cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A three-dimensional crown architecture model for assessment of light capture and carbon gain by understory plants

A model simulating the three-demensional crown architecture of a plant was developed with the objective of assessing the light capture and whole-plant carbon gain consequences of leaf display in understory plants. This model uses geometrical measurements taken in the field to reconstruct the projected image of a plant so that light absorption from any direction can be assessed. The photon flux density (PFD) from a given direction was estimated from the canopy openness derived from hemispherical canopy photographs and equations simulating the daily course of direct and diffuse PFD. For diffuse PFD, the directional fluxes and absorbed PFD were integrated over 160 different directions representing 8 azimuth classes and 20 elevation angle classes. Direct PFD absorption was determined for the time that a solar track on a given day intersected a canopy gap. Assimilation rate was simulated for the sunlit and shaded parts of leaves separately and then summed to give the whole-plant carbon gain. Comparisons of simulations for a tropical forest edge species, Clidemia octona, and an understory species, Conostegia cinnamomea, illustrate the operation of the model and show that the edge species is more efficient at capturing side light while the understory species is slightly more efficient at capturing light from directly above, the predominant light direction in this environment. Self-shading within Conostegia crown and steep leaf angles in the Clidemia crown reduced light capture efficiencies for light from directly above. Whole-plant daily carbon gain was much higher in the forest edge site, mostly because of the additional PFD available in this site. However, simulations for both species in the understory light environment show that the higher light capture efficiencies of the understory species in this environment conferred a 27% advantage in carbon gain in this environment.
Multiphoton excitation and efficiency in the Yb3+-R.E.3+ (Ho3+, Er3+, Tm3+) systems

Abstract The investigation of the production of visible luminescence from infrared radiation in the systems LnF 3 : Yb 3+ , R.E. 3+ , where Ln is La, Y, Gd, or Lu, and R.E. is Er, Ho or Tm, revealed that the excitation process involves absorption by Yb 3+ ions followed by two or more consecutive energy transfers to R.E. 3+ , and is not achieved by cooperative sensitization. The dependence of luminescence intensity on excitation intensity and the dependence of luminescence on sensitizer concentration are given as evidence. The steady state solutions for resonant and nonresonant two photon excitation are compared and it is shown that highest efficiency will result for activator absorption at slightly less energy than sensitizer emission, so that energy transfer from activator to sensitizer does not occur. The energy efficiency for LaF 3 : Yb 0.12 Er 0.02 , which has two resonant transfers, and GdF 3 : Yb 0.4 Tm 0.0015 which has at least one phonon assisted transfer, were measured. The quantum efficiency for the Tm 3+ material was found to be 1.8% at 0.36 mW cm -2 nm -1 , 80 times that of the Er 3+ material. The intensity dependence of the green Er 3+ emission was quadratic in agreement with the theoretical prediction, while that of the 0.8 μ Tm 3+ emission was subquadratic, indicating ground state depletion. Yb 3+ lifetimes were measured and used to obtain the energy transfer coefficients for the nonresonant transfer. Estimates of lifetimes from the literature and measured parameters were used to calculate the emission rate ratio of the Tm 3+ material to the Er 3+ material and agreement was satisfactory.
Data Reconciliation and Gross Error Detection in Chemical Process Networks

Measurements made on stream flows in a chemical process network are expected to satisfy mass and energy balance equations in the steady state. Because of the presence of random and possibly gross errors, these balance equations are not generally satisfied. The problems of how to reconcile the measurements so that they satisfy the constraints and how to use the reconciled values to detect gross errors are considered in this article. Reconciliation of measurements is usually based on weighted least squares estimation under constraints, and detection of gross errors is based on the residuals obtained in the reconciliation step. The constraints resulting from the network structure introduce certain identifiability problems in gross error detection. A thorough review of such methodologies proposed in the chemical engineering literature is given, and those methodologies are illustrated by examples. A number of research problems of potential interest to statisticians are outlined.
The Draining Cylinder.

(2009). The Draining Cylinder. The College Mathematics Journal: Vol. 40, No. 5, pp. 337-344.
Who is Using the National Foreign Language Standards

ABSTRACT This article briefly traces the history of the National Standards for Foreign Languages and then addresses who is using the standards. The Center for Applied Linguistics reports that approximately half of the surveyed foreign language teachers are aware of national or state standards. Finally, the issue of how states are developing foreign language standards is addressed by examining the curricula of Minnesota, New Jersey, and Connecticut. Recommendations follow as to how a state's curriculum can be aligned with the national standards.
Disilicide Diffusion Coating Inspection by Micro X-Ray Fluorescence Imaging

Space Shuttle orbiter thrusters fabricated from C-103 niobium alloy rely on a fused chromium disilicide coating as protection from high-temperature oxidation. Coating voids caused by high-temperature spalling, micrometeorite damage, or other impact damage must first be detected, and then characterized to measure the amount of remaining coating materials, since service life is directly proportional to coating thickness. Existing techniques to estimate the thickness of this diffusion layer are labor intensive, prone to error, and require contact with the coating. Alternative non-contact methods are sought that can automate the detection and characterization of coating defects. Micro X-ray fluorescence (MXRF) imaging is evaluated in this study as a potential NDE method to inspect the chromium disilicide coating. MXRF imaging, a relatively new technique to map the elemental composition of a surface, creates a high spatial resolution multispectral image that can be analyzed to detect coating voids and to quantify the remaining coating materials diffused in the alloy. Analysis of image data collected from sectioned thruster samples confirms that MXRF imaging is a viable detection and characterization method for the thruster coating inspection problem.
Wideband analog signal transmission in all-optical networks

A research program at The MITRE Corporation was developed to examine all-optical networks. The central element in this all-optical local area network research testbed was an optical crossbar switch employing semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs) as the switching and gain elements. One of the initial applications demonstrated on this all-optical testbed was the capability to transmit amplitude modulated (AM) analog signals through this network. The successful implementation of this capability demonstrates that analog imagery, telemetry, radio frequency communications, and sensor information can be distributed over a switched all-optical network. The principal challenge associated with the transmission of AM signals through the all-optical network are the limitations imposed by the SOAs in the switch. These devices exhibit non-linear transfer characteristics, have limited dynamic range, and high noise levels. This paper will describe the techniques developed to demonstrate acceptable video signal transmission performance through the all-optical switched testbed using FM modulation and microwave subcarrier technology.© (1995) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Behavioral Responses of Cattle to Pain and Implications for Diagnosis, Management, and Animal Welfare

Pain is a subjective experience in humans and livestock and can only be measured indirectly, posing challenges for veterinary practitioners in terms of diagnosis and treatment of bovine pain. In this review, attitudes of citizens, producers, and veterinarians are explored regarding pain and its associations with animal welfare and husbandry procedures. Behavior used to quantify pain in cattle is identified in terms of pain-specific behaviors and general behavioral responses that can be observed during painful procedures or convalescence. Finally, nociception and cognitive tests used for reporting pain in human patients are investigated for application to bovine patients.
Immunotherapy of a guinea pig hepatoma with ultrasonically prepared mycobacterial vaccines

Oil-in-water emulsions containing either mycobacterial cell walls (CW) or killed whole cells attached to the oil droplets were prepared by ultrasonication and by a modified grinding procedure. The immunotherapeutic potency of the ultrasonically prepared vaccines was at least as great as that of similar vaccines prepared by emulsification in a tissue grinder. Among the advantages of ultrasonication over grinding for the preparation of mycobacterial cell and cell wall vaccines are simplicity and the ease with which sterility may be maintained. Both the ultrasonic and modified grinding methods are less time-consuming than published procedures for preparing mycobacterial vaccines.
Reduction of Conservatism in Worst Case Designs: Systems with Block Diagonal Uncertainty Structure

A time domain solution to the problem of computing optimal values of a real block diagonal scaling matrix to reduce conservatism in H 2 /H ? dynamic compensator desigs is presented. The optimal real block diagonal scaling matrix is computed as a function of solutions to closed loop Riccati equations. These results represent new approach to mu-synthesis.
Types of task information feedback in multiple-cue probability learning.

Abstract While it is documented that task information or task information plus subject's own cue utilization coefficients are superior to outcome feedback in multiple-cue probability learning studies, no attention has been directed to an evaluation of the different possible types of task information that it is possible to give subjects when the task involves dimensions of information that are highly intercorrelated. In the present study, subjects' achievement, consistency, and matching were evaluated in a 2 (outcome feedback vs no outcome feedback × 4 (no task information, beta weights, β; zero-order correlations, γ; or beta weights times correlations, βr ) × 4 (trial blocks) design in which the task involved using cues whose β, γ, and βρ values indicated different strategies of combination. Results indicate that (1) outcome feedback produces lower consistency but slightly better matching than no outcome feedback; (2) no task information produces matching superior to that of the three treatment groups; and (3) the matching performance of βγ conditions is significantly inferior to that of the β and γ conditions. Though performance differences among β, γ, and βγ groups were significant, they were very small in correlational terms. It is suggested that future research might focus on the social as opposed to statistical implications of task information feedback and the form in which that feedback is presented.
Three species of Schrödinger cat states in an infinite-range spin model.

We explore a transverse-field Ising model that exhibits both spontaneous symmetry breaking and eigenstate thermalization. Within its ferromagnetic phase, the exact eigenstates of the Hamiltonian of any large but finite-sized system are all Schr\"odinger cat states: superpositions of states with ``up'' and ``down'' spontaneous magnetization. This model exhibits two dynamical phase transitions within its ferromagnetic phase: In the lowest-temperature phase the magnetization can macroscopically oscillate between up and down. The relaxation of the magnetization is always overdamped in the remainder of the ferromagnetic phase, which is divided into phases where the system thermally activates itself over the barrier between the up and down states, and where it quantum tunnels.
The role of optical links in HPC system interconnects

As high-performance scientific computing continues to advance to higher degrees of parallel computing power, the system interconnect becomes a more critical performance-related resource. Optical links have been used strategically to reduce cost per performance in HPC system interconnects for the past decade. In this paper, we explore the performance implications of optical link performance on scientific applications in leading network designs, placing optical signaling technology in the context of its usefulness to HPC system interconnects.
Fiber-based multichannel correlated photon-pair source with high efficiency and low crosstalk

We present a fiber-based multichannel source of correlated photon pairs in the telecommunication O-band. Coincidence-to-accidental ratios >100 (≃1) are measured between the paired (unpaired) signal-idler channels.
Protocol analysis of the engineering systems design process

The findings from the protocol analyses of six experienced designers solving engineering systems problems are presented. Three distinctly different design tasks were each addressed by two designers. A modified coarse-grained analysis focused on the introduction of information into the design process. The results identify three categories of information introduced during the design process, and a relationship between information introduction and concept generation.
Empirical Investigation of Predictors of Success in an MBA Programme.

Purpose – The twofold purpose of this study was to determine if selected variables were predictors of: student performance in the MBA programme; and student performance on the MBA MFT exam. Design/methodology/approach – This study focuses on MBA graduates at a US university who have successfully completed the entire programme requirements. Real student performance data, collected from 2007 to 2012, were analysed using multivariate regression techniques. Findings – Results suggest that academic performance in an MBA programme is positively related to undergraduate grade point average (GPA) and GMAT exam score, two of the most common admissions criteria in use today. Additionally, performance in an initial skills-building course exhibits a strong positive correlation with performance in subsequent MBA courses. With respect to performance on the Major Field Test (MFT-MBA), our results indicate that students who do well in the MBA programme tend to score at a higher level than those with lower overall GPAs. R...
Removing the computational burden from reciprocal cost allocations

Abstract This paper refutes the prevalent textbook notion that the reciprocal method of allocating service center costs is too difficult, elaborate, and costly. It presents a compact BASIC program capable of solving large problems even on a hand-held microcomputer; the program is self-contained, performing all matrix operations internally. After a brief discussion of the merits of the reciprocal method and the pitfalls of surrogate methods, an example is solved. Matrix notation is avoided to maintain accessibility for less advanced students
Rotated staurolite porphyroblasts in the Littleton Schist at Bolton, Connecticut, USA

Staurolite porphyroblasts, 1.5–8cm in length and 0.3–2cm in width, in the Littleton Schist at Bolton, Connecticut, contain curved quartz inclusion trails which document synkinematic rotations of at least 135°. The orientations of long axes of these staurolite crystals define a weak preferred orientation in a plane approximately parallel to the external foliation. Serial sections of four differently orientated crystals and U-stage measurements of the orientations of their inclusion trails demonstrate that the inflection hinge line and the statistical ‘symmetry axis’ characterizing the foliation within a porphyroblast are unrelated to the orientations of external crenulations and are, in all cases, parallel to the long axis of the porphyroblast. The cumulative rotation reflected in the curvature of the inclusion trails is a maximum in a c-axis section through the initial core of a crystal. The amount of rotation about the c-axis decreases linearly along the length of the crystal away from the nucleation site. The sense and amount of rotation recorded by a porphyroblast is related to its orientation. A tightly constrained transition from clockwise to anticlockwise rotation defines a slip direction that coincides with the preferred orientation of the staurolite c-axes. The total rotation reflected by the inclusion trails increases as a function of the angle between the c-axes of the staurolite crystals and the slip direction. Initially random staurolite porphyroblasts rotated during growth, as a consequence of laminar shear in the surrounding viscous matrix. This interpretation is quantitatively consistent with: the staurolite preferred orientation; its coincidence with the apparent slip direction; the correlation between both the sense and the amount of rotation and the orientation of the long axis of the porphyroblast; and the twisted conical shape of the family of surfaces defined by the inclusion trails.
The chemical composition of the thallus wall of Characiosiphon rivularis (Characiosiphonaceae, Chlorophyta)

Abstract The wall of Characiosiphon rivularis is 10% of the dry weight of the thallus and cytoplasm-free wall hulls stained positively using histochemical stains for proteins and carbohydrates. A protocol was developed to purify wall material. Purified wall was dissolved in 1 N NaOH after 2 h of boiling with no hydrolytic products detectable. Purified, dissolved wall was: 8% protein and 63% carbohydrate using colorimetric assays; 6% ash; and 23% unidentified material. Amino acid analysis of triftuoroaceticacid (TFA)-hydrolyzed wall protein revealed the following: 17 amino acids were present, the seven hydrophobic amino acids constituted 42%, and 10% of the wall was protein. Using HPLC, the neutral monosaccharide composition of TFA-hydrolyzed wall was 81% glucose, 0.2% galactose, 1.1% arabinose, 6.2% maltose, 1.4% oligosaccharides resistant to TFA hydrolysis and 10.3% sugar alcohols. Via HPLC, carbohydrates and their derivatives accounted for 82% of the dry weight of the purified wall. Alpha-amylase treatm...
Bootstrap prediction bands for cervical spine intervertebral kinematics during in vivo three-dimensional head movements.

Abstract There is substantial inter-subject variability in intervertebral range of motion (ROM) in the cervical spine. This makes it difficult to define “normal” ROM, and to assess the effects of age, injury, and surgical procedures on spine kinematics. The objective of this study was to define normal intervertebral kinematics in the cervical spine during dynamic functional loading. Twenty-nine participants performed dynamic flexion\extension, axial rotation, and lateral bending while biplane radiographs were collected at 30 images/s. Vertebral motion was tracked with sub-millimeter accuracy using a validated volumetric model-based tracking process that matched subject-specific CT-based bone models to the radiographs. Gaussian point-by-point and bootstrap techniques were used to determine 90% prediction bands for the intervertebral kinematic curves at 1% intervals of each movement cycle. Cross validation was performed to estimate the true achieved coverage for each method. For a targeted coverage of 90%, the estimated true coverage using bootstrap prediction bands averaged 86±5%, while the estimated true coverage using Gaussian point-by-point intervals averaged 56±10% over all movements and all motion segments. Bootstrap prediction bands are recommended as the standard for evaluating full ROM cervical spine kinematic curves. The data presented here can be used to identify abnormal motion in patients presenting with neck pain, to drive computational models, and to assess the biofidelity of in vitro loading paradigms.
Arthroscopic Posterior Cruciate Ligament Tibial Inlay Reconstruction: A Surgical Technique That May Influence Rehabilitation

Context:The reconstruction of isolated complete posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) injuries remains a controversial topic. Proponents for reconstruction cite the premature development of arthritis i...
A yeast chromosomal origin of DNA replication defined by multiple functional elements

Although it has been demonstrated that discrete origins of DNA replication exist in eukaryotic cellular chromosomes, the detailed organization of a eukaryotic cellular origin remains to be determined. Linker substitution mutations were constructed across the entire Saccharomyces cerevisiae chromosomal origin, ARS1. Functional studies of these mutants revealed one essential element (A), which includes a match to the ARS consensus sequence, and three additional elements (B1, B2, and B3), which collectively are also essential for origin function. These four elements arranged exactly as in ARS1, but surrounded by completely unrelated sequence, functioned as an efficient origin. Element B3 is the binding site for the transcription factor-origin binding protein ABF1. Other transcription factor binding sites substitute for the B3 element and a trans-acting transcriptional activation domain is required. The multipartite nature of a chromosomal replication origin and the role of transcriptional activators in its function present a striking similarity to the organization of eukaryotic promoters.
Pulse plating effects in nickel electrodeposition

Abstract The effects of pulse plating on the mechanical properties and internal stresses of nickel deposits were investigated. The yield and tensile strengths increased as a result of pulse plating especially at high peak current densities because of grain refinement. A reduction in the tensile internal stresses due to pulse plating was greatest at high current densities. This was attributed to relaxation during the off-time and to larger amounts of codeposited hydrogen, which also resulted in a reduction in the tensile stresses with increasing pulse frequency.
Managing homeland security: deployment, vigilance and persistence

Purpose – This paper aims to analyze provisions in the existing US laws and government directives for deployment, vigilance and persistence in managing homeland security.Design/methodology/approach – Within about a year after the September 11 terrorist attacks, the US Congress passed various new laws and the executive branch of the government issued a series of directives to maintain domestic security. The approach of the study is to analyze the provisions of the laws and the directives with an aim of seeing how these will enable risk management considering that the resources are not unlimited.Findings – The existing laws and directives enhance the ability of the USA to manage domestic incidents by establishing a single, comprehensive national incident management system. However, the major impediment to risk management is currently the lack of ability to share critical information among federal, state, local, tribal, public and private sector organizations. The government and private sectors should work t...
Ammonia Gas Sensor Using Polypyrrole‐Coated TiO2/ZnO Nanofibers

Highly porous polypyrrole (PPy)-coated TiO2/ZnO nanofibrous mat has been successfully synthesized. The core TiO2/ZnO nanofibers have an average diameter of ca. 100 nm and the shell of ultrathin PPy layer has a thickness of ca. 7 nm. The NH3 gas sensor using the as-prepared material exhibited a fast response over a wide dynamic range and high sensitivity with a detection limit of 60 ppb (S/N=3). Compared to conventional pristine PPy film, the improved performance in NH3 detection can be attributed to the free access of NH3 to PPy and a minimized gas diffusion resistance through the ultrathin PPy layer.
Preparation and Characterization of Supported Bimetallic Pt–Au and Pt–Cu Catalysts from Bimetallic Molecular Precursors

Abstract Silica-supported bimetallic Pt–Cu and Pt–Au catalysts were prepared using bimetallic molecular cluster precursors as the metal source. The molecular precursors were adsorbed onto the support from an organic solvent, dried under vacuum, calcined under flowing oxygen, and reduced with hydrogen. The resulting catalysts were characterized with CO chemisorption, diffuse reflectance Fourier transform spectroscopy (DRIFTS) of adsorbed CO, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). The new catalysts were also compared to traditionally prepared Pt and Pt–Cu catalysts (wetness impregnation or coimpregnation) that had been subjected to identical activation conditions. When the molecular cluster precursors were used as catalyst precursors, small and uniform bimetallic particles with high Pt dispersions were prepared. The DRIFTS spectrum of CO bound to the cluster-derived Pt–Cu catalyst was exceptionally broad and indicated a large red shift in ν(C≡O) relative to Pt. Catalytic performance was evaluated with the hexane conversion reaction. Both cluster-derived catalysts showed enhanced selectivity for light hydrocarbon production (cracking) and decreased activity for nondestructive alkane reforming and dehydrocyclization reactions. The cluster-derived catalysts had nearly identical distributions of light hydrocarbon; these distributions indicated a propensity for internal C–C bond cleavage. Despite the similarities of these fission patterns, the Pt–Au catalyst had greatly enhanced resistance to deactivation processes while the Pt–Cu had no superior deactivation performance over the traditional Pt catalyst.
A Review of the AFRL Turbine Research Facility

The Air Force Research Laboratory Turbine Research Facility is a transient blowdown facility that allows simultaneous measurement of unsteady heat transfer and aerodynamics on full scale engine hardware. It is unique for its size and consequent blowdown duration. Compared to engine validation testing, full scale, short duration turbine-rig testing is able to provide very large amounts of rotating turbine flowfield information using far less energy, orders of magnitude lower cost, and greater instrumentation selection.This paper provides an updated review of the facility’s history, operation, and enhancements since its initial construction over two decades ago. Historical connections to pioneering work in short-duration turbine heat transfer testing are highlighted, and an overview of past developments, features, and capabilities is given. More recent experimental and computational integration is described using a suite of in-house developed CFD design and analysis tools. Example test programs include a non-proprietary 1+ 1/2 stage research turbine rig, which is the most heavily instrumented high pressure turbine tested in the facility to date.. Recent data illustrates the character of unsteady airfoil shock interactions that may lead to large levels of resonant stress or turbine high cycle fatigue. The paper ends with a brief discussion of future work.© 2013 ASME
Racial stereotypes, racial context, and the 2008 presidential election

As the first African-American nominee for president of a major political party, Barack Obama's campaign and ultimate victory reminded voters, scholars, pundits, and the press of the centrality of race in American political life. Speculation by observers of all types centered around the potential impact of race as an individual psychological prejudice and/or as a geographic/contextual factor. These two themes parallel different leading scholarly treatments of race and racism in the USA. Rather than choose one theme or the other, in this paper, we bring both traditions together in a unified analysis of white voter response to Obama. We find strong evidence that the level of prejudice toward African-Americans held by whites affected their evaluations of Obama as well as their probability of voting for him. In contrast, we find little evidence that whites responded to the racial context of their immediate geographic environment.
Valuation of energy storage: an optimal switching approach

We consider the valuation of energy storage facilities within the framework of stochastic control. Our two main examples are natural gas dome storage and hydroelectric pumped storage. Focusing on the timing flexibility aspect of the problem we construct an optimal switching model with inventory. Thus, the manager has a constrained compound American option on the inter-temporal spread of the commodity prices. Extending the methodology from Carmona and Ludkovski [Appl. Math. Finance, 2008], we then construct a robust numerical scheme based on Monte Carlo regressions. Our simulation method can handle a generic Markovian price model and easily incorporates many operational features and constraints. To overcome the main challenge of the path-dependent storage levels, two numerical approaches are proposed. The resulting scheme is compared with the traditional quasi-variational framework and illustrated with several concrete examples. We also consider related problems of interest, such as supply guarantees and m...
Two-mode beat phase noise of actively modelocked lasers.

An analytic expression for the phase noise spectrum is estimated when two arbitrary longitudinal modes are selected for beating from the output of an actively modelocked laser. A separate experiment confirmed the theory qualitatively. It was found that two-mode beating posseses more phase noise than the beating involving the entire mode spectrum, especially at low offset frequency, even though two mode beating noise is decoupled from the RF oscillator noise to the first order.
Personal security agent: KQML-based PKI

Certificate management infrastructure, a.k.a. PKI (Public Key Infrastructure), which issues and provides access to public key certificates to preserve the integrity of a public key, is fundamental for electronic commerce and business across the Internet. To satisfy the requirements of various applications, PKI should demonstrate customization to user needs, interoperability and flexibility in its implementations so it can satisfy the needs of various applications. Particularly, due to the popularity of software agent-based applications over the Internet, security will be urgently needed by the “agent society”. We propose to implement the authority of authentication verification service systems as personal autonomous software agents, called security agents. In this paper, we present two aspects of KQML-based PKI: 1. the security agent concept and its functional modules; 2. an extension of KQML, which is needed for public key management and secure communications among security agents and application agents.
A Systematic Approach to Predicting Critical Heat Flux for Inclined Sprays

This study provides a new systematic approach to predicting the effects of spray inclination on critical heat flux (CHF). Experiments were performed with three pressure spray nozzles over a broad range of inclination angles at five flow rates and subcoolings of 15°C and 25°C. These experiments also included high-speed video analysis of spray formation, impact, and recoil for a 1.0 X 1.0 cm 2 test surface. Inclined sprays produced elliptical impact areas, distorted by lateral liquid flow that provided partial resistance to dryout along the downstream edge of the impact ellipse. These observations are used to determine the locations of CHF commencement along the test surface. A new theoretical model shows that increasing inclination angle away from normal decreases both the spray impact area and the volumetric flux. These trends explain the observed trend of decreasing CHF with increasing inclination angle. Combining the new model with a previous point-based CHF correlation shows great success in predicting the effects of spray inclination on CHF.
Lateral geniculate body response to a variable stimulus frequency.

Abstract The transfer properties of the lateral geniculate body were studied by utilizing a sinusoidally modulated input stimulus and recording from post-synaptic geniculate cells. A nonhomogeneous response was found which could not be defined by a conventional transfer function.
Stimulation of sodium efflux in air-breathing fish exposed to low pH.

Abstract Sodium efflux and survival times at low pHs were measured in two species of facultative air-breathing fish. Mudminnows ( Umbra pygmaea ) and gar ( Lepisosteus platyrhincus ) were quite tolerant of exposure to acidic waters. This tolerance was associated with a striking capacity for resisting the acceleration in sodium efflux usually characteristic of low pH toxicity. Such a specialization for ionic regulation may have evolved within the context of life in naturally acidic swamps low in sodium concentration. The presence of a very strong degree of resistance to low pH-induced sodium loss in these species affirms the crucial importance of net sodium loss as a mechanism of acid toxicity. Both species showed similar relationships between sodium efflux and low pH. Survival times at low pHs were inversely related to sodium efflux. At death, body sodium concentrations in both species were severely depressed, reflecting large net losses of sodium. An acid resistant salmonid, Salvelinus fontinalis , shows a correlation between sodium efflux and survival time similar to those of the air-breathers studied here. Possession of the capacity for aerial respiration is obviously not the only or perhaps even the primary factor that confers increased resistance to acid toxicity in these two air-breathing fish.
Readability, Human Interest, and Coverage of Ten Textbooks on Special Education Assessment

Ten textbooks on psychological and educational assessment in special education were analyzed with the Flesch formula for reading ease and interest. Reading levels were surprisingly low, with six of the texts in the "difficult, college level" category, three books in the "fairly difficult, grade 10 to 12" category, and the other book in the "standard, grade 8-9" category. The human interest sores of eight of the books were classified as "dull," other two fell in the "mildly interesting" category. Text-book coverage on a variety of topics was also analyzed and Charted. Great disparity was found in the topics treated by the various authors. Widest coverage across textbooks was found for achievement, while scantly coverage was found for topics of objective tests, precision teaching, and modality assessment. A surprising number of book lacked an author index, and only four books included a glossary.
Differential impact of flanking sequences on estradiol- vs 4-hydroxytamoxifen-liganded estrogen receptor binding to estrogen responsive element DNA

Abstract The mechanism by which antiestrogens antagonize the ability of estrogen receptor (ER) to induce the transcription of estrogen-regulated genes is only partially understood. To examine the effect of estrogen responsive element (ERE) stereoalignment and flanking sequences on estradiol-liganded ER (E 2 -ER)-ERE and antiestrogen-liganded ER (4-hydroxytamoxifen-liganded ER or 4-OHT-ER)-ERE binding, several dimeric EREs, containing a perfect inverted repeat (5′-GGTCAgagTGACC-3′) but lacking the AT-rich flanking sequences typical of highly estrogen-responsive promoters, were cloned into a plasmid vector. The ERE centers of symmetry were spaced 1.5, 2.0, 3.0, 6.4 and 6.7 helical turns apart. E 2 -ER and 4-OHT-ER binding to these constructs was specific and saturable, but orientation-independent and, in contrast to our earlier work with E 2 -ER binding to AT-rich EREs, not cooperative. The affinity of E 2 -ER binding decreased as the distance between adjacent EREs was increased, suggesting that E 2 -ER binding to closely spaced EREs is more stable ( K d =0.38, 0.58, 0.83, 1.23, and 0.96 nM, respectively, for the above spacings). In contrast, the affinity of 4-OHT-ER binding increased with increased ERE spacing ( K d =2.90, 4.79, 1.39, 1.77, and 0.92 nM, respectively). The presence of AT-rich sequences flanking the ERE increased the binding affinity of E 2 -ER and 4-OHT-ER, an increase reflected in slower dissociation rates of ER from these EREs. The AT-rich sequence also enhanced the binding capacity of E 2 -ER but not 4-OHT-ER. Since the binding capacity of 4-OHT-ER is identical with or without an AT-rich region, we suggest that flanking sequences are more important in stabilizing E 2 -ER binding and may be critical for cooperative binding to stereoaligned EREs.
Parents’ Professional Sources of Advice Regarding Child Discipline and Their Use of Corporal Punishment

Parents (n = 500) were surveyed about which professional groups they were most likely to seek and follow advice from regarding child discipline as well as their use of corporal punishment (CP). Nearly half of the parents reported that they were most likely to seek child discipline advice from pediatricians (48%), followed by religious leaders (21%) and mental health professionals (18%). Parents who sought advice from religious leaders (vs pediatricians) had nearly 4 times the odds of reporting use of CP. Parents reported that they were more likely to follow the advice of pediatricians than any other professional; however, black parents were as likely to follow the advice of religious leaders as that of pediatricians. Pediatricians play a central role in advising parents about child discipline. Efforts to engage pediatricians in providing violence prevention counseling should continue. Increased efforts are needed to engage other professionals, especially religious leaders, in providing such advice to parents.
Mississippi's infectious disease hotline: a surveillance and education model for future disasters.

Introduction: The potential for outbreaks of epidemic disease among displaced residents was a significant public health concern in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. In response, the Mississippi Department of Health (MDH) and the American Red Cross (ARC) implemented a novel infectious disease surveillance system, in the form of a telephone “hotline”, to detect and rapidly respond to health threats in shelters. Methods: All ARC-managed shelters in Mississippi were included in the surveillance system. A symptom-based, case reporting method was developed and distributed to shelter staff, who were linked with MDH and ARC professionals by a toll-free telephone service. Hotline staff investigated potential infectious disease outbreaks, provided assistance to shelter staff regarding optimal patient care, and helped facilitate the evaluation of ill evacuees by local medical personnel. Results: Forty-three shelters sheltering 3,520 evacuees participated in the program. Seventeen shelters made 29 calls notifying the hotline of the following cases: (1) fever (6 cases); (2) respiratory infections (37 cases); (3) bloody diarrhea (2 cases); (4) watery diarrhea (15 cases); and (5) other, including rashes (33 cases). Thirty-four of these patients were referred to a local physician or hospital for further diagnosis and disease management. Three cases of chickenpox were identified. No significant infectious disease outbreaks occurred and no deaths were reported. Conclusions: The surveillance system used direct verbal communication between shelter staff and hotline managers to enable more rapid reporting, mapping, investigation, and intervention, far beyond the capabilities of a more passive or paper-based system. It also allowed for immediate feedback and education for staff unfamiliar with the diseases and reporting process. Replication of this program should be considered during future disasters when health surveillance of a large, disseminated shelter population is necessary. Cavey AMJ, Spector JM, MD, Ehrhardt D, Kittle T, McNeill M, Greenough PG, Kirsch TD: Mississippi’s infectious disease hotline: A surveillance and education model for future natural disasters. Prehospital Disast Med 2009;24(1):11‐17.
Image Mapping and Visual Attention on a Sensory Ego-Sphere

The Sensory Ego-Sphere (SES) is a short-term memory for a robot in the form of an egocentric, tessellated, spherical, sensory-motor map of the robot's locale. This paper reports on: (1) the mapping to the SES of images with much higher resolution than the SES itself, and (2) the processing of visual attention on the SES. Described is a procedure to store spatially-overlapping imagery in the SES database and to generate and update a spherical composite of its visual contents. The composite image serves both as a visual map of the locale and as a representation of the local contents of the underlying full-resolution imagery. Visual attention enables fast alignment of overlapping images without warping or position optimization, since an attentional point (AP) on the composite typically corresponds to one on each of the collocated regions in the images. Such alignment speeds analysis of the multiple images of the area. Compositing and attention were performed two ways and compared: (1) APs were computed directly on the composite and not on the full resolution images until the time of retrieval. (2) The attentional operator was applied to all incoming imagery. Then the locations and values of the APs on the composite were computed as a function of those points within the corresponding regions of the collocated images. It was found that although the second method was slower, it produced consistent and, thereby, more useful APs.
Polyadenylation of vesicular stomatitis virus mRNA.

Abstract Vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) mRNA isolated from infected cell polysomes contains polyadenylic acid [poly(A)] sequences. Detergent-activated purified virions in vitro can transcribe complementary RNA, which has sedimentation properties similar to mRNA, and this RNA also contains poly(A) sequences. Digestion of virion RNA with U2 RNase under conditions where hydrolysis is specific for purine linkages leaves no sequences of polyuridylic acid corresponding in length to the poly(A) on the transcripts. Growth of infectious virus is not inhibited by 3-deoxyadenosine (cordycepin) under conditions in which it inhibits polyadenylation of cellular mRNA. The virus-specific mRNA produced in the presence of cordycepin has poly(A) sequences of the same size distribution as that synthesized in the absence of cordycepin.
CONFIRMATION OF DOMOIC ACID PRODUCTION BY PSEUDONITZSCHIA AUSTRALIS (BACILLARIOPHYCEAE) CULTURES1

Single clone isolates of Pseudonitzschia australis Frenguelli (= Nitzschia pseudoseriata Hasle) isolated from a toxic bloom in Monterey Bay, California produced domoic acid in culture. Although long-term historical records do not inclicate previous blooms of this species on the Pacific coast, this is probably because it has been often misidentified as Nitzschia seriata Hasle; previous evidence for toxicity is lacking. Hydrographic data suggest that areas such as Monterey Bay might be «hot spots» for domoic acid-producing blooms
View-invariant dynamic texture recognition using a bag of dynamical systems

In this paper, we consider the problem of categorizing videos of dynamic textures under varying view-point. We propose to model each video with a collection of linear dynamics systems (LDSs) describing the dynamics of spatiotemporal video patches. This bag of systems (BoS) representation is analogous to the bag of features (BoF) representation, except that we use LDSs as feature descriptors. This poses several technical challenges to the BoF framework. Most notably, LDSs do not live in a Euclidean space, hence novel methods for clustering LDSs and computing codewords of LDSs need to be developed. Our framework makes use of nonlinear dimensionality reduction and clustering techniques combined with the Martin distance for LDSs for tackling these issues. Our experiments show that our BoS approach can be used for recognizing dynamic textures in challenging scenarios, which could not be handled by existing dynamic texture recognition methods.
Water chemistry-based classification of streams and implications for restoring mined Appalachian watersheds

We analyzed seasonal water samples from the Cheat and Tygart Valley river basins, West Virginia, USA, in an attempt to classify streams based on water chemistry in this coal-mining region. We also examined temporal variability among water samples. Principal component analysis identified two important dimensions of variation in water chemistry. This variation was determined largely by mining-related factors (elevated metals, sulfates, and conductivity) and an alkalinity-hardness gradient. Cluster analysis grouped water samples into six types that we described as reference, soft, hard, transitional, moderate acid mine drainage, and severe acid mine drainage. These types were statistically distinguishable in multidimensional space. Classification tree analysis confirmed that chemical constituents related to acid mine drainage and acid rain distinguished these six groups. Hard, soft, and severe acid mine drainage type streams were temporally constant compared to streams identified as reference, transitional, and moderate acid mine drainage type, which had a greater tendency to shift to a different water type between seasons. Our research is the first to establish a statistically supported stream classification system in mined watersheds. The results suggest that human-related stressors superimposed on geology are responsible for producing distinct water quality types in this region as opposed to more continuous variation in chemistry that would be expected in an unimpacted setting. These findings provide a basis for simplifying stream monitoring efforts, developing generalized remediation strategies, and identifying specific remediation priorities in mined Appalachian watersheds.
The Importance of Tropical Sea Surface Temperature Patterns in Simulations of Last Glacial Maximum Climate

Abstract Prescribed SST experiments are performed using the National Center for Atmospheric Research’s Community Climate Model version 3 general circulation model to isolate the contribution of the tropical SSTs reconstructed by the Climate, Long-range Investigation, Mapping and Prediction study (CLIMAP) to the modeled global atmospheric circulation anomalies at the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). The changes in tropical SST patterns cause changes in tropical convection that force large (>300 m in 500-mb geopotential height) changes in Northern Hemisphere wintertime circulation. These midlatitude circulation changes occur despite the small (1°C) change in the mean tropical SST between the present and the CLIMAP reconstruction. In fact, the midlatitude circulation changes due to the difference in the tropical SST pattern between the present and the CLIMAP reconstruction are greater than the circulation changes due to a uniform tropical SST cooling of 3°C or those due to the presence of the LGM ice sheets. The ...
Deformation mechanisms and pseudoelastic behaviors in trilayer composite metal nanowires

The deformation mechanisms in Cu-Ni-Cu composite nanowires subjected to uniaxial tensile loading are investigated using molecular-dynamics simulations. We particularly explore the coupled effects of geometry and coherent interface on the tendency of nanowires to deform via twins and show pseudoelastic behavior. It is found that the critical size to exhibit pseudoelasticity in composite nanowires is $5.6\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}5.6\text{ }{\text{nm}}^{2}$, which is 6.5 times greater than single-crystalline Cu nanowires. Our results also show that the composite nanowires offer stiffness enhancement compared to the corresponding single-crystal Cu nanowires.