cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Quantifying Pilot Performance During Landing Point Redesignation for System Design

The requirements for the next generation of lunar landers include being capable of landing in terrain that is both poorly lit and hazardous, increasing the importance and difficulty of an already critical mission task known as landing point redesignation. During this task, the crew interacts with an on-board automated flight system to finalize the touchdown point. This paper presents the results of a study conducted to quantify pilot performance and task completion time during landing point redesignation; the effect of environmental and mission parameters on those measures; and a design space exploration using human performance contours for different definitions of performance.Additionally, this paper presents the analysis of a comparison between a reference automated system and the pilots’ site selection performance. The pilots completed the task in an average of 20 s. The number of identifiable terrain markers, landing points of interest, and the pilot’s expectation of terrain features had effect sizes too small to be detected in this experiment. Human performance was found to be best when the importance of fuel consumption was weighted less than system safety or proximity to points of interest. In these same conditions, the human pilot was also observed to perform better than a reference automated system. Fuel penalty associated with prolonged decision time remains the largest detriment to human landing point redesignation task performance.
The Relation of Self-Perceptions to Achievement among African American Preschoolers.

The study examines the relations of self-concept, self-esteem, and racial preference to the academic achievement of African American preschool children. The children were 49 to 63 months of age and enrolled in a Head Start program. Three self-perception measures were obtained for each child, and a measure of academic achievement was obtained yielding 2 scores: a Knowledge Cluster Score and a Skills Cluster Score. Regression analyses indicated that academic self-esteem accounted for a significant amount of the variance in both the Knowledge and Skills Cluster Scores of the children. Racial attitude was also a significant predictor of Knowledge Cluster scores, and self-concept predicted Skills Cluster scores; however, these measures accounted for less variance in achievement than did academic self-esteem. Findings suggest that the development of academic self-esteem is important for the school achievement of minority children.
Reining in the Red Queen: the dynamics of adaptation and extinction reexamined

One of the most enduring evolutionary metaphors is Van Valen's (1973) Red Queen. According to this metaphor, as one species in a community adapts by becoming better able to acquire and defend resources, species with which it interacts are adversely affected. If those other species do not continuously adapt to compensate for this biotically caused deterioration, they will be driven to extinction. Continuous adaptation of all species in a community prevents any single species from gaining a long-term advantage; this amounts to the Red Queen running in place. We have critically examined the assumptions on which the Red Queen metaphor was founded. We argue that the Red Queen embodies three demonstrably false assumptions: (1) evolutionary adaptation is continuous; (2) organisms are important agents of extinction; and (3) evolution is a zero-sum process in which living things divide up an unchanging quantity of resources. Changes in the selective regime need not always elicit adaptation, because most organisms function adequately under many “suboptimal” conditions and often compensate by demonstrating adaptive flexibility. Likewise, ecosystems are organized in such a way that they tend to be robust and capable of absorbing invasions and extinctions, at least up to a point. With a simple evolutionary game involving three species, we show that Red Queen dynamics (continuous adaptation by all interacting species) apply in only a very small minority of possible outcomes. Importantly, cooperation and facilitation among species enable competitors to increase ecosystem productivity and therefore to enlarge the pool and turnover of resources. The Red Queen reigns only under a few unusual circumstances.
Scalable containment for unions of conjunctive queries under constraints

We consider the problem of query containment under ontological constraints, such as those of RDFS. Query containment, i.e., deciding whether the answers of a given query are always contained in the answers of another query, is an important problem to areas such as database theory and knowledge representation, with applications to data integration, query optimization and minimization. We consider unions of conjunctive queries, which constitute the core of structured query languages, such as SPARQL and SQL. We also consider ontological constraints or axioms, expressed in the language of Tuple-Generating Dependencies. TGDs capture RDF/S and fragments of Description Logics. We consider classes of TGDs for which the chase is known to terminate. Query containment under chase-terminating axioms can be decided by first running the chase on one of the two queries and then rely on classic relational containment. When considering unions of conjunctive queries, classic algorithms for both the chase and containment phases suffer from a large degree of redundancy. We leverage a graph-based modeling of rules, that represents multiple queries in a compact form, by exploiting shared patterns amongst them. As a result we couple the phases of both for chase and regular containment and end up with a faster and more scalable algorithm. Our experiments show a speedup of close to two orders of magnitude.
The Relation Between Emotion Production Behavior and Preschool Social Behavior: In the Eye of the Beholder

Two questions were examined with a sample of preschool children: (a) What is the relation between emotion production behavior and classroom social behavior?; and (b) Does familiarity with a child affect the perception of emotion expressions and the relations between emotion expressions and social behavior? Two theoretical perspectives on the ‘eye of the beholder’ (familiarity) were evaluated: reputation bias and generalized effects. Sixty-eight (55% female) children were photographed posing emotion expressions (e.g., happy, sad, and angry). Expressions were rated by classmates, peer strangers, and adults. Classmates and teachers evaluated social behavior. Analyses indicated that children who were more negative and dependent had angry production biases and were likely to display happy expressions instead of sad. Results support the reputation bias and generalized familiarity theories.
The Genes Encoding the gCIII Complex of Human Cytomegalovirus Exist in Highly Diverse Combinations in Clinical Isolates

The UL74 (glycoprotein O [gO])-UL75 (gH)-UL115 (gL) complex of human cytomegalovirus (CMV), known as the gCIII complex, is likely to play an important role in the life cycle of the virus. The gH and gL proteins have been associated with biological activities, such as the induction of virus-neutralizing antibody, cell-virus fusion, and cell-to-cell spread of the virus. The sequences of the two gH gene variants, readily recognizable by restriction endonuclease polymorphism, are well conserved among clinical isolates, but nothing is known about the sequence variability of the gL and gO genes. Sequencing of the full-length gL and gO genes was performed with 22 to 39 clinical isolates, as well as with laboratory strains AD169, Towne, and Toledo, to determine phylogenetically based variants of the genes. The sequence information provided the basis for identifying gL and gO variants by restriction endonuclease polymorphism. The predicted gL amino acid sequences varied less than 2% among the isolates, but the variability of gO among the isolates approached 45%. The variants of the genes coding for gCIII in laboratory strains Towne, AD169, and Toledo were different from those in most clinical isolates. When clinical isolates from different patient populations with various degrees of symptomatic CMV disease were surveyed, the gO1 variant occurred almost exclusively with the gH1 variant. The gL2 variant occurred with a significantly lower frequency in the gH1 variant group. There were no configurations of the gCIII complex that were specifically associated with symptomatic CMV disease or human immunodeficiency virus serologic status. The potential for the gCIII complex to exist in diverse genetic combinations in clinical isolates points to a new aspect that must be considered in studies of the significance of CMV strain variability.
Palantir: coordinating distributed workspaces

Distributed software development suffers from limited collaboration capabilities, as developers are unable to easily coordinate their efforts across physical boundaries. Different fields, such as CSCW and groupware, have attempted to bridge this gap, but few of the approaches developed so far have been incorporated in current software development environments. Configuration management (CM) systems are vital to any software development process, support distributed development, and are in widespread use. Unfortunately, they have only limited support for distributed collaboration. We describe Palantir, a system that is aimed at bringing collaborative capabilities to distributed development. Palantir builds upon existing CM systems to introduce project awareness to the developer workspace. In particular, Palantir supports close collaboration among developers by visualizing concurrent changes and showing, in real time, the severity and impact of those changes on the developer's workspace.
The Future of Medical Imaging in the Detection of Early Markers of Disease

Imaging techniques are a combination of a contrast mechanism, exogenous or endogenous, and an instrument to exploit that contrast. This final chapter of these two special issues of this journal points to possible ways to improve the ability of imaging systems to exploit markers of cancer in the early detection of that disease. The aim not only is to find cancer at an earlier, more treatable stage, but to determine whether the disease discovered is dangerous and to indicate the possibilities for successful treatment. These topics are explored for each imaging system, with an emphasis on directions for future improvements.
Geodynamical and geodetic consistency tests of Earth density models

Abstract Theory of a stratified heterogeneous spheroid is applied to compute the gravity and potential parameters of selected Earth density models, and compare them with the corresponding quantities of a modern geodetic reference system based on observational data. These tests show considerable inter-model and model-reference discrepancies, the latter being attributable largely to the deviation of the Earth from hydrostatic equilibrium. The discrepancies point out the desirability of standardizing the density models by adopting a uniform data set for Earth's mass M , its mean radius R , and its mean moment of inertia I or equivalently, its mean moment of inertia coefficient y . Equally important, they indicate the need for further refinement of the Earth density models. It should be recognized, however, that the refinement may not lead to a perfect reference Earth model which satisfies the multiple, and sometimes mutually irreconcilable, demands imposed by the competing requirements of various disciplines but perhaps to an optimum model which will serve as the most common denominator in a multidisciplinary context.
Design and performance of a dynamically configurable, messaging protocols framework for real-time CORBA

As distributed object computing (DOC) middleware standards and implementations evolve over time, they invariably must support a growing number of protocols to remain interoperable. Memory footprints of middleware implementations can become large if a concerted effort is not made to prevent this growth. Large middleware memory footprints are problematic for important classes of distributed, real-time, and embedded (DRE) applications that have stringent memory constraints. This paper makes two contributions to the design of middleware to address key challenges of developing DRE applications. First, it describes the design of dynamically configurable general inter-ORB protocols (GIOP). Second, it explains how we applied patterns and Java features to minimize and customize the memory footprint of messaging protocols used in DRE middleware.
Obstacles and Opportunities to Women' s Empowerment under Neoliberal Reform

Although neoliberal economics purports to be “ gender neutral” and focused on “ individuals” and “ markets,” ample evidence exists that it is gender biased both in its outcomes and in its implicit assumptions about gender roles. However, in spite of the gender bias in reforms and — conversely — the attention given to gender issues in some compensatory social policies, the specie c nature of their impacts are variable. Their impacts may be negative under some conditions and positive under others. Even the negative impacts of reforms can have a positive side; women may be empowered personally, socially and politically even as (or because) their workload and poverty increases. Moreover, some researchers argue that under neoliberal economic restructuring women’ s roles as shock absorbers lead to a breakdown in patriarchal norms, and thereby increase the opportunities for women to empower themselves. This article reviews the arguments and evidence for these different perspectives.
Programming Education in the Era of the Internet: A Paradigm Shift

Over the last several years, the Computer Science (CS) community has put a great deal of effort in to the area of security research, and have made great advances. Counterintuitively, however, the number and severity of cyber threats is not declining, and further, the overall security of computer systems is not improving. Because of the magnitude of this problem, computer security is an issue that concerns everyone who works with computers. However, computer security training is only given in designated classes to a small set of computer systems users. This problem needs to be addressed at its core: in the educational system. Insecure code is written by people who do not know the implications of their coding techniques, and current texts and instruction do little to rectify this situation. Thus, the goal of this paper is to show the need to incorporate basic information assurance knowledge into general CS classes.
Sex differences in disinhibition and its relationship to physical abuse in a sample of stimulant-dependent patients

Abstract Background Research suggests that impulsivity is a vulnerability factor for developing stimulant dependence, that women develop dependence more quickly than men, and that physical abuse can increase impulsivity and may have greater adverse health consequences in women. This study sought to tie these findings together by evaluating: (1) sex differences in disinhibition prior to lifetime initiation of stimulant abuse and (2) the relationship between physical abuse and disinhibition in stimulant-dependent patients. Method The Frontal Systems Behavior Scale (FrSBe) is a reliable and valid self-report assessment of three neurobehavioral domains associated with frontal systems functioning (Apathy, Disinhibition, and Executive Dysfunction, summed for a Total), that assesses pre-morbid functioning and has a specific cutoff for defining clinically significant abnormalities. Six sites evaluating 12-step facilitation for stimulant abusers obtained the FrSBe from 118 methamphetamine- and/or cocaine-dependent participants. Lifetime physical abuse was measured by the Addiction Severity Index (ASI). Results The proportion reporting clinically significant disinhibition was significantly higher in women (64.9%) than in men (45.0%, p = 0.04), with no significant difference on the other FrSBe scales. Physical abuse in women, but not men, was associated with worse functioning, with physically abused, relative to non-abused, women having a significantly greater proportion with clinically significant disinhibition (p Conclusion These findings suggest that women may have significantly greater disinhibition than men prior to lifetime initiation of stimulant abuse and that physical abuse in women is associated with greater disinhibition.
Photoacoustic tomography: High-resolution imaging of optical contrast in vivo at new depths

Existing high-resolution 3D optical imaging cannot provide penetration into biological tissues beyond one transport mean free path (∼1 mm in the skin). Photoacoustic tomography, which combines strong optical contrast and high ultrasonic resolution in a single modality, has broken through this fundamental depth limitation.
Enhancement of Current Carrying Capability in MOD-Processed YBCO Films Using Chemical Doping

Many efforts have been made to improve the current carrying capability of Y1Ba2Cu3O7 (YBCO) films by introducing pinning centers using a variety of techniques. In this study, we have succeeded in producing Y2O3, BaZrO3 and Sm doped YBCO films for the development of coated conductors by a metal-organic deposition method using trifluoroacetates (TFA-MOD). Jc exceeding 5 MA /cm2 at 77 K and self field was obtained in Y2O3 doped YBCO film. Also it was found that YBCO films with Sm substituting for Y have shown an improved critical current density characteristic over a wide range of magnetic fields. A Jc of 0.25 MA/cm2 at 3 T and 77 K was obtained which is more than 10% of the zero-field Jc. Similar results were obtained in BaZrO3 doped YBCO films. Additionally, TEM analysis was performed to study the microstructures and the pinning mechanisms. The results indicate that significant enhancement of self-field and in-field Jc of Y2O3, BaZrO3 and Sm doped YBCO films may be due to introducing nano-scaled Y2O3 particles, nano-scaled 90deg rotated Y1/3Sm2/3Ba2Cu3O7 domains and BaZrO3 nanodots by different chemical doping, respectively. This indicates that chemical doping is a promising approach for enhancement of current carrying capability of YBCO coated conductors.
Microbial activity and carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus content in a subtropical seagrass estuary (Florida Bay): evidence for limited bacterial use of seagrass production

Bacterial abundance, production, and extracel- lular enzyme activity were determined in the shallow water column, in the epiphytic community of Thalassia testudi- num, and at the sediment surface along with total carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus in Florida Bay, a subtropical sea- grass estuary. Data were statistically reduced by principle components analysis (PCA) and multidimensional scaling and related to T. testudinum leaf total phosphorus content and phytoplankton biomass. Each zone (i.e., pelagic, epi- phytic, and surface sediment community) was signiWcantly dissimilar to each other (Global R = 0.65). Pelagic amino- peptidase and sum of carbon hydrolytic enzyme (esterase, peptidase, and - and -glucosidase) activities ranged from 8 to 284 mg N m i2 day i1 and 113-1,671 mg C m i2 day i1 , respectively, and were 1-3 orders of magnitude higher than epiphytic and sediment surface activities. Due to the phos- phorus-limited nature of Florida Bay, alkaline phosphatase activity was similar between pelagic (51-710 mg Pm i2 day i1 ) and sediment (77-224 mg P m i2 day i1 ) zones but lower in the epiphytes (1.1-5.2 mg P m i2 day i1 ). Total (and/or organic) C (111-311 g C m i2 ), N (9.4-27.2 g Nm i2 ), and P (212-1,623 mg P m i2 ) content were the highest in the sediment surface and typically the lowest in the seagrass epiphytes, ranging from 0.6 to 8.7 g C m i2 , 0.02-0.99 g N m i2 , and 0.5-43.5 mg P m i2 . Unlike nutrient
A sheath for repetitive insertion of high-fidelity micromanometer-tipped catheters

Implantation of micromanometer-tipped catheters into dogs and other animals for invasive high-fidelity blood pressure measurement is expensive and impractical. We have devised an implantable sheath that allows insertion of the transducer each time the animal is to be studied. This eliminates animal-inflicted damage and the need for multiple transducers if several animals are to be instrumented concurrently. The sheath is coextruded from hard and soft forms of polyurethane to form a soft, flexible, thrombus-resistant tubing with a hard thin inner lining having a low coefficient of friction. This allows chronic implantation of the sheath into the heart and major vessels with minimal trauma, yet enables a transducer to be advanced through a sheath only slightly larger than the transducer itself without the frictional resistance common to other soft tubing. The sheath can be tapered for ease of implantation into vessels or curved to the appropriate angle for implantation into the heart. Our polyurethane sheath is a versatile, convenient, and inexpensive alternative to chronic instrumentation with transducers for high-fidelity pressure measurement.
Effect of CFTR modifiers on arylsulfatase B activity in cystic fibrosis and normal human bronchial epithelial cells.

Abstract Background The enzyme Arylsulfatase B (ARSB; N-acetylgalactosamine 4-sulfatase), is required for degradation of sulfated glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) which accumulate in cystic fibrosis. ARSB is reduced in cystic fibrosis cells and increases when defective CFTR is repaired by insertion of the normal gene. This study was undertaken to determine if modification of CFTR by small molecule correctors or potentiators could also increase ARSB and reduce the accumulation of chondroitin 4-sulfate (C4S). Methods CF bronchial epithelial cells homozygous for the F508 deletion (ACD#14071) and normal human bronchial epithelial cells (BEC) were grown and differentiated following an established protocol. Cells were treated with either VRT-532, a CFTR potentiator, or VRT-534, a CFTR corrector, or vehicle control. The impact on ARSB activity, protein and mRNA expression, C4S and total sulfated glycosaminoglycan content, Interleukin-8 and Interleukin-6 secretion, and neutrophil chemotaxis was determined by specific assays. Results The CFTR potentiator, but not the corrector, increased ARSB activity and expression to the level in the normal bronchial epithelial cells (BEC). Concomitantly, total sulfated glycosaminoglycans and C4S declined, secreted IL-8 increased, secreted IL-6 declined, and neutrophil chemotaxis to the spent media obtained from the potentiator-treated CF cells increased. Conclusion The CFTR potentiator increased ARSB activity and expression and associated effects. This suggests that a critical interaction between CFTR and ARSB is related to CFTR function in regulation of a ligand-gated anion channel at the cell membrane, rather than to CFTR processing and intracellular trafficking.
Using Sequence Kernels to identify Opinion Entities in Urdu

Automatic extraction of opinion holders and targets (together referred to as opinion entities) is an important subtask of sentiment analysis. In this work, we attempt to accurately extract opinion entities from Urdu newswire. Due to the lack of resources required for training role labelers and dependency parsers (as in English) for Urdu, a more robust approach based on (i) generating candidate word sequences corresponding to opinion entities, and (ii) subsequently disambiguating these sequences as opinion holders or targets is presented. Detecting the boundaries of such candidate sequences in Urdu is very different than in English since in Urdu, grammatical categories such as tense, gender and case are captured in word inflections. In this work, we exploit the morphological inflections associated with nouns and verbs to correctly identify sequence boundaries. Different levels of information that capture context are encoded to train standard linear and sequence kernels. To this end the best performance obtained for opinion entity detection for Urdu sentiment analysis is 58.06% F-Score using sequence kernels and 61.55% F-Score using a combination of sequence and linear kernels.
The relationship of spinal cord injury trauma to alcohol misuse: a study of monozygotic twins.

BACKGROUND: Substance misuse frequently is correlated with serious trauma such as spinal cord injury (SCI). Two hypotheses to this effect are (a) substance abuse predates injury and is a risk factor or trigger for serious injury such as SCI; or (b)substance abuse begins postinjury, and alcohol or other drugs are used to ameliorate the physical and emotional distress that result from SCI. METHODS: To test these two hypotheses, 1 4 pairs of monozygotic twins, in which 1 of each pair had sustained an SCI, were studied. The twin without SCI was used as a control for preinjury substance misuse status for the twin with SCI. RESULTS: No significant differences between SCI and non-SCI co-twins' substance use patterns were found. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that drinking patterns might not be significantly affected by SCI and that substance misuse might precede injury. Language: en
Back to the Future With Physiologic Birth.

ore than 90 years ago, my grandmother Mgave birth to surprise twins in her apartment above a hardware store attended by female relatives who extended their stay longer to help care for the twins. An older relative once told me about the birth of her first child several years after my grandmother had twins. She felt fortunate to go to the hospital, receive medication so that she never knew what was happening during the vaginal birth, stay hospitalized for 3 weeks, and then return home by ambulance. She lived a mile from the hospital; her husband came to see her during visiting hours.
Measurement of Diodrast and Inulin Clearances in Man After Subcutaneous Administration.

SummarySatisfactory plasma clearances of diodrast and inulin can be obtained in humans following subcutaneous injection of the respective substances.
The Socioeconomic Status of Asian American Women in the Labor Force An Alternative View

In the literature on United States racial and ethnic relations, a prevalent assertion is that Asian Americans exceed other ethnic groups, and often even whites, in income, occupational, and educati...
Driver, Eyellipses Produced by Minimum Deflection Seats and by U.S. Adult Population Changes

Driver eyellipses for three “reduced deflection” bucket seats and one conventional bucket seat were developed photogrammetrically. Three driver groups drove four similar cars, each with a different driver's seat. The three groups represented standing height distributions for 1962, 1972 and estimated 1990 U.S. adult populations. In general, the four seats produced similar eyellipses in the front and side view. The eyellipses for the taller population groups were, in general, shifted upward and rearward for each seat. Side view eyellipses for the 1962 and 1990 population samples were statistically different in the fore-aft plane, but not different in the vertical.
Dissociation between regional dysfunction and β-adrenergic receptor signaling in heart failure

We have previously shown that left ventricular (LV) pacing-induced heart failure is associated with preserved wall thickening in the interventricular septum (IVS) compared with the posterolateral w...
Study on planning method of assembling sequence based on layered orientation graph

The assembly structures of aviation product are complex and the assembling units are various,thus brought forward rather big difficulty in its planning of assembling sequence.It is easy to produce graph explosion phenomena when carrying out planning of aviation products by the use of cut-set method.Therefore,by adopting the layered orientation graph method to express the assembly model,a kind of combination method for forming the assembling sequence of product was put forward by letting the assembling model be disassembled layer by layer and planned progressively.Verification of application was granted by taking certain typed aircraft-wing as a living example.
Health Education of Ketogenic Diet Therapy for Children with Intractable Epilepsy

This paper introduced the health education of ketogenic diet therapy for 40 children with intractable epilepsy.Related health education and skill guidance were implemented through various approaches.A six-month follow-up was conducted for each child,which indicated that 33 of them could insist on diet therapy for half a year.The diet therapy exerted positive influence on their treatment and recovery.
Can quantum entanglement implement classical correlated equilibria

We ask whether players of a classical game can partition a pure quantum state to implement classical correlated equilibrium distributions. The main contribution of this work is an impossibility result: we provide an example of a classical correlated equilibrium that cannot be securely implemented without useful information leaking outside the system. We study the model where players of a classical complete information game initially share an entangled pure quantum state. Players may perform arbitrary local operations on their subsystems, but no direct communication (either quantum or classical) is allowed. We explain why, for the purpose of implementing classical correlated equilibria, it is desirable to restrict the initial state to be pure and to restrict communication. In this framework, we define the concept of pure quantum correlated equilibrium (PQCE) and show that in a normal form game, any outcome distribution implementable by a PQCE can also be implemented by a classical correlated equilibrium (CE), but that the converse is false. We extend our analysis to extensive form games, and compare the power of PQCE to extensive form classical correlated equilibria (EFCE) and immediate-revelation extensive form correlated equilibria (IR-EFCE).
Estrogen reduces proliferation and agonist-induced calcium increase in coronary artery smooth muscle cells.

Epidemiological evidence and estrogen replacement studies suggest that estrogen has a protective effect on the cardiovascular system against coronary artery disease. Vascular smooth muscle (VSM) cell replication has been shown to play a causative role in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. Therefore, in this study, we investigated the effect of chronic treatment of cultured guinea pig coronary artery VSM cells with physiological concentrations of 17β-estradiol (E 2 ) on thymidine incorporation, cell proliferation, and bradykinin-stimulated cytosolic calcium concentration ([Ca 2+ ] i ). Bradykinin at physiological concentrations causes contraction of endothelium-denuded guinea pig coronary artery rings in a concentration-dependent manner. VSM cells were first treated with low doses of E 2 (10 pg/ml) for 1-2 days followed by treatment for 4-6 days with 50 pg/ml of E 2 , a concentration similar to that found in pregnancy. Using these protocols, we consistently observed the presence of E 2 -receptor mRNA in VSM cells by a ribonuclease protection assay. Fetal calf serum-stimulated [ 3 H]thymidine incorporation was significantly reduced (P < 0.05) in E2-treated cells compared with untreated control cells. Similarly, E2 treatment significantly inhibited fetal calf serum-stimulated VSM cell proliferation compared with untreated control cells (P < 0.05). We also tested the hypothesis that E 2 treatment attenuates agonist-stimulated [Ca 2+ ] i in VSM cells because acute E2 treatment has been shown to produce relaxation of precontracted isolated coronary artery preparations. E2 treatment of VSM cells resulted in a significant decrease in bradykinin-stimulated [Ca 2+ ] i compared with untreated cells (P < 0.05). In conclusion, our data demonstrate that estrogen at physiological concentrations directly regulates coronary VSM cell function.
DNA binding of Pd(TC3), a conformable cationic porphyrin with a long-lived triplet state

The goal of this work has been to synthesize and investigate Pd(TC3), an intercalating porphyrin that has conformable substituents capable of groove binding to B-form DNA. (TC3 denotes the doubly deprotonated form of 5,10,15,20-tetra[3-(3′-methylimidazolium-1′-yl)prop-1-yl]porphyrin.) Palladium(II) is an apt choice for the central metal ion because it remains strictly four-coordinate and provides for a luminescent triplet excited state with a long lifetime. The DNA hosts are hairpin-forming sequences programmed to differ in base composition. Luminescence, absorbance, and circular dichroism results are consistent with the idea that congruent structural reorganization takes place at the host and ligand during uptake. Photoexcitation of DNA-bound Pd(TC3) generates a comparatively modest steady state concentration of singlet oxygen, due to a relatively slow reaction with molecular oxygen in solution. The sheer size of the substituent groups disfavors quenching, but groove-binding interactions compound the problem by inhibiting mobility. The results show how ligand design affects adduct structure as well as function.
The Creation of CEDAW within the Global Discourse on Gender Equality

The creation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) is part of a broader global discourse on gender equality that can roughly be divided into three phases: from the founding of the United Nations (UN) in 1945 until 1975, women’s issues slowly became recognized as globally relevant; between 1975 and 1995, gender hierarchies were framed as a fundamental global problem by both transnational movements and international organizations, and some institution were created to confront this problem; finally, the period from 1995 to the present is shaped by persistent and new expressions of gender inequality and continuing struggles to overcome them. The CEDAW, created in the second phase, embodies a comprehensive understanding of discrimination against women and the idea of equality of outcome, yet its monitoring mechanism is state-oriented and designed cautiously.
MEMS-based nano probe technology for data storage applications

Data storage technology has evolved in two predominant directions in recent years, reflecting the two critical demands of large capacity and fast access. These two directions, embodied by hard disk drives (HDD) for the first direction, and random access memory (RAM) for the second one, have demonstrated phenomenal improvements in performance. The question arises as to whether one can envision an alternative technology that will combine the capacity of an HDD and access time of a RAM, within dimensions on the order of only several mm/sup 2/. A novel approach that is discussed involves the implementation of several concepts that have recently been advanced in the emerging field of nanotechnology. In particular, scanning probe microscopy using a large number of cantilevers operating in parallel offers a unique opportunity that is currently being pursued by several research groups at universities and companies around the world.
Blurred Edges: Fixed and Mobile Wireless Access Points

Understanding the end game of potential adversaries is the first step to modeling which attack vector(s) are likely to be the most profitable or least costly. Hacking activity may be motivated by gain, pain, or fear. Specific attack techniques are linked to challenges against specific security objectives (i.e., confidentiality, integrity, availability). For example, eavesdropping and aircracking are associated with confidentiality attacks. By analyzing attacker behavior in terms of market opportunity and the rational drive to maximize return of investment/effort, we can arrive at a better understanding of how to adapt prevention, detection, and control mechanisms to specific real-world contexts. Use case scenarios can capture insights about where the value resides that meets an attacker’s preference for acceptable risk, exploitable attack surfaces, planning/executing time horizon, available tools/skills, reasonable cost, and sufficient payoff.
005 OP: ENTREPRENEURIALISM, ADAPTATION, AND DISCRETION AMONG NURSES IN A TRANSNATIONAL COLLABORATION IN MALAWI AND TANZANIA

Austerity measures in sub-Saharan Africa and elsewhere in the global south have made it virtually impossible for national health systems to provide quality, comprehensive primary care services to the general population. However, recent scholarship has begun to challenge the suggestion that constrained resources have rendered African institutions powerless; rather, in the current landscape of clinical trials and global health interventions, the global south has seen yet another scramble for valued medical subjects and bodies, without which no evidence could be constructed. This makes health institutions and medical staff in “weak” states key to scientific progress and publication. African health researchers and government hospitals have leveraged this relationship by positioning themselves as intervention-ready to well-funded research institutions in the North, in order to fill gaps in services. While earlier scholarship in critical medical anthropology has bemoaned how Northern entities have been able to exploit existing power differentials, this paper follows Okwar and Geissler (2015) in illuminating the agency and entrepreneurialism of the health workers on the ground staffing these transnational “collaborations”. Ethnographic data (semi-structured interviews and participant observation) from research on the implementation of a group antenatal care program among nurse-midwives and collaborators in East Africa is presented. Government-employed nurses in this project advocated for previously unconsidered compensation and accepted payment (in various currencies) for work done largely by others. Vignettes of agency from this research illuminate subtle challenges to the assertion of power in this context and invite discussion of unintended consequences which nonetheless reinforce and reproduce the existing system.
Oligodendroglial and neuronal cytoplasmic inclusions in multisystem atrophy.

Publisher Summary Multisystem atrophy (MSA) encompasses three clinicopathological conditions, either occurring singly or with variable degree of overlap and characterized by neuronal loss and gliosis in selective regions of the brain. Cytoplasmic inclusions referred to as (1) glial cytoplasmic inclusions, (2) oligodendroglial cytoplasmic inclusions, and (3) cytoplasmic microtubular tangles are now considered to be a histologic hallmark of these disorders and add a strong credibility to the concept proposed by earlier neuropathologists who grouped SND, OPCA, and SDS under the title of MSA. Oligodendroglial cytoplasmic inclusions are present in many regions of the cerebrum and cerebellum. In addition to these oligodendroglial inclusions, the neurons in certain regions of the brain display discrete intracytoplasmic inclusions.
Scaffolding the writing development of the Argument genre in history: The case of two novice writers

Abstract We document the writing development of the Argument genre among two multilingual novice writers of academic English after they participated in a literacy intervention in a university-level history class at an English-medium university in the Middle East. We designed three writing workshops based on our previous research to target specific linguistic features of the Argument genre that were challenging for students. We draw on Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL), which provides systematic tools for examining academic writing development, to analyze two students' essays across a semester. Our analysis shows how students who enter university with limited academic writing experiences can benefit from explicit instruction and how writing develops differently, even among students with similar skill sets. These findings support the importance of explicit disciplinary instruction (De La Paz, 2005; Monte-Sano, 2010) with an explicit focus on language (Coffin, 2006b) and contribute to the limited research on language-based writing interventions to improve student writing, particularly at the university level. Detailed qualitative analysis of these students' writing sheds light on the intricacies of writing development, which can help teachers anticipate and mitigate potential challenges.
Once the Buddha Was a Warrior: Buddhist Pragmatism in the Ethics of Peace and Armed Conflict

Buddhist traditions offer a richly nuanced ethic for the compassionate use of violence, including warfare, torture, and punishment, that has effectively supported regimes of vast geographical and cultural diversity for millennia. This chapter explicates the Buddhist ideology of compassionate violence as presented in a broad range of classical treatises and scriptures. Ahiṃsā, generally mistranslated as “nonviolence,” has always meant non-harm, and sometimes failure to engage in violence is harmful. Buddhist texts argue that compassionate policies literally protect both the individual and society, even in war. Superficially, selfish policies of economic exploitation and conquest based on greed undermine national security. Compassion is in the national interest and leads to general human flourishing and prosperity. International, national and personal peace and security, through strong alliances, absence of enemies and social contentment, are created through commitment to the wellbeing of others.
Accessing the Nitromethane (CH3NO2) Potential Energy Surface in Methanol (CH3OH)-Nitrogen Monoxide (NO) Ices Exposed to Ionizing Radiation: An FTIR and PI-ReTOF-MS Investigation.

(D3-)Methanol–nitrogen monoxide (CH3OH/CD3OH–NO) ices were exposed to ionizing radiation to facilitate the eventual determination of the CH3NO2 potential energy surface (PES) in the condensed phase. Reaction intermediates and products were monitored via infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and photoionization reflectron time-of-flight mass spectrometry (PI-ReTOF-MS) during the irradiation and temperature controlled desorption (TPD) phase, respectively. Distinct photoionization energies were utilized to discriminate the isomer(s) formed in these processes. The primary methanol radiolysis products were the methoxy (CH3O) and hydroxymethyl (CH2OH) radicals along with atomic hydrogen. The former was found to react barrierlessly with nitrogen monoxide resulting in the formation of cis- and trans-methyl nitrite (CH3ONO), which is the most abundant product that can be observed in the irradiated samples. On the other hand, the self-recombination of hydroxymethyl radicals yielding ethylene glycol (HO(CH2)2OH) and glycerol...
Understanding school–family contact and academic and behavioral performance among adolescent students in Taiwan

Home–school relationships and communication play an important role in promoting children’s and adolescents’ development and learning. This study investigated the relations between school-initiated ...
Area and Delay Penalties in Restructurable Wafer-Scale Arrays

The penalties for restructuring wafer-scale arrays for yield enhancement are assessed. Each element of the fabricated array is assumed to be defective with independent probability p. A fixed fraction R of the elements are to be connected into a prespecified defect-free configuration by means of switched interconnections. The area penalty is determined by the required number of tracks per wiring channel t. Propagation delay is determined by the required maximum connection length d. It is shown that: Connection of RN fixed I/O ports to distinct nondefective elements from an N-element linear array requires d, t =θ(logN); Connection of RN pairs of elements from two N-element linear arrays requires only constant d and t; Connection of a chain of RN 2 elements from an N×N array also requires only constant d and t; Connection of a \(\sqrt R N \times \sqrt R N\) lattice from an N×N array requires \(d = \Omega (\sqrt {\log N} )\). Constant t suffices to connect a lattice if d=θ(logN). Algorithms are presented that connect any fraction R < l-p of the elements with probability approaching one as N increases. It appears that these results hold even under actual defect distributions.
Closing the Circle: Training the Teachers' Teachers

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the training of teachers in foreign languages at various levels. The training of foreign language teachers encompasses a broad span, extending from foreign languages in the elementary school (FLES) to Ph.D. The problem of teaching foreign languages is not complicated, as it is in college, by the strong literary or preprofessional student interests. All concerned can concentrate on language teaching procedures alone. Neither techniques nor materials are as firmly established as on the secondary school level. At the other end of the spectrum, graduate programs, attention is only beginning to focus on problems of teacher training. The FLES and secondary school teachers get their training as college undergraduates, and college teachers are trained exclusively in graduate schools.
Rousillon: Scraping Distributed Hierarchical Web Data

Programming by Demonstration (PBD) promises to enable data scientists to collect web data. However, in formative interviews with social scientists, we learned that current PBD tools are insufficient for many real-world web scraping tasks. The missing piece is the capability to collect hierarchically-structured data from across many different webpages. We present Rousillon, a programming system for writing complex web automation scripts by demonstration. Users demonstrate how to collect the first row of a 'universal table' view of a hierarchical dataset to teach Rousillon how to collect all rows. To offer this new demonstration model, we developed novel relation selection and generalization algorithms. In a within-subject user study on 15 computer scientists, users can write hierarchical web scrapers 8 times more quickly with Rousillon than with traditional programming.
Clinical characteristics and outcomes of symptomatic and asymptomatic hypoglycemia in hospitalized patients with diabetes.

Importance The frequency and impact of asymptomatic hypoglycemia in hospitalized patients with diabetes is not known. Objective We determined the clinical characteristics and hospital outcomes of general medicine and surgery patients with symptomatic and asymptomatic hypoglycemia. Research design and methods Prospective observational study in adult patients with diabetes and blood glucose (BG) Results Among 250 patients with hypoglycemia, 112 (44.8%) patients were asymptomatic and 138 (55.2%) had symptomatic hypoglycemia. Patients with asymptomatic hypoglycemia were older (59±11 years vs 54.8±13 years, p=0.003), predominantly males (63% vs 48%, p=0.014), and had lower admission glycosylated hemoglobin (8.2%±2.6 % vs 9.1±2.9%, p=0.006) compared with symptomatic patients. Compared with symptomatic patients, those with asymptomatic hypoglycemia had higher mean BG during the episode (60.0±8 mg/dL vs 53.8±11 mg/dL, p 65 years (OR 4.01, 95% CI 1.62 to 9.92, p=0.02) were independent predictors of asymptomatic hypoglycemia. There were no differences in clinical outcome, composite of hospital complications (27% vs 22%, p=0.41) or in-hospital length of stay (8 days (IQR 4–14) vs 7 days (IQR 5–15), p=0.92)) between groups. Conclusions Asymptomatic hypoglycemia was common among insulin-treated patients with diabetes but was not associated with worse clinical outcome compared with patients with symptomatic hypoglycemia. Older age and male gender were independent risk factors for asymptomatic hypoglycemia.
Coexistence of observables

Recent results in the theory of integration of complex-valued functions with respect to a positive operator-valued measure are used to generalize the usual notion of coexistent observables. This leads to a connection between effects as observables and the quantization scheme of stochastic quantum mechanics. It also leads to a new viewpoint for the concept of a “classical apparatus” for quantum measurement which does not require a classical mechanical treatment of the apparatus from the outset.