cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Breaking Cover: Plus-size Transgressive Dress on YouTube

If participation in social media is generally available to any person who has internet access, what type of presence do groups that have generally been ignored by mainstream mass media have in the online world? The researchers interviewed a selection of plus-sized YouTubers who make videos about fashion to learn about their experiences. Fat is frequently stigmatized in U.S. culture. Sociologist Erving Goffman suggested that stigmatized people will try to “cover” and draw as little attention to their societally defined faults as possible. Interviewees, however, were not interested in covering. Instead, they were invested in transgressing the societal rules that limit and restrict fat individuals. This includes making themselves noticed online and in everyday life. They also wanted to represent plus-size people and serve as role models. Other themes from the interviews included the importance of agency, self-acceptance, and using fashion as a tool for self-discovery.
A comparison between laser absorption spectroscopy and Faraday rotation spectroscopy for HO2 detection in a photolysis reactor

We perform HO2 detection in a photolysis reactor by means of conventional laser absorption spectroscopy and Faraday rotation spectroscopy. The advantages and disadvantages of the two methods are evaluated for this application.
Beyond VAWA: Localism as an Argument for Full Tribal Criminal Jurisdiction

American Indian and Alaskan Native (“AI/AN” or “Native”) women have faced disproportionately high rates of violence since colonists first arrived in North America. But, while non-Native communities have had the power, rooted primarily in criminal jurisdiction, to experiment and develop innovative, culturally appropriate programs aimed at eliminating domestic violence, a series of federal legislation and Supreme Court decisions stripped AI/AN tribes of such power. Today, Native communities continue to lack criminal jurisdiction over most non-Native perpetrators of crime, who are overwhelmingly responsible for acts of domestic violence against Native women. While the passage of the 2013 reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act (“VAWA”) created Special Domestic Violence Criminal Jurisdiction, the program’s limited return of jurisdiction resulted only in putting tribes in the position that the rest of the country was in during the 1980s and ’90s — able to prosecute and punish offenders but still unable to treat the problem of domestic violence holistically. This Note argues that violence in Indian country will not be meaningfully reduced until tribes have full autonomy over their criminal systems. This can only be achieved when tribal criminal jurisdiction is equivalent to that exercised by states. Outside Native lands, specialized domestic violence courts have had success in reducing violence through community-based, collaborative approaches and integrated drug and alcohol treatment. With expanded criminal jurisdiction, tribes would be able to learn from the developments in antiviolence theory in practice over the last forty years, giving them the opportunity to make rapid progress in closing the gap in experience and finding what works in reducing violence in their communities. Furthermore, the similarities between tribal governments and those of state and local municipalities are strong indicators that tribes should have criminal jurisdiction over all crimes committed in their territories. In dismantling tribal jurisdiction over crimes committed by non-Natives and then returning limited jurisdiction in a piecemeal fashion, the federal government has stifled the ability of tribes to develop effective responses while further entrenching a white supremacist, colonial system over sovereign peoples. It is due time for the federal government to support these communities as they seek to heal and rebuild.
A Convolutional Autoencoder for Identification of mild Traumatic Brain Injury

Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) is the most common form of traumatic brain injury (TBI), yet its timely diagnosis has remained challenging due to lack of established criteria and biomarkers. Widefield optical imaging of neuronal populations over the cerebral cortex in animals provides a unique opportunity to study injury-induced alterations of the brain function. Using a convolutional autoencoder (CAE), this paper aims to develop a framework for detecting mTBI from calcium imaging data to identify the most informative injury-related features. A support vector machine is then trained to classify healthy and injured subjects, and an average classification accuracy of 96.47% is obtained for the best case scenario. Our results suggest that the spatial features obtained through CAE can discriminate the injured and healthy brains better than naive convolutional neural network (CNN).
Ethnicity, Exclusion, and Exams: Education Policy and Politics in Burundi from the Independent Republics to the Civil War (1966–1993):

Education policy can embed ethnic inequalities in a country. Education in Burundi, with its historically exclusive political institutions and education, represents an important case for understandi...
Strategic Implications of the Findings in this Book

This chapter discusses the implications of the results of the analyses conducted in Chaps. 1– 7. The implications are for general managers, coaches, journalists, media members, and TV personalities covering the NBA.
Altered adipokine levels are associated with dimethyl fumarate treatment in multiple sclerosis patients.

ABSTRACT Background : Obesity is linked to increased risk of multiple sclerosis (MS) and worsening disease severity. Recent experimental and clinical data indicates that adipokines are involved in regulating immune response and serve as cross talk between immune and neural system. Dimethyl fumarate (DMF) is an oral MS medication with unknown mechanism of action. It upregulates the nuclear factor E2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) pathway, a pathway for adipocyte differentiation. To determine a possible relationship between treatment with dimethyl fumarate, serum adipokine profiles and treatment response in patients with MS, we conducted an observational cohort study and measured serum adipokine and Vitamin D levels before and after treatment with DMF and examined their association with treatment response. Methods : We identified patients enrolled in the Comprehensive Longitudinal Investigation of Multiple Sclerosis at Brigham and Women's Hospital (CLIMB) study who were treated with dimethyl fumarate and had available serum samples. Longitudinal pre-treatment and on-treatment samples were available in 23 patients. Cross-sectional on-treatment samples were available in 91 patients, who were classified into DMF responders and non-responders based on radiologic and clinical relapse activity or disability progression. We measured serum leptin, adiponectin, resistin, ghrelin, fatty acid binding protein-4 (FABP-4) and-5 (FABP-5), vitamins D2 and D3. Statistical analysis was performed with paired t-tests, Wilcoxon signed-rank and Mann-Whitney U tests. Results : After treatment with DMF, serum adiponectin levels significantly increased, whereas FABP-4 levels significantly decreased compared to baseline levels, without a statistically significant change in the patients’ BMI. Ghrelin levels were insignificantly lower post-treatment. FABP-4 levels were significantly higher in DMF responders compared to non-responders. This effect was sex-specific, with higher FABP4 levels associated with treatment response in males, but not females. Conclusion : DMF treatment is associated with significant changes in serum adipokine levels, primarily adiponectin and FABP-4. Sex may affect the association between FABP-4 and treatment response.
Identification of Pacific Ocean sea surface temperature influences of Upper Colorado River Basin snowpack

[1] Given the importance of Upper Colorado River Basin (UCRB) snowpack as the primary driver of streamflow (water supply) for the southwestern United States, the identification of Pacific Ocean climatic drivers (e.g., sea surface temperature (SST) variability) may prove valuable in long-lead-time forecasting of snowpack in this critical region. Previous research efforts have identified El Nino–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and Pacific Decadel Oscillation (PDO) as the main drivers for western U.S. snowpack, but these drivers have limited influence on regional (Utah and Colorado) UCRB snowpack. The current research applies for the first time the Singular Value Decomposition (SVD) statistical method to Pacific Ocean SSTs and continental U.S. snowpack to identify the primary Pacific Ocean climatic driver of UCRB snowpack. The use of SSTs eliminates any “bias” as to specific climate signals. The second mode of SVD identified a UCRB snowpack region (Colorado and Utah) and a corresponding Pacific Ocean SST region. A “non-ENSO/non-PDO” Pacific Ocean SST region between 34°N–24°S and 150°E–160°W was identified as being the primary driver of UCRB snowpack. To confirm the UCRB snowpack results, data from 13 unimpaired (or naturalized) streamflow gages in Colorado and Utah were used to evaluate and support the snowpack findings. Finally, a new and beneficial data set (western U.S. 1 March, 1 April, and 1 May snow water equivalent) was developed, which may be used in future research efforts.
A Secure Healthcare System: From Design to Implementation

Abstract We introduce the design and development of a comprehensive electronic health record system (EHR) that incorporates AES encryption to assure security. Our work adopts a didactic approach to introduce the formal design steps of an EHR with its underlying database from a software engineering perspective. For this, we adopt two formal development methodologies as software engineering perspective and database development approach and combine the two to present a guideline to design and develop similar projects in other domains. For informative purposes, the steps of the development process are formalized based on database ER-model, and the final design is normalized into 3NF. We provide insight on rationale for employing specific methodologies, and using particular material and tools.
Evaluation of the Physical, Chemical and Sensory Properties of Fermented Summer Sausage Made from High‐Oleate Pork

The processing, visual and sensory characteristics of fermented summer sausage formulated with pork containing varying levels of oleic acid and either 15 or 25% fat was evaluated. Sausage made from the high-oleic acid tissues received lower sensory panel scores for springiness, cohesiveness, texture and overall palatability (P < 0.05). However, low-fat (15%) fermented summer sausages produced from the high-oleate tissues were comparable to the control for sensory and visual characteristics.
The Effect of Contract Witnessing on Motivation and Weight Loss in a Weight Control Program

To investigate the impact which commitment has on the achievement of behavioral-change goals in a weight control program, a behavioral contracting process was used. One- hundred six adult volunteers were randomly identified as treatment or control group members and co- participated in a four-week, eight-hour, behavioral self-management weight control program. As part of homework assignments, all participants were provided with three take-home contracts which were to be returned either signed by the participant only (control group with baseline commit ment) or by the participant and at least one friend, relative, or peer(treatment group with enhanced commitment). Analyses of comparable treatment and control group members shows the treatment group holding significantly stronger behavioral intentions 10 to 15 weeks after the program ended and losing weight at a significantly faster rate. Implications for program plan ning, implementation, and evaluation are discussed.
Lipopolysaccharide in Combination with Serum Potentiates the Stimulated Activity of Phospholipase D in Human Neutrophils Via CD14

The addition of fMet-Leu-Phe or phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate to human neutrophils stimulates phospholipase D activity as evidenced by the release of phosphatidic acid and the generation of diacylglycerol, and in the presence of ethanol the formation of phosphatidyl ethanol. The activation of phospholipase D by either the chemotactic factor or active phorbol ester is inhibited by the tyrosine kinase inhibitor erbstatin. The fMet-Leu-Phe-induced stimulation of this enzyme is greatly potentiated in cells which have been preincubated with low concentrations of lipopolysaccharide and serum. The presence of serum is essential for the potentiation by low concentrations of lipopolysaccharide. Moreover, the monoclonal antibody MY4(IgG2b) against CD14 inhibits the potentiation by the low concentration of lipopolysaccharide. These data suggest three important points. First, a tyrosine kinase step is necessary for the activation of phospholipase D. This suggests that the phospholipase D enzyme needs to be phosphor...
Mechanical property degradation in irradiated materials: A multiscale modeling approach

Abstract High-energy particle irradiation of low stacking fault energy, face centered cubic (fcc) metals produces significant degradation of mechanical properties, as evidenced in tensile tests performed at or near room temperature. Post-irradiation microstructural examination reveals that approximately 90% of the radiation-induced defects in copper are stacking fault tetrahedra (SFT). Radiation damage is an inherently multiscale phenomenon involving processes spanning a wide range of length and time scales. Here we present a multiscale modeling methodology to study the formation and evolution of defect microstructure and the corresponding mechanical property changes under irradiation. At the atomic scale, molecular dynamics (MD) simulations have been used to study the evolution of high energy displacement cascades, SFT formation from vacancy rich regions of displacement cascades, and the interaction of SFTs with moving dislocations. Defect accumulation under irradiation is modeled over diffusional length and time scales by kinetic Monte Carlo (KMC), utilizing a database of displacement cascades generated by MD. The mechanical property changes of the irradiated material are modeled using three-dimensional dislocation dynamics (DD). Key input into the DD includes the spatial distribution of defects produced under irradiation, obtained from KMC, and the fate of dislocation interactions with SFTs, obtained from MD.
Aortic atherosclerosis of turkeys induced by a single treatment with diethylstilbestrol

Abstract Turkeys injected with a single dose of DES (15, 30, or 60 mg per turkey) develop an early ultrastructural lesion of atherosclerosis in a preformed, non-lipid plaque of the abdominal aorta 8 hours post-treatment. This lesion consists of altered endothelial cells. Atherosclerotic lesions are increasingly advanced at 1 2 1, 5, 7, 14, and 21 days post-treatment. At 21 and/or 44 days post injection, endothelial cells are highly vacuolated and flattened, and, in addition, sizeable accumulations of lipid-flocculent material separate the overlying endothelium from rows of vacuolated modified smooth muscle cells at the base of the plaque. None of these lesions are dose dependent.
Variability of the membrane EMF and the oscillatory behavior of the electronic potential in nerve

Abstract Instead of the usual assumption of an inductive reactance in the nerve membrane, this paper presupposes a variable EMF. It is shown that a linear expression for the EMF suffices to account for the oscillatory behavior of the electronic potential on the closing or opening of an applied constant current. The expression for V reduces to exponential form in the limiting (stationary) case.
The moving, plane heat source in an elastic medium

This note presents an exact solution for the stress and displacement field in an unbounded and transversely constrained elastic medium resulting from the motion of a plane heat source travelling through the medium at constant speed in the direction normal to the source plane.
The influence of serum and albumin on the constant composition growth and surface properties of calcium oxalate monohydrate

Abstract Inhibitor adsorption as a means of reducing crystal growth rates is an area of extreme interest, not only in the prevention of industrial scale formation, but also in the field of biomineralization, especially in urolithiasis research. An investigation of the role of serum and its chief macromolecular component, albumin, in the inhibition of calcium oxalate monohydrate crystal growth in vitro, was carried out by a series of adsorption studies paralleled with constant composition potentiostatic crystallization kinetics reactions. The data indicate albumin as an effective crystallization inhibitor for this system, adsorbing through electrostatic interactions onto the charged crystalline surface.
High-temperature magnetic susceptibility of dilute Cu-Fe alloys

Abstract Measurements of the magnetic susceptibility of very dilute alloys of iron in copper are reported in the temperature range from room temperature up to 770°K. Application of Scalapino's theory would indicate a Kondo temperature near 30°K, however, current theories do not adequately describe the experimental data over a wide temperature range.
Anxiety and prepulse inhibition of acoustic startle in a normative sample: The importance of signal-to-noise ratio

Abstract Previous studies have used prepulse inhibition of the startle response (PPI) to investigate the anxiety spectrum, primarily in patient samples, with mixed results. The inconsistency in findings may be due, in part, to the use of non-optimal signal-to-noise ratios (SnRs: the difference between background noise intensity and prepulse intensity) in some studies. We proposed that, as SnR approaches +15 dB, anxiety spectrum variables will be negatively correlated with PPI, even in a normative sample. Thus, we used the MCMI-III to measure levels of trait anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and the three Cluster C personality disorders in a sample of 53 undergraduate females, and then correlated their scores with their PPI levels at SnRs of +5, +10, and +15 dB. All of the anxiety constructs except obsessive-compulsive personality disorder (OCPD) were correlated with PPI, but only in the +15 dB condition. Although OCPD symptomatology was not correlated with PPI, it was negatively correlated with PTSD and may have been indicative of adaptive functioning in this normative sample. The present study demonstrates that PPI is a sensitive index of anxiety symptomatology even in the normative range, and that a SnR near +15 dB may be necessary to reliably detect associations between PPI and these psychological variables.
Optimizer convergence and local minima errors and their clinical importance.

Two of the errors common in the inverse treatment planning optimization have been investigated. The first error is the optimizer convergence error, which appears because of non-perfect convergence to the global or local solution, usually caused by a non-zero stopping criterion. The second error is the local minima error, which occurs when the objective function is not convex and/or the feasible solution space is not convex. The magnitude of the errors, their relative importance in comparison to other errors as well as their clinical significance in terms of tumour control probability (TCP) and normal tissue complication probability (NTCP) were investigated. Two inherently different optimizers, a stochastic simulated annealing and deterministic gradient method were compared on a clinical example. It was found that for typical optimization the optimizer convergence errors are rather small, especially compared to other convergence errors, e.g., convergence errors due to inaccuracy of the current dose calculation algorithms. This indicates that stopping criteria could often be relaxed leading into optimization speed-ups. The local minima errors were also found to be relatively small and typically in the range of the dose calculation convergence errors. Even for the cases where significantly higher objective function scores were obtained the local minima errors were not significantly higher. Clinical evaluation of the optimizer convergence error showed good correlation between the convergence of the clinical TCP or NTCP measures and convergence of the physical dose distribution. On the other hand, the local minima errors resulted in significantly different TCP or NTCP values (up to a factor of 2) indicating clinical importance of the local minima produced by physical optimization.
Is Moral Motivation Rationally Required

The answer to the title question is “No.” The first section argues, using the example of Huckleberry Finn, that rational agents need not be motivated by their explicit judgments of rightness and wrongness. Section II rejects a plausible argument to the conclusion that rational agents must have some moral concerns. The third section clarifies the relevant concept of irrationality and argues that moral incoherence does not equate with this common relevant concept. Section IV questions a rational requirement for prudential concern and whether a requirement for moral concern would follow from it. Section V examines the rationality of amoralists and partial amoralists, and Sect. VI closes with speculation on why there might seem to be a rational requirement to be morally motivated.
Structure and reaction mechanism for the monoacid diol polyester from caprolactone and 2,2′‐bis(hydroxymethyl)propionic acid: NMR and melting‐point evidence

The product distribution in the synthesis of acidic hydroxypolyesters from a 6/1 mol ratio of caprolactone and 2,2′-bis(hydroxymethyl)propionic acid (DMPA) changes with reaction time and temperature. 13C-nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) signals were identified that are specific for all the possible substitution products around the quaternary carbon in the DMPA. This allows quantitative determination of the six different species that are present. NMR studies showed that over one-half of the product is substituted on only one of the DMPA hydroxyls. The residual DMPA concentration increases at times and temperatures higher than those required to just complete caprolactone conversion because of equilibration of the kinetic product. All process conditions produced polyesters with two melting points. This suggests that the monosubstituted and disubstituted families of oligomers which are present are not completely miscible with one another. Polyester melting points increase as reaction time and temperature increase. This indicates that the degree of polymerization of the polycaprolactone arms increases as the severity of the preparative condition increases. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 82: 2217–2226, 2001
Influence of patient and hospital characteristics on anesthesia time in medicare patients undergoing general and orthopedic surgery.

Background: Procedure time is a clinically important variable that is often analyzed when studying quality and efficiency. Norms for procedure length have not been reported from Medicare data sets, nor has the influence of patient and hospital characteristics on procedure time been estimated using Medicare data. Methods: The authors obtained Medicare claims on all patients aged 65-85 years who underwent general surgical and orthopedic surgical procedures in Pennsylvania. Anesthesia procedure time was estimated from anesthesia time units bills supplied from Medicare on 20 common general and orthopedic surgery procedures, and models to determine the influence of hospital and patient characteristics were developed. Results: Of the 77,638 patients, 31,472 had general surgery and 46,166 underwent orthopedic procedures. The median anesthesia time for general surgery was 133 min, and for orthopedic surgery it was 146 min. After adjusting for principal procedure, hospital, and physiologic severity, covariates associated with increased anesthesia time included: multiple procedure on same day + 18.3 min (P < 0.0001); transfer-in + 6.7 min (P = 0.0002); black race + 5.5 (P < 0.0001); coagulation disorders + 4.9 (P = 0.0012); and paraplegia + 4.5 (P = 0.0006). Lower-income black patients had significantly longer procedure times than lower-income white patients (+ 7 min; P < 0.0001). Among the 15 hospitals with the largest black surgical populations, 5 hospitals had statistically significant procedure lengths for black versus white patients, ranging from + 9 to + 16 min. Conclusions: In addition to variation by patient comorbidities and procedure, anesthesia procedure time varies with hospital, medical history, and sociodemographic characteristics.
Brachytherapy and pancreatic cancer

Advances in diagnostic and therapeutic technology have not appreciably changed the outlook of patients with pancreatic cancer. While those patients presenting with localized resectable disease have the best prognosis, local control and intra-abdominal metastases remain significant obstacles to survival. Localized chemoradiation has modestly improved median survival in localized and locally advanced disease. Patients presenting with locally advanced disease at diagnosis benefit from surgical palliation which includes biliary and gastric bypass. Intraoperative interstitial brachytherapy has been effective when utilized at laparotomy to improve local control in locally advanced disease. Advances in laparoscopic techniques have provided the ability to more accurately stage patients prior to laparotomy and perform palliative procedures without the need for laparotomy. The utilization of high-dose-rate brachytherapy has proven effective in palliating obstructive symptoms with minimal morbidity on an outpatient basis. Recent efforts have focused on preoperative chemoradiation to improve resectability in selected patients and prophylactic hepatic irradiation to reduce metastases for patients with locally advanced disease.
An automated profiling water quality sensing system

An automated profiling system has been developed for obtaining water quality data in the upper 100m of the water column. Designed for unattended operation from remote battery-powered platforms such as telemetering buoys, the system requires as little as 1.5 A-h of energy for a 15 minute deploy-retrieve cycle.Parameters sampled during a profiling sequence are depth, temperature, conductivity, dissolved oxygen, pH and transmittance. System hardware includes a sensor package, electro-mechanical cable, winch, winch controller, sensor readout unit, and data processing/control electronics. The microprocessor-based data processing/control electronics provides considerable flexibility in selection of operating modes. The stored program has provisions for selecting more than 10 different profiling scenarios which include combinations of sampling depths and data averaging times. Data are averaged and stored in BCD format and are scaled in physical units. The data output interfaces with either RF telemetry equipment or magnetic tape recorder. In order to minimize energy requirements for battery operation, a computer simulation was performed for defining system component performance characteristics. Variables in the simulation included sensor size and weight, cable diameter and specific gravity, winch drum width and diameter, winch motor speed-torque characteristic and drive train reduction ratio. Results of the trade-off study are presented and estimated system performance is compared with test data. Results of sea tests conducted off the California coast are presented. Based on the demonstrated performance, a telemetering buoy as small as 6m in diameter can support system operation with a battery power supply for one year. A long-term operational deployment from a telemetering buoy is planned to begin in October of 1977.
Optimal control of a continuous bioreactor using an empirical nonlinear model

Nonlinear model-based controllers are developed to regulate the cell biomass exit concentration of a continuous-flow bioreactor by manipulating the dilution rate. Plant-friendly input sequences are used to identify a second-order Volterra series model from a virtual plant. A Volterra-Laguerre model is produced by projection onto the orthonormal Laguerre basis functions. A partitioned nonlinear inverse (PNLI) controller is synthesized and is shown to be nominally stable over the manipulated variable range [0.941, 0.999]h -1 using the structured singular value. A referenced-based switching algorithm is incorporated to improve the robustness and stability characteristics of the closed-loop system. Nonlinear model predictive control (NMPC) alleviates the need for the switching controller, and an analytical NMPC solution incorporating recursive least squares avoids entrapment in local objective function minima. This controller offers optimum tracking for unreachable setpoints as well as tracking of the constrained local minimum for input-magnitude-constrained problems modeled by second-order Volterra-Laguerre systems.
Prediction of 3D internal organ position from skin surface motion: results from electromagnetic tracking studies

An effective treatment method for organs that move with respiration (such as the lungs, pancreas, and liver) is a major goal of radiation medicine. In order to treat such tumors, we need (1) real-time knowledge of the current location of the tumor, and (2) the ability to adapt the radiation delivery system to follow this constantly changing location. In this study, we used electromagnetic tracking in a swine model to address the first challenge, and to determine if movement of a marker attached to the skin could accurately predict movement of an internal marker embedded in an organ. Under approved animal research protocols, an electromagnetically tracked needle was inserted into a swine liver and an electromagnetically tracked guidewire was taped to the abdominal skin of the animal. The Aurora (Northern Digital Inc., Waterloo, Canada) electromagnetic tracking system was then used to monitor the position of both of these sensors every 40 msec. Position readouts from the sensors were then tested to see if any of the movements showed correlation. The strongest correlations were observed between external anterior-posterior motion and internal inferior-superior motion, with many other axes exhibiting only weak correlation. We also used these data to build a predictive model of internal motion by taking segments from the data and using them to derive a general functional relationship between the internal needle and the external guidewire. For the axis with the strongest correlation, this model enabled us to predict internal organ motion to within 1 mm.
Modeled and observed ozone sensitivity to mobile-source emissions in Mexico City

Abstract. The emission characteristics of mobile sources in the Mexico City Metropolitan Area (MCMA) have changed significantly over the past few decades in response to emission control policies, advancements in vehicle technologies and improvements in fuel quality, among others. Along with these changes, concurrent non-linear changes in photochemical levels and criteria pollutants have been observed, providing a unique opportunity to understand the effects of perturbations of mobile emission levels on the photochemistry in the region using observational and modeling approaches. The observed historical trends of ozone (O3), carbon monoxide (CO) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) suggest that ozone production in the MCMA has changed from a low to a high VOC-sensitive regime over a period of 20 years. Comparison of the historical emission trends of CO, NOx and hydrocarbons derived from mobile-source emission studies in the MCMA from 1991 to 2006 with the trends of the concentrations of CO, NOx, and the CO/NOx ratio during peak traffic hours also indicates that fuel-based fleet average emission factors have significantly decreased for CO and VOCs during this period whereas NOx emission factors do not show any strong trend, effectively reducing the ambient VOC/NOx ratio. This study presents the results of model analyses on the sensitivity of the observed ozone levels to the estimated historical changes in its precursors. The model sensitivity analyses used a well-validated base case simulation of a high pollution episode in the MCMA with the mathematical Decoupled Direct Method (DDM) and the standard Brute Force Method (BFM) in the 3-D CAMx chemical transport model. The model reproduces adequately the observed historical trends and current photochemical levels. Comparison of the BFM and the DDM sensitivity techniques indicates that the model yields ozone values that increase linearly with NOx emission reductions and decrease linearly with VOC emission reductions only up to 30% from the base case. We further performed emissions perturbations from the gasoline fleet, diesel fleet, all mobile (gasoline plus diesel) and all emission sources (anthropogenic plus biogenic). The results suggest that although large ozone reductions obtained in the past were from changes in emissions from gasoline vehicles, currently significant benefits could be achieved with additional emission control policies directed to regulation of VOC emissions from diesel and area sources that are high emitters of alkenes, aromatics and aldehydes.
Is There a Double Standard of Aging?1

Elderly and college-aged subjects rated photographs of both sexes at three different ages on 10 adjective rating scales. Evidence for a double standard of aging was obtained. Although both men and women were perceived to diminish in attractiveness as they aged, the decline for women was greater. Moreover, ratings of women's femininity decreased with increasing age, whereas evaluations of men's masculinity were unaffected by age. Unexpectedly, elderly subjects, as compared to college students, discriminated less on the basis of sex and evaluated women more positively. Changes in the gender roles of the elderly were invoked to explain their more favorable conceptions of women.
Fresnel Diffraction of Light by Slits in Semitransparent Films

Fresnel diffraction patterns produced by slits in semitransparent metal and dielectric films show a fringed structure which depends upon the index of refraction and the thickness of the film. Intensity distributions calculated on the basis of scalar diffraction theory compare well with the experimental results.
Pictorial target control of schedule-induced attack in White Carneaux pigeons.

Three pigeons with a history of attacking a mirror target, and two of six pigeons with no prior exposure to targets, attacked a colored photograph of a conspecific during exposure to intermittent schedules of reinforcement for key pecking. Rate of attack on the photograph decreased when the reinforcement schedule was removed. The topography, temporal pattern, and locus of attack on the picture were comparable to schedule-induced attack on live, stuffed, and mirror targets. When silhouette, outline, and plain paper targets were used, schedule-induced attack was more sensitive to a change in target characteristics with a concurrent target-preference procedure than with an analogous successive-testing procedure. The combined results of the two testing procedures indicated that an “upright” white-on-black silhouette of a pigeon with or without an eye was more effective in controlling attack than was a comparable “inverted” silhouette, an outline of a pigeon, or a piece of colored paper.
Classification, feature selection and prediction with Neural-network Taguchi System

Mahalanobis-Taguchi System (MTS) is often compared with artificial neural networks as both methodologies share common application areas. However, the comparison has been strictly limited to latter as a standalone process. Neural networks in a MTS framework, due to availability of a large array of architectures, has potential to lend flexibility needed to deal with a wide variety of application areas. This paper proposes a Neural-network Taguchi System (NTS) approach that incorporates neural networks in a MTS framework and consists of four stages viz., plan, validate, identify, and monitor. The workability of the proposed approach is illustrated using a tool-breakage prediction problem.
Blow-up formulae for $SO(3)$ -Donaldson polynomials

We calculate first through seventh order terms of a blow-up formula for $SO(3)$ -Donaldson polynomials, using equivariant cohomology and techniques similar to those of [Oz]. These formulas are used to extend the results of [B2] to any rank one negative definite four manifold and to describe the extension of the equivalence proved in [M] of the Donaldson polynomial and O'Grady's algebro-geometric analogues to t he four dimensional classes.
The Editorial Dimensions of the Connection of Caribbean Immigrants To Their Referents

One noteworthy feature of English-speaking Caribbean immigrants in the United States is that persons from different islands living in specific locations develop a sense of community (Basch, 1987; Lowenthal, 1972; Sutton, 1987). Indeed, the contrast between the development of this sense of community among the Caribbean immigrants in Britain and its underdevelopment in the region was emphasized more than two decades ago by Hinds (1966), who observed that migration was making breaches in the walls of insularity thrown up by people in each part of the region. Despite this sharp contrast, there has been little research into the communication dimensions of this sense of community or the communication factors and processes that led to its development. This condition reflects a few trends in Caribbean immigrant research in particular and immigrant research in general. One is the dearth of what Bryce-Laporte (1979) calls "significant research on the contributions, lives and roles of Caribbean immigrants" in the United States. Another is that most treatises and investigations on
Optimization of β-carotene loaded solid lipid nanoparticles preparation using a high shear homogenization technique

Using statistical experimental design methodologies, the solid lipid nanoparticle design space was found to be more robust than previously shown in literature. Formulation and high shear homogenization process effects on solid lipid nanoparticle size distribution, stability, drug loading, and drug release have been investigated. Experimentation indicated stearic acid as the optimal lipid, sodium taurocholate as the optimal cosurfactant, an optimum lecithin to sodium taurocholate ratio of 3:1, and an inverse relationship between mixing time and speed and nanoparticle size and polydispersity. Having defined the base solid lipid nanoparticle system, β-carotene was incorporated into stearic acid nanoparticles to investigate the effects of introducing a drug into the base solid lipid nanoparticle system. The presence of β-carotene produced a significant effect on the optimal formulation and process conditions, but the design space was found to be robust enough to accommodate the drug. β-Carotene entrapment efficiency averaged 40%. β-Carotene was retained in the nanoparticles for 1 month. As demonstrated herein, solid lipid nanoparticle technology can be sufficiently robust from a design standpoint to become commercially viable.
The use of carp, Cyprinus carpio (Linnaeus, 1758), instead of rabbit as antibody donor in immunological research on fishes.

Summary Antisera produced by carp were tested in the differentiation between two cyprinid fishes, bream and roach, and between the lipovitellins of two grey mullets, Mugil cephalus and Liza ramada. These antisera were more specific in the recognition o! different fish species than those produced by rabbits. An antiserum against carp lipovitellin was produced with male carp as antibody donor.
Improved keyword-spotting using SRI's DECIPHER™ large-vocabuarly speech-recognition system

The word-spotting task is analogous to text-based information retrieval tasks and message-understanding tasks in that an exhaustive accounting of the input is not required: only a useful subset of the full information need be extracted in the task. Traditional approaches have focussed on the keywords involved. We have shown that accounting for more of the data, by using a large-vocabulary recognizer for the wordspotting task, can lead to dramatic improvements relative to traditional approaches. This result may well be generalizable to the analogous text-based tasks.The approach described makes several novel contributions, including: (1) a method for dramatic improvement in the FOM (figure of merit) for word-spotting results compared to more traditional approaches; (2) a demonstration of the benefit of language modeling in keyword spotting systems; and (3) a method that provides rapid porting of to new keyword vocabularies.
Views of transcription initiation

Initiation of transcription is the first step in gene expression and a major point of regulation. Recent structural studies reveal the nature of the initiating complex and suggest new ways of accomplishing the processes required for initiation.
A self-sustaining thermal transpiration gas pump and SOFC power generation system

Abstract A self-sustaining thermal transpiration-based combustor and gas pump system having no moving parts and using readily storable hydrocarbon fuel is presented. Thermal transpiration was accomplished by meeting two essential conditions: (1) gas flow in the transitional or molecular regime using glass microfiber filters as transpiration membranes and (2) a temperature gradient through the membrane using catalytic combustion downstream of the membrane. Experiments showed that transpiration pumps with larger porosity and larger overall size exhibited better performance, though membrane pore size had little effect. These results were quantitatively consistent with theoretical predictions. By exploiting the temperature and fuel/oxygen concentrations within the transpiration pump, a novel, complete portable power generation system was created using a single-chamber solid-oxide fuel cell and its performance is reported.
Toxicity of brass powder in soil to the earthworm Lumbricus terrestris

The earthworm Lumbricus terrestris was exposed to brass powder (70% Cu, 30% Zn) contaminated soils at concentrations ranging from 0 to 430 μg/g. A 14-d LC50 of 190 μg/g with 95% fiducial limits of 169 and 220 μg/g was determined. Sublethal effects, measured as weight loss, were significantly different (p < .05) from the control at 120 μg/g and above.
Killing and latent classes of PTSD symptoms in Iraq and Afghanistan veterans.

Background: Our goal was to better understand distinct PTSD symptom presentations in Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans (N¼ 227) and to determine whether those who killed in war were at risk for being in the most symptomatic class. Methods: We used latent class analysis of responses to the PTSD checklist and logistic regression of most symptomatic class. Results: We found that a four-class solution best fit the data, with the following profiles emerging: High Symptom (34% of participants), Intermediate Symptom (41%), Intermediate Symptom with Low Emotional Numbing (10%), and Low Symptom (15%). The largest group of individuals who reported killing (45%) was in the High Symptom class, and those who killed had twice the odds of being in the most symptomatic PTSD class, compared to those who did not kill. Those who endorsed killing a non-combatant (OR ¼4.56, 95% CI [1.77, 11.7], po 0.01) or killing in the context of anger or revenge (OR¼ 4.63, 95% CI¼ [1.89, 11.4], po0.001) were more likely to belong to the most symptomatic PTSD class, compared to those who did not kill. Limitations: The study was retrospective and cross-sectional. The results may not generalize to veterans of other wars. Conclusions: Killing in war may be an important indicator of risk for developing frequent and severe PTSD symptoms. This has implications for the mental healthcare of veterans, providing evidence that a comprehensive evaluation of returning veterans should include an assessment of killing experiences and reactions to killing. Published by Elsevier B.V.
Covalent Modification of Proteins and Peptides by the Quinone Methide from 2-tert-Butyl-4,6-dimethylphenol: Selectivity and Reactivity with Respect to Competitive Hydration

Covalent modification of cellular nucleophiles by electrophilic metabolites has been shown to be an important pathway in the toxicological activity of many xenobiotic compounds. The p-quinone methi...
CD-R and CD-RW optical disk characterization in response to intense light sources

Several commercial CD-R and CD-RW optical recording disks are exposed to intense white light sources (Halogen Tungsten and High-Intensity Discharge) at different exposure times under three minutes. Main analog playback parameters for CD-R and CD-RW optical recording disks are identified and characterized. The contents of a test disk is recorded onto each CD-R and CD-RW disk using a commercial rewritable/recordable disk drive. For each disk, written marks are imaged under a Nomarsky/Bright field optical microscope before and after exposure. Using a dynamic tester carrier-to- noise ratio and timing jitter are determined before and after exposure. AZO-dye CD-R disks, cyanine-dye CD-R disks, and CD- RW disks show considerable reduction in written mark contrast after exposure. Pthalocyanine-dye CD-R disks do not show significant changes in the mark contrast after exposure. Dynamic tester results confirm the mark contrast results and give insight into playback behavior of exposed disks.
Sex differences in the acquisition of communicative competence by pigtail macaques (Macaca nemestrina).

Previous study of captive pigtail monkeys (Macaca nemestrina) revealed that victims of an attack by a group member employed one of four acoustically different recruitment calls (Gouzoules&Gouzoules: Animal Behaviour 37:383-401, 1989). The calls appear to provide allies with information pertinent to decisions about fight intervention. Each call was associated with an agonistic context distinguished by the relative rank of the opponent and the severity of the attack. Monkeys younger than 3 years of age were significantly less likely to use a contextually appropriate call than were older animals and their calls tended to be acoustically less like the prototype for a given context. Analyses reported on here revealed that, among juveniles, females were more proficient than males in both the proper contextual use and the production of these calls. These findings suggest parallels with human sex differences in the development of communicative competence. The evolutionary origins for these sex differences in macaque vocal development may be based in the different life history patterns males and females exhibit.