cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Effects of sediments and coloured dissolved organic matter on remote sensing of chlorophyll-a using Landsat TM/ETM+ over turbid waters

Remote sensing of chlorophyll-a is challenging in water containing inorganic suspended sediments (i.e. non-volatile suspended solids, NVSS) and coloured dissolved organic matter (CDOM). The effects...
Polyinosinic-Polycytidylic Acid Toxicity

This report deals mainly with the pathological effects of polyinosinic-polycytidylic acid, poly (rI · rC), given in lethal or near lethal doses. The work was done to obtain information about the potential of the complexes for inducing dangerous toxicity in patients who might receive the agent in clinical trials against cancer. The experimental species studied included mice, rats, rabbits, and dogs.
A Maximum-Likelihood Sequence Detection Powered ADC-Based Serial Link

A 0.88 mm2 65-nm analog-to-digital converter (ADC)-based serial link transceiver is designed with a maximum-likelihood sequence detector (MLSD) for robust equalization. The MLSD is optimized in a pipelined look-ahead architecture to reach 10 Gb/s at 5.8 pJ/b and 5 Gb/s at 3.9 pJ/b, making it practical for an energy-efficient ADC-based serial link. Compared with linear equalizer and decision feedback equalizer, the MLSD provides extra margin to accommodate timing offsets, ADC nonlinearities, and voltage noise, which is exploited by co-designing the analog front-end to reduce its power and area. We present a 2x-oversampled and 2-way interleaved 5 b stochastic flash ADC architecture. No front-end analog equalizer, buffer or sample, and hold amplifier are needed. Tested with a 45-cm FR-4 trace, the serial link transceiver achieves 5 Gb/s at a bit error rate below 10−11 with a 7% UI margin without any analog front-end equalization, consuming 54.5 mW in receiver and 16.2 mW in transmitter.
Modeling Immune-Mediated Tumor Growth and Treatment

The immune response is an important factor in the progression of cancer, and this response has been harnessed in a variety of treatments for a range of cancers. In this chapter we develop mathematical models that describe the immune response to the presence of a tumor. We then use these models to explore a variety of immunotherapy treatments, both alone and in combination with other therapies.
Risk of readmission for suicide attempt after epilepsy hospitalization.

ABSTRACT Objective The objective of this study was to examine if epilepsy admissions are associated with a higher readmission risk for suicide attempt, independent of psychiatric comorbidity, compared with index admissions for other medical causes. Methods The Nationwide Readmissions Database is a nationally representative dataset containing data from roughly 15 million hospital discharges. Analysis of International Classification of Disease Clinical Modification 9 (ICD-9-CM) codes in the year 2013 revealed 58,278 index admissions for epilepsy; this group was compared with admissions for stroke (N = 215,821) and common medical causes (N = 973,078). Ninety-day readmission rates for suicide attempts were calculated. Cox regression tested for associations between admission type and suicide attempt readmissions up to 1 year following index admission. Results There were 402/100,000 readmissions for suicide attempt within 90 days from index admission in the group with epilepsy; 43/100,000 in the stroke group; and between 37 and 89/100,000 in the medical group. Unadjusted hazard ratios (HR) for suicide readmissions within 1 year in the group with epilepsy compared with the stroke group were 9.61 (95% confidence interval (CI): 7.69–11.90, p Conclusion Independent of psychiatric comorbidities, epilepsy admissions may be independently associated with more than a threefold increased risk of hospital readmission for suicide in the year following index admission in comparison with patients recently hospitalized because of stroke or other common medical disorders.
Selenium: A historical perspective

The path followed in the biochemistry of selenium has taken some sharp turns during its development. At first, feared as a poisoner of livestock and later impugned as a carcinogen, selenium has about-faced and is now recognized as an essential micronutrient with anti-carcinogenic properties. While early studies on selenium have focused on the role of this trace element in animal physiology and studies with microorganisms, the field has matured to employ molecular biology to explain and employ the protective effects of selenium against a number of human maladies, including cancer and heart disease. The emphasis of this chapter is an examination of selenium’s early history as a toxin, its later recognition as an essential micronutrient in the diet of mammals and its impact in the livestock industry that provided the foundations for the vast amount of the current basic and health research on this fascinating element.
Evolutionary and Generative Music Informs Music HCI—And Vice Versa

This chapter suggests a two-way influence between the field of evolutionary and generative music and that of human–computer interaction and usability studies. The interfaces used in evolutionary and generative music can be made more effective and more satisfying to use with the influence of the ideas, methods, and findings of human–computer interaction and usability studies. The musical representations which are a focus of evolutionary and generative music can enable new user-centric tools for mainstream music software. Some successful existing projects are described and some future work is proposed.
Investigation of Atomistic-Scale Thin-Film Evaporation

Thermal cooling technologies that dissipate high heat levels from high-performance electronic devices require the enhancement of evaporating performances. Nanoscale surfaces are often employed to promote evaporating performances by enabling thin-film evaporation. Such nanoscale surfaces lead to varying thin-film thicknesses and intertwined physics associated with solid-liquid contact regions and liquid-vapor phase change processes. Despite numerous efforts using continuum theory or experiments, the understanding of interfacial phenomena during the evaporating phase change at the atomistic level still remains challenging. Molecular-level simulation receives significant attention for identifying surface effects on evaporating performance by capturing the atomistic level physics of thin-film evaporation. In this study, we investigate nanometer-thin-film evaporation on flat surfaces by performing atomistic-level calculations. For this, we study molecular dynamics simulation methods that are capable of simulating interatomic forces between particles and corresponding particle behaviors. By using appropriate interatomic potentials, simulation models estimate how liquidsolid contact lines form on flat substrates and how liquid-vapor interfaces evolve. These calculations will provide a correlation among thin-film thicknesses, liquid-vapor interfaces, and evaporation rates. The understanding will enable us to classify effective and non-effective evaporating regimes along the meniscus during thin-film evaporation, enabling better design of microfluidic evaporators.
No sex differences in the origins of covariation between social and physical aggression.

Background Prior work has indicated both theoretical and empirical overlap between social and physical aggression. The extent to which their covariance can be explained by the same underlying genetic or environmental factors, however, remains unclear. It is also uncertain whether or how the origins of their covariance might vary across sex. The current study sought to fill these gaps in the literature. Methods We examined maternal and teacher reports of youth physical and social aggression in over 1000 6-10 years old (mean age = 8.02 years) twin pairs from the Michigan State University Twin Registry. We made use of the bivariate correlated factors model to clarify the origins of their association. We further tested both sex difference and no-sex difference versions of that model to determine whether there are sex differences in the association between social and physical aggression, as often assumed. Results The covariation between social and physical aggression was due to overlapping genetic factors and common environmental conditions. Specifically, 50-57% of the genetic factors, 74-100% of the shared environmental factors, and 28-40% of the unique environmental factors influencing physical aggression also influenced social aggression according to both mother and teacher reports. These shared etiological factors did not differ across sex. Conclusions These findings argue against the common assumption that social aggression is the 'female version' of male physical aggression, and instead suggest that social aggression may be best conceptualized as a form of antisocial behavior that shares developmental pathways with other manifestations of externalizing pathology.
A unified approach to monolithic solid-fluid coupling of sub-grid and more resolved solids

Abstract We present a novel numerical approach to monolithic two-way fluid-structure interaction. Our formulation applies to both sub-grid solids that may be significantly smaller than a single computational grid cell as well as more resolved solid bodies. Importantly, we remove the non-physical ansatz of velocity equilibration for sub-grid bodies, allowing for physically accurate behavior even though the boundary layer is drastically under-resolved or typically even completely absent. Instead, we obtain closure by incorporating a physical model for drag. Our coupling system has numerically advantageous properties, including symmetric positive-definiteness, and is extensible to various interpolation schemes, enabling it to capture the exact solution in the case of neutral buoyancy. We provide a number of numerical examples illuminating the advantages and limitations of our approach. We close with remarks about future possibilities for pursuing advanced sub-grid modeling as well as incorporating machine learning techniques into drag modeling.
Hospital Teaching Status Impacts Surgical Discharge Efficiency

Objective There is a paucity of data regarding the efficiency of care provided by teaching hospitals. Yet, instruction on transitions in care and an understanding of systems-based practice are key components of modern graduate medical education. We aimed to determine the relationship between hospital teaching status and the discharge efficiency from a surgical service. Setting Patients who were cared for at teaching and nonteaching hospitals captured in the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project National Inpatient Sample from 2012. Participants A total of 272,090 patients who underwent one of 44 predefined general surgery procedure types. Design Patients were stratified based on treating hospital teaching status (TH vs. NTH). Procedure-specific early discharge (PSED) was defined for each operation type as a discharge that occurred within the lowest 25th percentile for overall length of stay. PSED was used as the discharge efficiency metric. To adjust for cofounders and hospital level clustering, multivariable mixed-effects logistic regression was used to examine the association between teaching status and PSED. Subgroup analysis was performed by operation type. Models were constructed with and without adjustment for inpatient complications. Results There were 140,878 (51.8%) patients who received care at a TH. TH status was significantly associated with lower PSED (TH: 10.7% vs. NTH: 11.4%; p Conclusions Teaching hospital status is associated with a reduced likelihood of PSED. The effect of TH on PSED varied by procedure subgroup. Examining the recovery pathways and discharge practices at NTH may allow for the identification of more efficient methods of care that can be applied to the broader healthcare system.
Assessment of the Impact of Accelerated Migration Testing for Coated Food Cans Using Food Simulants

In this study, an accelerated migration test on food can coatings into food simulants was investigated. Food simulants covering a wide range of polarity were used to conduct migration tests at 60 °C with storage times ranging from 4 h to 30 days. Epoxy-resins, acrylic–phenolic, polyester, and vinyl coatings were exposed to water, 3% acetic acid, 50% ethanol, and Miglyol 812®. Using liquid chromatography coupled to a variety of detectors (UHPLC-Q-Orbitrap-MS, UFLC-MS/MS, and HPLC-DAD), migration of several monomers and previously identified oligomers, as well as some unidentified migrants, were determined during the experiment. The data from this study was compared to our findings from previous long-term migration studies with storage times ranging from 24 h to 540 days at 40 °C using the same can coating applications. The results illustrate that performing migration experiments for short time periods at 60 °C may mimic migration results that would be obtained at 40 °C after long-term migration tests (up to 1.5 years) from food can coatings into food simulants.
Specifying and Validating Probabilistic Inputs for Prescriptive Models of Decision Making over Time

Optimization models for making decisions over time in uncertain environments rely on probabilistic inputs, such as scenario trees for stochastic mathematical programs. The quality of model outputs, i.e., the solutions obtained, depends on the quality of these inputs. However, solution quality is rarely assessed in a rigorous way. The connection between validation of model inputs and quality of the resulting solution is not immediate. This chapter discusses some efforts to formulate realistic probabilistic inputs and subsequently validate them in terms of the quality of solutions they produce. These include formulating probabilistic models based on statistical descriptions understandable to decision makers; conducting statistical tests to assess the validity of stochastic process models and their discretization; and conducting re-enactments to assess the quality of the formulation in terms of solution performance against observational data. Studies of long-term capacity expansion in service industries, including electric power, and short-term scheduling of thermal electricity generating units provide motivation and illustrations. The chapter concludes with directions for future research.
Company Response to Negative Online Reviews: The Effects of Procedural Justice, Interactional Justice, and Social Presence:

This research investigates how potential customers evaluate a company response to negative online reviews. Integrating the literature on perceived justice in service recovery, social presence in on...
Single Diode Parameter Extraction from In-Field Photovoltaic I-V Curves on a Single Board Computer

In this paper, we present a new, light-weight approach for extracting the five single diode parameters (I L , I o , R S , R SH , and nN s V t ) for advanced, in-field monitoring of in situ current and voltage (I-V) tracing devices. The proposed procedure uses individual I-V curves, and does not require the irradiance or module temperature measurement to calculate the parameters. It is suitable for operation on a small, single board computer at the point of I-V curve measurement. This allows for analysis to occur in the field, and eliminates the need to transfer large amounts of data to centralized databases. Observers can receive alerts directly from the in-field devices based on the extraction, and analysis of the commonly used single diode equivalent model parameters. This paper defines the approach and evaluates its accuracy by subjecting it to I-V curves with known parameters. Its performance is defined using actual I-V curves generated from an in situ scanning devices installed within an actual photovoltaic production field. The algorithm is able to operate at a high accuracy for multiple module types and performed well on actual curves extracted in the field.
A Validated T Cell Radiomics Score Is Associated With Clinical Outcomes Following Multisite SBRT and Pembrolizumab.

Purpose Combining immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) with stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) may improve the local response to radiation and the systemic response to immunotherapy. However, no prognostic markers exist to identify patients likely to benefit from combined therapy. The degree of T cell–mediated immunity, which can be quantified with radiomics using computed tomography (CT) imaging, is predictive of immunotherapy response. Herein we investigated whether a validated T cell radiomics score (RS) is correlated with clinical outcomes after multisite SBRT and pembrolizumab (SBRT + P). Methods and Materials The RS was quantified for 68 patients with metastatic treatment-refractory adult solid tumors who received SBRT (30-50 Gy, 3-5 fractions) and pembrolizumab ≤7 days after SBRT. RS was calculated using 8 variables, including 5 radiomics features extracted from pretreatment CT scans. At a prespecified cutoff of the 25th percentile, we assessed the association between RS and clinical outcomes. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to estimate survival outcomes. The prognostic effect of RS was assessed via logistic regression or Cox proportional hazards models. In an exploratory analysis, RS was also analyzed as a continuous variable. Results One hundred thirty-nine tumors were analyzed. At the 25th percentile cutoff, high-RS patients were more likely to exhibit irradiated tumor responses to SBRT + P (odds ratio [OR] 10.2; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.76-59.17; P = .012). High-RS was associated with improved TMC compared with low-RS tumors (hazard ratio [HR] 0.18; 95% CI, 0.04-0.74; P = .018). Furthermore, high-RS patients had improved PFS (HR 0.47, 95% CI, 0.26-0.85; P = .013) and OS (HR 0.39, 95% CI, 0.20-0.75; P = .005). As a continuous variable, higher RS was associated with improved PFS (HR 0.12, 95% CI, 0.03-0.51; P = .004) but did not reach statistical significance for TMC (HR 0.36, 95% CI, 0.02-7.02; P = .502) or OS (HR 0.28, 95% CI, 0.05-1.55; P = .144). Conclusions We demonstrated the clinical validity of RS (at the 25th percentile cutoff) as a prognostic biomarker in patients treated with SBRT + P. Future validation of the prognostic value of RS in larger similarly treated patient cohorts is warranted.
Anodal Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Enhances Retention of Visuomotor Stepping Skills in Healthy Adults

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) paired with exercise training can enhance learning and retention of hand tasks; however, there have been few investigations of the effects of tDCS on leg skill improvements. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether tDCS paired with visuomotor step training can promote skill learning and retention. We hypothesized that pairing step training with anodal tDCS would improve skill learning and retention, evidenced by decreased step reaction times (RTs), both immediately (online skill gains) and 30 min after training (offline skill gains). Twenty healthy adults were randomly assigned to one of two groups, in which 20-min anodal or sham tDCS was applied to the lower limb motor cortex and paired with visuomotor step training. Step RTs were determined across three time points: (1) before brain stimulation (baseline); (2) immediately after brain stimulation (P0); and (3) 30 min after brain stimulation (P3). A continuous decline in RT was observed in the anodal tDCS group at both P0 and P3, with a significant decrease in RT at P3; whereas there were no improvements in RT at P0 and P3 in the sham group. These findings do not support our hypothesis that anodal tDCS enhances online learning, as RT was not decreased significantly immediately after stimulation. Nevertheless, the results indicate that anodal tDCS enhances offline learning, as RT was significantly decreased 30 min after stimulation, likely because of tDCS-induced neural modulation of cortical and subcortical excitability, synaptic efficacy, and spinal neuronal activity.
Case Report: Vaginostomy until further reconstruction for the management of hydrocolpos causing hydronephrosis

Hydrocolpos is a rare congenital genitourinary anomaly that can cause clinically significant urinary tract obstruction with oligohydramnios and hydronephrosis antenatally and renal failure postnatally. Here, we discuss the management of a neonate with hydrocolpos and renal failure. Vaginostomy tube and bladder catherization have been described previously. However, in this population, external tubes can be difficult to manage and have a high propensity of failure. Therefore, the patient was managed via creation of a vaginostomy, which allowed for continuous passive drainage of fluid into a diaper and maintained a decompressed urinary tract until further reconstruction could be pursued.
Adiponectin and Adiponectin Signaling

Abstract Adiponectin is an adipokine with anti-diabetic, anti-atherogenic, and anti-inflammatory functions. Serum levels of adiponectin are positively associated with insulin sensitivity in humans. While the beneficial roles of adiponectin in maintaining energy homeostasis and against inflammation are well recognized, the feasibility for using adiponectin as drug interventions is low due to its complicated structure, high circulating levels, and relatively short half-life. Understanding the features of adiponectin receptors and the signal pathways downstream of the receptors are essential for developing adiponectin mimic and therapeutic drugs to promote adiponectin sensitivity. Here, we discuss adiponectin and adiponectin signal pathways with an emphasis on the roles of adiponectin in maintaining glucose and lipid homeostasis and controlling chronic inflammation. We also review the sensitizing effect and mechanism of adiponectin on insulin signaling.
Notebook Archaeology: Inferring Provenance from Computational Notebooks

Computational notebooks allow users to persist code, results, and explanations together, making them important artifacts in understanding research. However, these notebooks often do not record the full provenance of results because steps can be repeated, reordered, or removed. This can lead to inconsistencies between what the authors found and recorded, and what others see when they attempt to examine those results. However, these notebooks do offer some clues that help us infer and understand what may have happened. This paper presents techniques to unearth patterns and develop hypotheses about how the original results were obtained. The work uses statistics from a large corpora of notebooks to build the probable provenance of a notebook’s state. Results show these techniques can help others understand notebooks that may have been archived without proper preservation.
The information content of jet quenching and machine learning assisted observable design

Jets produced in high-energy heavy-ion collisions are modified compared to those in proton-proton collisions due to their interaction with the deconfined, strongly-coupled quark-gluon plasma (QGP). In this work, we employ machine learning techniques to identify important features that distinguish jets produced in heavy-ion collisions from jets produced in proton-proton collisions. We formulate the problem using binary classification and focus on leveraging machine learning in ways that inform theoretical calculations of jet modification: (i) we quantify the information content in terms of Infrared Collinear (IRC)-safety and in terms of hard vs. soft emissions, (ii) we identify optimally discriminating observables that are analytically tractable, and (iii) we assess the information loss due to the heavy-ion underlying event and background subtraction algorithms. We illustrate our methodology using Monte Carlo event generators, where we find that important information about jet quenching is contained not only in hard splittings but also in soft emissions and IRC-unsafe physics inside the jet. This information appears to be significantly reduced by the presence of the underlying event. We discuss the implications of this for the prospect of using jet quenching to extract properties of the QGP. Since the training labels are exactly known, this methodology can be used directly on experimental data without reliance on modeling. We outline a proposal for how such an experimental analysis can be carried out, and how it can guide future measurements.
Remote control: distributed application configuration, management, and visualization with plush

Support for distributed application management in large-scale networked environments remains in its early stages. Although a number of solutions exist for subtasks of application deployment, monitoring, maintenance, and visualization in distributed environments, few tools provide a unified framework for application management. Many of the existing tools address the management needs of a single type of application or service that runs in a specific environment, and these tools are not adaptable enough to be used for other applications or platforms. In this paper, we present the design and implementation of Plush, a fully configurable application management infrastructure designed to meet the general requirements of several different classes of distributed applications and execution environments. Plush allows developers to specifically define the flow of control needed by their computations using application building blocks. Through an extensible resource management interface, Plush supports execution in a variety of environments, including both live deployment platforms and emulated clusters. To gain an understanding of how Plush manages different classes of distributed applications, we take a closer look at specific applications and evaluate how Plush provides support for each.
Collocated versus Non-collocated Multivariable Control for Flexible Structure

Future space structures have many closely spaced, lightly damped natural frequencies throughout the frequency domain. To achieve desired performance objectives, a number of these modes must actively be controlled. For control, a combination of collocated and noncollocated sensors and actuators will be employed. The control designs will be formulated based on models which have inaccuracies due to unmodeled dynamics, and variations in damping levels, natural frequencies and mode shapes. Therefore, along with achieving the performance objectives, the control design must be robust to a variety of uncertainty. This paper focuses on the benefits and limitations associated with multivariable control design using noncollocated versus collocated sensors and actuators. We address the question of whether performance is restricted due to the noncollocation of the sensors and actuators or the uncertainty associated with modeling of the flexible structures. Control laws are formulated based on models of the system and evaluated analytically and experimentally. Results of implementation of these control laws on the Caltech flexible structure are presented.
Local decoding and testing for homomorphisms

Locally decodable codes (LDCs) have played a central role in many recent results in theoretical computer science. The role of finite fields, and in particular, low-degree polynomials over finite fields, in the construction of these objects is well studied. However the role of group homomorphisms in the construction of such codes is not as widely studied. Here we initiate a systematic study of local decoding of codes based on group homomorphisms. We give an efficient list decoder for the class of homomorphisms from any abelian group G to a fixed abelian group H. The running time of this algorithm is bounded by a polynomial in log|G| and an agreement parameter, where the degree of the polynomial depends on H. Central to this algorithmic result is a combinatorial result bounding the number of homomorphisms that have large agreement with any function from G to H. Our results give a new generalization of the classical work of Goldreich and Levin, and give new abstractions of the list decoder of Sudan, Trevisan and Vadhan. As a by-product we also derive a simple(r) proof of the local testability (beyond the Blum-Luby-Rubinfeld bounds) of homomorphisms mapping ${\mathbb{Z}}_p^n$ to ℤp, first shown by M. Kiwi.
Studies on adrenal steroid hydroxylases. Molecular and catalytic properties of adrenodoxin reductase (a flavoprotein).

Abstract Adrenodoxin reductase, purified to near homogeneity from bovine adrenal glands, is an FAD-containing protein which contains 1 mole of FAD per mole of enzyme, and 2% (w/w) hexose. The oxidized protein has absorption maxima at 270, 377, and 450 nm with an A270:A450 ratio of 8.6 and a molar extinction coefficient of 10.9 x 10-3 cm-1 m-1 at 450 nm. The oxidation-reduction potential for the coupled oxidized reductase-fully reduced reductase is -0.274 volts at pH 7.0. The fluorescence due to the native enzyme is comparable to that of free FAD. The amino acid composition shows a high content of hydrophobic residues; the molecular weight determined by both sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS)-gel electrophoresis and gel filtration is approximately 54,000. Michaelis constants for NADPH and NADH are 1.82 µm and 5.56 mm, respectively. NADP+ has an inhibitory effect on NADPH-cytochrome c reductase activity, with an inhibition constant of 5.32 µm.
Systemic Racism: A Theory of Oppression

In this book, Feagin develops a theory of systemic racism to interpret the highly racialized character and development of this society. Exploring the distinctive social worlds that have been created by racial oppression over nearly four centuries and what this has meant for the people of the United States, focusing his analysis on white-on-black oppression. Drawing on the commentaries of black and white Americans in three historical eras; the slavery era, the legal segregation era, and then those of white Americans. Feagin examines how major institutions have been thoroughly pervaded by racial stereotypes, ideas, images, emotions, and practices. He theorizes that this system of racial oppression was not an accident of history, but was created intentionally by white Americans. While significant changes have occurred in this racist system over the centuries, key and fundamentally elements have been reproduced over nearly four centuries, and US institutions today imbed the racialized hierarchy created in the 17th century. Today, as in the past, racial oppression is not just a surface-level feature of society, but rather it pervades, permeates, and interconnects all major social groups, networks, and institutions across society.
Standard local area networks for high-performance measurements systems

Local area network (LAN) technologies such as Ethernet and asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) are being used to build data acquisition and telemetry systems which provide higher performance, greater modularity, easier reconfiguration, and less cost than traditional architectures. This paper discusses the use of various LAN technologies in ocean measurement system applications.
A MODULE-BASED APPROACH: TRAINING PARAEDUCATORS ON EVIDENCE-BASED PRACTICES

Paraeducators are on the front lines in special education settings, providing support to teachers and students with significant disabilities and specific health-care needs. The important role they play demands efficient and cost-effective training in core skills. This study utilized a multiple-baseline across behaviors design to evaluate a module-based training program for paraeducators targeting three instructional strategies that are commonly used in the education of students with a wide range of disabilities: praise, pause, and prompts. Results demonstrated variability in accurate and consistent use of these practices across participants after completion of the modules. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.
A Role for Acetylcholine-Nicotinic Receptor Interactions in the Selective Increase of Rat Skeletal Muscle G4 Acetylcholinesterase Following Short-Term Denervation

Abstract: The present work addresses the effects of shortterm denervation on acetylcholinesterase (AChE; EC 3.1.1.7) isoenzymes in anterior gracilis muscles from adult male Sprague-Dawley rats. It examines possible relationships between AChE isoform changes and other denervation phenomena, and evaluates the importance of acetylcholine (ACh)-nicotinic receptor interactions in selectively modulating the activity of G4 AChE. Results confirm that denervation causes a specific, transient increase in G4 AChE and show that: most of the increment can be explained by the hydrophobic species of this isoenzyme; changes in AChE isoforms markedly precede the onset of spontaneous electromechanical activity (fibrillation), as well as acetylcholine receptor (AChR) proliferation; and the G4 AChE response is eliminated when AChRs are blocked by α-bungarotoxin treatment performed before but not after (24 h) denervation. These data point to the absence of direct causal relationships between the G4 AChE increment and fibrillation, AChR proliferation, or changes in the release of this isoform from denervated muscle. In turn, they suggest the participation of AChR activation in triggering the G4 AChE response and emphasize the possible role of ACh-AChR interactions in modulating the production of this isoenzyme in not only denervated but also innervated fast-twitch muscles.
The stimulation of cerebral N2-methyl- and N22-dimethyl guanine-specific tRNA methyltransferases by methionine sulfoximine: An in vivo study

Abstract The administration of a single convulsant dose or of multiple subconvulsant doses of L-methionine-dl-sulfoximine (MSO) to 18-day old rats results in a significant elevation of the specific activity of cerebral tRNA methyltransferases, as determined in an in vitro assay, using heterologous or species-homologous tRNAs as substrates. The increase was detectable as early as 90 min after MSO and persisted throughout the entire 5–6 h preconvulsant period. The 14[C]-methyl tRNA was purified, and hydrolyzed to its constituent bases and their distribution was quantitated by high performance liquid chromatography. A marked increase in the formation of 14[C]-N2-methyl- and 14[C]-N22-dimethyl guanine was noted in the MSO-treated animals, demonstrating a specific stimulation by MSO in vivo of the cerebral N2-methyl and/or N22-dimethyl guanine-specific tRNA methyltransferases.
A two phase series model for the transport of steroids across the fully hydrated stratum corneum

A two phase series model for the permeability behaviour of the fully hydrated stratum corneum has been examined using Scheuplein's data on steroids, since these strongly encouraged the investigation of possible heterogeneous diffusion models that showed the dependence of the effective diffusion coefficient, De, upon the effective partition coefficient, Ke. The model described can be characterized by Ve and Vw, the volume fractions for the “cytoplasm” and the “cell wall” phases, Ke and Kw, the solute partition coefficients for the “cytoplasm” and the “cell wall” phases and De and Dw, the respective diffusion coefficient for the two phases. Reasonable correlations were found between the experimental Pe, effective permeability coefficient, values and the partition coefficients obtained with amyl caproate and those obtained with hexadecane. Also the magnitude of Dw was estimated and found to be about 10−13 and 10−11 cm2/s when the lipoidal nature of the cell wall was equated to hexadecane or amyl caproate. In general, reasonable self-consistencies among the various experimental results and parameters of the model were found.
The first fifty years of the Western Regional Science Association: the making of the WRSA brand

In 1954 the Regional Science Association held its first conference in Detroit, Michigan. Seven years later, in 1961, the Western Regional Science Association was founded as one of the four United States-based sections (the Northeastern, the Southern, the Mid-Continent, and the Western). In the 50 years since its founding, the WRSA has met its obligation to promote regional science in Western North America and has gone beyond that initial mandate to promote regional science internationally and to become an association that truly delivers on the somewhat whimsical motto: “The way academic life should be.” In this paper, coauthored by the Association’s three long-term Executive Secretaries, W. W. Rostow’s model of the stages for economic advancement is employed, by analogy, to interpret the historical development of the Western Regional Science Association—and of its distinctive “brand”—over its first half century.
The control of gas phase kinetics to maximize densification during chemical vapor infiltration

A serious problem during the fabrication of composite materials by isothermal chemical vapor infiltration is that the matrix forms more rapidly at the external edges of the body and traps a large amount of porosity inside. In theory, this problem can be eliminated by controlling the gas-phase kinetics to obtain densification which is more rapid in the center of a preform than at its outer surfaces. An analysis of a first-order gas-phase reaction followed by a first-order deposition reaction indicates that improved infiltration is possible under a relatively narrow range of conditions.
Independent reactions in the presence of isomers

In reacting systems, the number of independent chemical reactions, the number of components, and the number of chemical chemical species are generally assumed to be so related that the sum of the first two equals the third. Standard methods of obtaining the number of independent reactions (that is, formation equations or rank of the element-by-species matrix) may fail when chemical isomers appear in reactant streams, product streams, or both. The errors encountered with various types of isomers are delineated in this paper along with corrective measures. The element-by-species matrix is judged to be more suitable as a starting point than formation equations when matrix size and number of manipulations are considered.
The imagist approach to inferential thought patterns: The crucial role of rhythm pattern recognition

Tmagists' hold that inferential thinking is built up from combinations of sensory and sensorimotor images in various patterns and modalities, and that the images are a more basic mental and neurophysiological operation than the logical thinking and conceptualization that are built up front them. 'Computationalists' hold just the opposite view — that images result from previous inferential processing which is more basic than the images. Suppose we define inference as the kind of thought process that we actually undergo when we do logical thinking, and not in the trivial sense in which any natural phenomenon which receives an 'input' from another then 'responds' to this 'input' (as for example when a ball responds to being hit by flying off at a certain angle). And suppose we define an 'image ' as any instance of imagining what it would be like to entertain some conscious state which we are not undergoing at the time — as for example when we imagine what it would be like to see something, to ride a roller coaster or to have a headache. I. e., 'images ' can be kinaesthetic and proprioceptive s well as sensory. Then it can be shown that inferential thinking is built up from patterns of images, including importantly the imaging of rhythm patterns corresponding to logical syntax. Furthermore, the acquisition of these inference rules can also be traced to a process of trying to imagine scenarios which might serve as counterexamples to the rules, and this kind of 'imagining ' can also be explained in terms of both sensory and proprioceptive images. The reason for this is twofold: First, even the apparently 'imageless ' concepts used to imagine such scenarios (e.g., the concept 'president') consist in each case of a feeling of preparedness to entertain a pattern of images which would be appropriate to provide a directly or indirectly ostensive definition of the concept in question, and this feeling of preparedness can be sensed proprioceptively. Secondly, a concept, even if it is not experienced as involving imagery, may nonetheless occur as an element of a larger pattern whose rhythm can be imaged. This paper defends an expanded version of the imagist approach, suggesting an important pragmatic role for the proprioceptive sensing of rhythm patterns in the acquisition and use of inference skills.
Does salmon brain produce insulin

Abstract To address the question whether fish brain can produce insulin, pink salmon ( Oncorhynchus gorbusha ) brains were extracted and processed according to the procedure developed for purification of pancreatic insulin (Rusakov and Bondareva, 1979). Biological and immunological activity of the resulting material was evaluated respectively by a cartilage sulfation assay and by radioimmunoassay homologous for salmon insulin. Preparations from salmon brain stimulated the [ 35 S]sulfate uptake into salmon branchial cartilage with a potency comparable to pure mammalian or salmon insulins but lower than that of mammalian insulin-like growth factor (IGF-I]. In contrast, only trace amounts of radioimmunoreactive insulin could be detected by homologous radioimmunoassay. To determine whether insulin mRNA was present in salmon brain, primers specific for salmon proinsulin and salmon prepro-IGF-I were designed to amplify corresponding cDNA regions by reverse transcriptase-PCR. Insulin mRNA was found only in the endocrine pancreas (Brockmann body) while IGF-I mRNA was detected in the brain, liver, and the Brockmann body. Our results suggest that in fish pancreatic-type insulin is most likely produced only in the endocrine pancreas and then transported to the brain through blood/cerebrospinal fluid system. However, it does not exclude a possibility that some yet unknown insulin-like substances may be expressed in the neural system of ectotherm vertebrates.
Environmental effects of offshore oil production: Alkanes in the region of the Buccaneer oilfield

Abstract n -Alkanes, pristane, and phytane are among the hydrocarbons in discharged brine from production platforms in the Buccaneer oilfield. These compounds are detected in surface seawater samples, but hydrocarbons in bottom water samples are apparently of bacterial origin. Petroleum alkanes are also found in shrimp, fish, barnacles, plankton, and sediments.
Understanding the latency benefits of multi-cloud webservice deployments

To minimize user-perceived latencies, webservices are often deployed across multiple geographically distributed data centers. The premise of our work is that webservices deployed across multiple cloud infrastructure services can serve users from more data centers than that possible when using a single cloud service, and hence, offer lower latencies to users.In this paper, we conduct a comprehensive measurement study to understand the potential latency benefits of deploying webservices across three popular cloud infrastructure services - Amazon EC2, Google Compute Engine (GCE), and Microsoft Azure. We estimate that, as compared to deployments on one of these cloud services, users in up to half the IP address prefixes can have their RTTs reduced by over 20% when a webservice is deployed across the three cloud services. When we dig deeper to understand these latency benefits, we make three significant observations. First, when webservices shift from single-cloud to multi-cloud deployments, a significant fraction of prefixes will see latency benefits simply by being served from a different data center in the same location. This is because routing inefficiencies that exist between a prefix and a nearby data center in one cloud service are absent on the path from the prefix to a nearby data center in a different cloud service. Second, despite the latency improvements that a large fraction of prefixes will perceive, users in several locations (e.g., Argentina and Israel) will continue to incur RTTs greater than 100ms even when webservices span three large-scale cloud services (EC2, GCE, and Azure). Finally, we see that harnessing the latency benefits offered by multi-cloud deployments is likely to be challenging in practice; our measurements show that the data center which offers the lowest latency to a prefix often fluctuates between different cloud services, thus necessitating replication of data.
Improved methods for multivariate optimization of field development scheduling and well placement design

Optimization of reservoir development requires many evaluations of the possible combinations of the decision variables, such as well locations and production scheduling parameters, to obtain the best economic strategies. Running a simulator for such a large number of evaluations may be infeasible due to the computation time involved. This study investigated two multivariate interpolation algorithms, Least Squares and Kriging, to generate new realizations from a limited number of simulations in order to predict the optimal strategies in a field development scheduling project and a waterflood project. The result was a significant reduction in the simulation effort required. The recommended solutions were obtained by searching for the optimal objective function values among the interpolation realizations. Additional simulation runs were performed to refine the search for the final optimal solution in the vicinity of the intermediate optimal region. The net present value was used as the objective function in both projects. The field development scheduling simulation was achieved by an economic model taking account of all the costs and profits during the time period being studied. In the waterflooding application, movement of the waterfront was tracked and the oil and water production at each production well was calculated, after which the optimum well placement strategy was determined. The results obtained using the interpolation methods showed that the algorithms are able to reduce the number of simulation runs, to provide a global sketch of the objective function surface, to avoid possible failure at local optima, and to reach the absolute optimum by refining the grids near the intermediate optima. The approaches were shown to be practical, and will be useful in full-scale optimization problems in which simulation costs would be prohibitive for iterative nonlinear optimization methods.
Modifications of high-pT di-hadron correlations for identified triggers

Angular correlations with high transverse momentum hadrons have become an established tool for studying properties of the medium created in ultra-relativistic heavy ion collisions. When investigated in two dimensions, relative azimuth and relative pseudorapidity, the small-angle part of such correlations is commonly attributed to QCD jets, while long-range correlations, specifically ridge observed at low- and intermediate momentum, are often described as manifestations of hydrodynamic expansion of the system, e.g. flow. Comparative analysis of both features, presented in this work for correlations with identified leading hadrons, explores the particle type dependence of the jet structures, and challenges the flow-only hypotheses behind the ridge.