to state abandonment through modes of autogestion, or autonomous organizing. It concludes that while resiliency can be coopted in service of a neoliberal recovery, it can also be the site for gestating new forms of sovereignty and new visions of postcolonial recovery.
Transabdominal (TA) versus totally extraperitoneal (TEP) robotic retromuscular ventral hernia repair: a propensity score matching analysis.

Retromuscular mesh placement positioning utilizing the robotic platform can be performed using either a transabdominal or an extraperitoneal approach. The aim of this study is to compare short-term outcomes of robotic transabdominal access retromuscular (rTA-RM) repair and robotic totally extraperitoneal access retromuscular (rTEP-RM) repair for ventral hernias Patients who underwent robotic retromuscular repair between February 2013–October 2019 were included in the study. A one-to-one propensity score matching (PSM) analysis was conducted to obtain two balanced groups. A comparative analysis was performed in terms of perioperative and early post-operative outcomes. A total of 214 patients were included for PSM analysis. 82 patients were allocated into each study group. Operative times were longer in rTA-RM group. Adhesiolysis was more frequently required in the rTA-RM group. Intra-operative complications occurred more frequently in patients who underwent rTA-RM repair (p = 0.120; 4.9% in rTA-RM vs. 0% in rTEP-RM). The rate of major complications during the first 90 days did not differ between groups (p = 0.277; 7.3% vs. 2.4%, respectively). The proportion of patients with minor perioperative complications was statistically higher in the rTA-RM group than the rTEP-RM group (p = 0.003; 30.5% vs. 11%, respectively). Overall rate of surgical site events was higher in the rTA-RM group than the rTEP-RM group (p = 0.049; 17.1% vs. 6.1%, respectively). Seroma frequency was higher after rTA-RM repair (p = 0.047; 13.4% vs. 3.7%). Our data suggest that rTEP-RM repair was associated with shorter surgery duration and improved early post-operative outcomes in comparison with rTA-RM repair.
Selective Peripheral Taste Dysfunction in APP/PS1 Mutant Transgenic Mice.

Background Previous studies indicate that taste dysfunction occurs early in the development of Alzheimer's disease. It is debatable whether the deficit in taste is due primarily to peripheral sensory mechanisms or to central processing, or a combination of the two. Objective The aim of our current study is to combine behavior and histological data in APP/PS1 transgenic mice to determine whether APP/PS1 transgenic mice show deficits in unconditioned taste preference and avoidance behaviors and whether taste impairments are due to defects in the peripheral taste system and/or problems with central processing of taste information. Methods The APP/PS1 transgenic mutant mice were used as a model of Alzheimer's disease. We employed a brief-access gustometer test to assess immediate orosensory taste responses of APP/PS1 mice. We used immunohistochemistry to examine tongue, gustatory ganglion, and brain tissues to determine a cytological basis for behavioral deficits. Results There is a significant, selective reduction of bitter taste sensitivity in APP/PS1 mice. These mice also have a loss of TRPM5-expressing taste receptor cells in the circumvallate papillae of the tongue. While we observed no overt loss of neuron cell bodies within the primary gustatory sensory neurons, degeneration of the neurons' peripheral axons innervating the taste bud may play a role in the observed loss of TRPM5-expressing taste receptor cells. Conclusion This data supports a potential role for peripheral taste dysfunction in AD through the selective loss of taste receptor cells. Further study is necessary to delineate the mechanisms and pathological significance of this deficit in AD.
Health Education and Changing Stress Mindsets: The Moderating Role of Personality.

While prior research has demonstrated the ability of individuals to change their stress mindsets, the mechanisms through which these changes occur have not been studied. We offer health education a...
Primary motor cortical activity during unimanual movements with increasing demand on precision

In functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies, performance of unilateral hand movements is associated with primary motor cortex activity ipsilateral to the moving hand (M1ipsi), in addition to contralateral activity (M1contra). The magnitude of M1ipsi activity increases with the demand on precision of the task. However, it is unclear how demand-dependent increases in M1ipsi recruitment relate to the control of hand movements. To address this question, we used fMRI to measure blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) activity during performance of a task that varied in demand on precision. Participants (n = 23) manipulated an MRI-compatible joystick with their right or left hand to move a cursor into targets of different sizes (small, medium, large, extra large). Performance accuracy, movement time, and number of velocity peaks scaled with target size, whereas reaction time, maximum velocity, and initial direction error did not. In the univariate analysis, BOLD activation in M1contra and M1ipsi was higher for movements to smaller targets. Representational similarity analysis, corrected for mean activity differences, revealed multivoxel BOLD activity patterns during movements to small targets were most similar to those for medium targets and least similar to those for extra-large targets. Only models that varied with demand (target size, performance accuracy, and number of velocity peaks) correlated with the BOLD dissimilarity patterns, though differently for right and left hands. Across individuals, M1contra and M1ipsi similarity patterns correlated with each other. Together, these results suggest that increasing demand on precision in a unimanual motor task increases M1 activity and modulates M1 activity patterns.NEW & NOTEWORTHY Contralateral primary motor cortex (M1) predominantly controls unilateral hand movements, but the role of ipsilateral M1 is unclear. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate how M1 activity is modulated by unimanual movements at different levels of demand on precision. Our results show that task characteristics related to demand on precision influence bilateral M1 activity, suggesting that in addition to contralateral M1, ipsilateral M1 plays a key role in controlling hand movements to meet performance precision requirements.
Vulnerability and resilience to pandemic-related stress among U.S. women pregnant at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Abstract Rationale Women pregnant during the COVID-19 pandemic are experiencing moderate to high levels of emotional distress, which has previously been shown to be attributable to two types of pandemic-related pregnancy stress: stress associated with feeling unprepared for birth due to the pandemic (Preparedness Stress) and stress related to fears of perinatal COVID-19 infection (Perinatal Infection Stress). Objective. Given the well-documented harms associated with elevated prenatal stress and the critical importance of developing appropriately targeted interventions, we investigated factors predictive of pandemic-related pregnancy stress. Method. Between April 25 and May 15, 2020, 4,451 pregnant women in the U.S. were recruited via social media to complete an online questionnaire that included sociodemographic, medical, and COVID-19 situational factors, as well as the Pandemic-Related Pregnancy Stress Scale (PREPS). Binary logistic regression was used to calculate odds ratios for high stress. Results. Nearly 30% of participants reported high Preparedness Stress; a similar proportion reported high Perinatal Infection Stress. Abuse history, chronic illness, income loss due to the pandemic, perceived risk of having had COVID-19, alterations to prenatal appointments, high-risk pregnancy, and being a woman of color were associated with greater levels of one or both types of stress. Access to outdoor space, older age, and engagement in healthy behaviors were protective against stress. Conclusions. Practices that may alleviate pandemic-related stress such as minimizing disruptions to prenatal care, ensuring access to outdoor space, and motivating engagement in health behaviors are of vital importance. Particular attention is needed for more vulnerable populations including women of color, women with a history of abuse, and those with high-risk pregnancy. Research focused on the short and longer-term impact of pandemic-related pregnancy stress on maternal mental and physical health, perinatal outcomes, and child development is critical to identify these effects and marshal appropriate resources to reduce them.
Chinese Students in Kennesaw State University Libraries: Their Perceptions and Patterns of Use

ABSTRACTWith the globalization in education, there has been an influx of Chinese students studying in the United States. The needs and challenges of understanding their backgrounds and their perceptions about libraries are becoming more present and urgent for librarians who are on the frontline of serving this special cohort. To discover and address the growing needs and challenges, we surveyed 42 Chinese students at Kennesaw State University, analyzed the data collected, and discussed the research results. Our goal is to identify the characteristics common to this group and to provide some insightful information to our fellow librarians.
Stiffness degradation in fatigue life of composites using dielectric state variables

Abstract Composite materials are widely used in aerospace and automotive structures for decades and over the years the community has gained a better understanding of the damage and failure modes of composites under fatigue. In this article, a dielectric characterization methodology for in-situ monitoring of composites under fatigue environments is proposed. A novel method of measuring the dielectric state variables in Broadband Dielectric Spectroscopy (BbDS) using Extremely Conductive Silver Epoxy Adhesive (ECSEA) paste is presented. These dielectric state variables serve to identify the precursor of the beginning of the end of life of the composite material under fatigue loading. The reliability of using this method for in-situ monitoring to provide fatigue life estimates and to indicate the immediate need for maintenance, repair and/or replacement of the structural component is discussed.
The Selling Power of Customer-Generated Product Reviews: the Matching Effect Between Consumers’ Cognitive Needs and Persuasive Message Types

A 2007 survey reported that one in three Internet users make purchase decisions influenced by sites with social contents (Wasserman 2007), social networking websites such as Facebook.com. Although Amazon.com is not a typical social networking website, like Facebook.com, Amazon.com meets the definition of a “social networking location” by letting their customers post reviews and ratings, and thus falls into the categories of online feedback system, recognized by Yang and Peterson (2003). Shoppers on the Amazon.com not only search for products that appeal to their needs, but also consume those consumer-generated product reviews (CGPR) as well as the ratings of those products. The current research examines the persuasiveness of consumer-generated product reviews based on the matching effects between the types of the persuasive messages (Transformational or Informational) and individuals’ information processing styles. The paper refines the scale of Need for Cognition (Petty, Caccioppo, and Kao 1984), emphasizes importance in understanding the selling power of vast consumer-generated product reviews, and extends the scope of e-word-of-mouth (e-WOM) research by recognizing the persuasive function of customer-generated product reviews on retailing websites.
An evolutionary approach to vehicle routing problem with dynamic time and precedence relationships

When the postal service, the bus system, or trucking industry plan for their every day tasks of delivery goods or providing basic transportation needs to people, they are attempting to solve the vehicle routing problem (VRP). However, this can be a daunting task because the VRP is NP-Complete. In this paper, we will address two areas of the VRP that have been relatively unexplored by previous research, yet play an important part in real world applications of the VRP as well as define and create a genetic algorithm (GA) based on these ideas. The first area that we will address deals with the lack of real world data sets, when calculating the times between customers. This new implementation will allow the algorithm to calculate the actual time between customers at a given time of day; thus providing a final solution that is closer to a true optimal set of routes. The second addition to the VRP model will be contributed in the area of precedence relationships. These relationships often exist in real world applications and are necessary in order to help the algorithm to establish routes that are desired by the customers.
Difference in particle formation at a mountaintop location during spring and summer: Implications for the role of sulfuric acid and organics in nucleation

New particle formation (NPF) has been observed frequently at Storm Peak Laboratory (SPL), a high-elevation mountaintop observatory in Colorado. A detailed analysis of field measurements taken in March and July 2012 at SPL reveals significant and interesting differences in NPF during the spring and summer months. Persistent long-lasting NPF occurred on a daily basis in March but was absent in July. Bursts of ultrafine particles did occur frequently in July, but such bursts were short-lasting and did not show any obvious pattern. A global chemical transport model (GEOS-Chem) coupled with a size-resolved advanced particle microphysics model is used to interpret in-depth this observed nucleation phenomenon. The model captures well the observed persistent daily nucleation events in March and the absence of regional-scale NPF in July. Model simulations indicate that aerosol precursors were dominated by H2SO4 gas in March and by low-volatile secondary organic gases (LV-SOGs) in July, which are consistent with previous particle composition measurements at SPL. The observed persistent daily NPF in March and the absence of regional-scale nucleation in July at SPL indicate that H2SO4 gas plays a much more critical role in the initial nucleation process, although LV-SOGs dominate particle growth in July. Our analysis suggests that the short-lasting bursts of ultrafine particles observed at SPL in July are likely associated with nucleation in subgrid power plant plumes, where concentrations of H2SO4 rather than LV-SOGs are expected to be higher.
A soluble interaction between dibutyryl cyclic guanosine 3':5'-monophosphate and cholecystokinin: a possible mechanism for the inhibition of cholecystokinin activity.

Abstract N 2 ,O 2′ -dibutyryl cyclic guanosine 3′:5′-monophosphate has been reported to inhibit the activity of cholecystokinin on several different end organ responses and in several species. Although the mechanism of this inhibition is unclear, competitive antagonism at the level of the receptor has been suggested. We have investigated an alternate possibility, that N 2 ,O 2′ -dibutyryl cyclic guanosine 3′:5′-monophosphate inhibits cholecystokinin action by interacting directly with the peptide while both are in solution. We used antisera with specificities for different regions of cholecystokinin-gastrin peptides and radioiodinated cholecystokinin-33, cholecystokinin-8, and gastrin-17. Our results support the possibility of a soluble interaction between N 2 ,O 2′ -dibutyryl cyclic guanosine 3′:5′-monophosphate and the peptides of cholecystokinin-gastrin family that is specific for the COOH-terminal (receptor binding) region of these peptides, that is dependent on the concentration of N 2 ,O 2′ -dibutyryl cyclic guanosine 3′:5′-monophosphate, and that correlates with concentrations that inhibit biologic activity. The proposed N 2 ,O 2′ -dibutyryl cyclic guanosine 3′:5′-monophosphate-cholecystokinin complex is dispersed by gel filtration chromatography, and is prevented from being formed by certain detergents. This soluble interaction may contribute to or explain the inhibition of cholecystokinin activity by N 2 ,O 2′ -dibutyryl cyclic guanosine 3′:5′-monophosphate.
Angina pectoris: IV. Clinical and experimental difference between ischemia with S-T elevation and ischemia with S-T depression

Abstract 1. 1. Two types of primary S-T deviation, primary S-T depression and primary S-T elevation, have been observed clinically and demonstrated in experiments on animals. 2. 2. Experiments in dogs demonstrated that S-T segment elevation is associated with more severe ischemia than S-T segment depression, confirming clinical impressions in patients with myocardial infarction and/or angina pectoris. 3. 3. Release of the tie on a large coronary artery resulted in reduced severity of ischemia; S-T elevation was diminished and in most instances replaced by transient S-T depression. This parallels clinical observations in patients during a severe attack of the variant form of angina pectoris. 4. 4. Hemorrhagic hypotension following ligation of a large coronary artery resulted in further increase in S-T segment elevation over the cyanotic area and widely scattered “islands” of S-T depression appeared over both ventricles. S-T elevation over the cyanotic area decreased and the “islands” of S-T depression disappeared upon restoration of normal blood pressure. This illustrates the deleterious effect of shock in acute coronary occlusion and underlines the importance of maintaining adequate systemic blood pressure. 5. 5. Primary S-T depression, as demonstrated in different experiments, occurs with ischemia and under nonischemic conditions due to chemical alterations. Primary S-T depression is in no way at variance with the principle of reciprocity or other fundamental laws of electrocardiography. 6. 6. S-T segment depression and S-T segment elevation are due to two different types of cellular response. 7. 7. The experimental findings suggest that development of ischemia and recovery from ischemia may occur along different metabolic pathways. 8. 8. The effect of collateral circulation was studied by means of two artificial coronary artery circuits providing independent control of the blood supply to the central part of the ischemic area and its periphery. It was demonstrated that collateral circulation diminishes the extent and degree of ischemia simultaneously with the appearance of primary S-T depression from the periphery of the ischemic area.
Virtual vector machine for Bayesian online classification

In a typical online learning scenario, a learner is required to process a large data stream using a small memory buffer. Such a requirement is usually in conflict with a learner's primary pursuit of prediction accuracy. To address this dilemma, we introduce a novel Bayesian online classification algorithm, called the Virtual Vector Machine. The virtual vector machine allows you to smoothly trade-off prediction accuracy with memory size. The virtual vector machine summarizes the information contained in the preceding data stream by a Gaussian distribution over the classification weights plus a constant number of virtual data points. The virtual data points are designed to add extra non-Gaussian information about the classification weights. To maintain the constant number of virtual points, the virtual vector machine adds the current real data point into the virtual point set, merges two most similar virtual points into a new virtual point or deletes a virtual point that is far from the decision boundary. The information lost in this process is absorbed into the Gaussian distribution. The extra information provided by the virtual points leads to improved predictive accuracy over previous online classification algorithms.
Specificity of Aeromonas Aminopeptidase toward Amino Acid Amides and Dipeptides

Abstract The substrate requirements of Aeromonas aminopeptidase toward NH2-terminal residues were determined by use of amides representing all classes of amino acids, and the effects of the adjacent residue on hydrolysis were assessed by use of leucyl dipeptides in which the identity of the COOH-terminal residue was varied. The enzyme was specific for substrates possessing bulky, hydrophobic residues in the NH2 terminus; of 20 amides tested, measurable rates of hydrolysis were found only for leucinamide, norleucinamide, norvalinamide, isoleucinamide, valinamide, methioninamide, and phenylalaninamide. Of these, leucinamide showed the highest ratio of κcat:Km(app). Among the dipeptides, Leu-Met had the highest κcat:Km(app) ratio and the leucyl peptides with arginine, phenylalanine, tryptophan, and tyrosine in the COOH terminus exhibited successively lower ratios. The selectivity of the aminopeptidase for large hydrophobic residues in the penultimate position was emphasized by the fact that low κcat:Km(app) ratios were exhibited toward Leu-Ala, Leu-Gly, and Leu-OMe.
Surgical Management of Congenital and Acquired Pulmonary Vein Stenosis

Pulmonary vein stenosis describes a variety of entities with a variable clinical course. The basic pathologic process appears to be fibrous intimal thickening, which can gradually cause obliteration of the lumen of the pulmonary veins at the atrial junction. In its most severe form, congenital pulmonary vein stenosis is a progressive disease with rapid pulmonary hypertension and rare survival beyond the first year of life. Surgical intervention has not been successful in this group. Other forms of pulmonary vein stenosis, including unilateral types associated with congenital heart disease, may be managed by various surgical treatments or pneumonectomy in some cases. Although multiple surgical techniques have been described for repair of congenital vein stenosis, the "sutureless" techniques recently described may have a place in the surgical treatment of this condition. In the most severe forms, lung transplantation appears to be an important option that should be considered early in the course of the disease. Copyright 1999 by W.B. Saunders Company
Final-state interactions and CP violation in K L → π + π − e + e −

Using chiral perturbation theory we calculate the imaginary parts of the KL→π+π-e+e- form factors that arise from ππ→π+π- and ππ→π+π-γ* rescattering. We discuss their influence on CP-violating variables in KL→π+π-e+e-.
Maize ethanol feedstock production and net energy value as affected by climate variability and crop management practices

Ethanol from various plant resources, especially maize, is increasingly being used as a substitute for fossil fuels. The production potential of ethanol from maize varies with weather and climatic conditions and crop management practices. The merits and prospects of ethanol production have been evaluated based on its impact on greenhouse gas emissions, economic viability and national energy security. The net energy value (NEV), i.e. the output energy after all non-renewable energy inputs have been accounted for, is a measure of energy gain. At the same time, the NEV can be an indicator for the long-term sustainability of bio-ethanol production, regardless of other conditions e.g. climate change scenarios, global trade restrictions, or local variability in natural resources such as water availability. Crop management practices directly affect the NEV of ethanol. Moreover, both crop management practices and climate variability affect the NEV through the grain yield. The objective of this study was to assess the impact of crop management practices and climate variability on grain yield of maize for ethanol production and ethanol NEV for conditions that represent the southeastern USA. Maize grain yield was simulated with the dynamic crop growth model CSM–CERES–Maize and ethanol NEV was calculated using the simulated yield levels and crop management practices. The simulations were conducted for conditions representing Mitchell County, Georgia, USA, using weather data from 1939 to 2006 and local soil profile information. The impact of irrigation, nitrogen fertilizer, planting date and El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phases were determined for the maize cultivars DeKalb DKC 61-72 (RR2), Pioneer 31D58 and Pioneer 31G98. Crop management practices and ENSO phase had a significant impact on ethanol feedstock production and NEV. The NEV of ethanol produced from irrigated maize was more than two times higher and varied less than the NEV of ethanol from rainfed maize. NEV of ethanol produced from maize grown during La Nina years was significantly higher than maize grown during El Nino years, both under rainfed and irrigated conditions. This study showed the importance of crop management practices and climate variability on ethanol feedstock productivity and long-term energy sustainability as assessed by the NEV. We discuss methods of implementing the findings of this study in practical farming e.g. through market mechanisms and governmental initiatives.