cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Modest global-scale cooling despite extensive early Pleistocene ice sheets

Abstract Expanded continental ice sheets and lowered greenhouse gases were the major radiative perturbations at the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), and while they had similar magnitudes when averaged over the globe, their spatial distributions were dramatically different. It is consequently unclear how much each contributed to cooling around the world, and the overall global mean cooling in turn. Part of the difficulty in separating their effects is that ice sheets and greenhouse gases closely covaried over the late Pleistocene. The situation may have been different during the early Pleistocene though. Then, the ice sheets seem to have, at least on occasion, reached extents comparable to the LGM, but CO2 levels were relatively high, similar to those of late Pleistocene interglacials. A global compilation of 11 sea surface temperature records shows substantially less cooling in most regions during the Marine Isotope Stage 100 and 98 glacials at ∼2.5 Ma than during the LGM, suggesting that the thermal reach of the ice sheets was relatively limited and perhaps consistent with a more important role for greenhouse gases in driving temperatures around much of the world.
INTELLIGENCE TESTING AS A SOCIAL ACTIVITY

This chapter discusses intelligence testing as a social activity. Intelligence has primarily been the concern of psychologists rather than sociologists because intelligence is assumed to be an individual rather than a social phenomenon. Within the psychological literature, intelligence is generally approached operationally. The notion that the environment affects scholastic performance and performance on IQ tests introduced a sociological perspective into the study of intelligence. The direct relationship between socioeconomic status (SES) and IQ test scores was observed as early as 1912 by William Stern. He found that a group of 10-year-olds in a low economic status German school showed exactly the same proficiency on the Binet–Simon tests, a forerunner of the Stanford–Binet test, as did a group of 9-year-olds in a high status school. Subsequent studies tend to show the same general results. There are significant differences in intelligence test performances of the children from differing SES backgrounds. The higher SES children always obtain the higher scores. Those who have claimed that IQ tests are culture ally biased against the low SES child make one of two environmental arguments. The first is that intelligence is subject to modifications by a stimulating or non-stimulating environment, and that the higher SES environment provides more stimulation. Hence it is understandable that higher SES children score higher on intelligence tests than lower SES children.
Comparison of Two Methods for Improving Distance Perception in Virtual Reality

Distance is commonly underperceived in virtual environments (VEs) compared to real environments. Past work suggests that displaying a replica VE based on the real surrounding environment leads to more accurate judgments of distance, but that work has lacked the necessary control conditions to firmly make this conclusion. Other research indicates that walking through a VE with visual feedback improves judgments of distance and size. This study evaluated and compared those two methods for improving perceived distance in VEs. All participants experienced a replica VE based on the real lab. In one condition, participants visually previewed the real lab prior to experiencing the replica VE, and in another condition they did not. Participants performed blind-walking judgments of distance and also judgments of size in the replica VE before and after walking interaction. Distance judgments were more accurate in the preview compared to no preview condition, but size judgments were unaffected by visual preview. Distance judgments and size judgments increased after walking interaction, and the improvement was larger for distance than for size judgments. After walking interaction, distance judgments did not differ based on visual preview, and walking interaction led to a larger improvement in judged distance than did visual preview. These data suggest that walking interaction may be more effective than visual preview as a method for improving perceived space in a VE.
Expertise Fails to Attenuate Gendered Biases in Judicial Decision-Making:

Although the influence of gender ideology on lay decision-making has been established, it is not known to what extent expertise may mitigate gendered biases and improve decision-making quality. In ...
Relationship between intraoperative serum lactate and hemoglobin levels on postoperative renal function in patients undergoing elective cardiac surgery.

Background and aim We examined the relationship between serum lactate and hemoglobin levels on renal function and postoperative outcome in low-risk elective coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) patients. Methods Intraoperative hemoglobin and lactate levels were measured in elective isolated CABG patients. Patients with renal dysfunction (baseline creatinine>2 mg/dL) were excluded. Multivariate logistic regression was used to determine associations between lactate, hemoglobin, and acute kidney injury (AKI). Results A total of 375 patients met study requirements, and 56/375 (15%) developed AKI. Of the patients who developed AKI, 43/278 (15.5%) were males, 13/97 (13.4%) females, and 11/44 (25%) African-Americans. Bivariate analysis between AKI and non-AKI subgroups found significant differences in age, race, baseline estimated glomerular filtration rate, preoperative hemoglobin, peak serum lactate, initial hemoglobin, and nadir hemoglobin. A high peak Lactate level (odds ratio [OR] 1.44[1.15-1.82]), low hemoglobin (OR 0.69[0.49-0.96]), and African American race (OR 2.26[0.96-5.05]) were independently associated with acute kidney injury. A significant relationship between decreasing intraoperative hemoglobin and increasing intraoperative serum lactate levels was observed exclusively in patients who developed postoperative AKI. Serum creatinine levels peaked, on average, 48 h postoperatively in the AKI subset of patients. Conclusion In this series, 15% of patients who underwent elective cardiopulmonary bypass developed transient acute renal dysfunction. High lactate levels and low hemoglobin levels during cardiopulmonary bypass were associated with an increased risk of kidney injury.
Induction of Chemotactic Cytokines by Minimally Oxidized Ldl

An important initiating event in atherogenesis is the entry of monocytes into the vessel wall. In cholesterol fed animals after approximately one week of feeding, monocytes begin to bind to the vessel wall and migrate into the subendothelial space (1,2). Here they take up lipid and form foam cells. Monocyte binding occurs only in certain areas of the vessel referred to as areas of prediliction (3). In these areas liproteins accumulate (4), and several investigators have shown that these lipoproteins are oxidized (5,6). Our group has studied the effects of minimally oxidized LDL (MM-LDL) on the interactions of monocytes with endothelial cells (7,8).
The Interaction of Pteroylpolyglutamates with Calf Thymus Thymidylate Synthase

Calf thymus thymidylate synthase was purified to homogeneity using a pteroyltetraglutamyllysine Sepharose affinity column. Inhibition of the purified enzyme by folate or methotrexate was enhanced by addition of γ-Glu residues. Tetrahydrofolate, tetrahydropteroyltriglutamate and tetrahydropteroylheptaglutamate, all having the natural configuration at C-6, all showed similar Km values near 15 μM. Thus, although calf thymus thymidylate synthase showed a higher affinity for pteroylpolyglutamates than pteroylmonoglutamate, this was not reflected in lowered Km values with the corresponding tetrahydropteroylpolyglutamate substrates.
Leukemia of the Penis

Leukemia of the penis is an extremely rare entity. A case involving the distal penis is described, and the relevant evaluation and treatment are discussed. Only 2 other documented cases of penile leukemia are found in the literature. Identification and treatment of the underlying etiology are important aspects of this unusual disease entity.
The VOR: A Model for Visual-Motor Plasticity

The vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) is driven by vestibular sensory signals from the labyrinths of the inner ear and generates compensatory eye movements whose goal is to maintain a clear and stable view of the environment during head movements. These eye movements are elicited with short latency and utilize relatively well-characterized neural circuitry in the pons and cerebellum. The VOR operates open-loop, thus requiring a versatile and fast way of adjusting its properties in response to changes in either the sensory drive or the motor output. Thus, it is characterized by an enormous ability to adapt to altered sensorimotor environments. The relatively simple neural architecture of these reflexive responses, coupled with their stereotyped but highly adaptable properties, make them ideal to study sensorimotor plasticity.
The role of the unfolded protein response in arrhythmias

Human heart failure is characterized by arrhythmogenic electrical remodeling consisting mostly of ion channel downregulations. Reversing these downregulations is a logical approach to antiarrhythmic therapy, but understanding the pathophysiological mechanisms of the reduced currents is crucial for finding the proper treatments. The unfolded protein response (UPR) is activated by endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress and has been found to play pivotal roles in different diseases including neurodegenerative diseases, diabetes mellitus, and heart disease. Recently, the UPR is reported to regulate multiple cardiac ion channels, contributing to arrhythmias in heart disease. In this review, we will discuss which UPR modulators and effectors could be involved in regulation of cardiac ion channels in heart disease, and how the understanding of these regulating mechanisms may lead to new antiarrhythmic therapeutics that lack the proarrhythmic risk of current ion channel blocking therapies.
American Sign Language alphabet recognition using Convolutional Neural Networks with multiview augmentation and inference fusion

Abstract American Sign Language (ASL) alphabet recognition by computer vision is a challenging task due to the complexity in ASL signs, high interclass similarities, large intraclass variations, and constant occlusions. This paper describes a method for ASL alphabet recognition using Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) with multiview augmentation and inference fusion, from depth images captured by Microsoft Kinect. Our approach augments the original data by generating more perspective views, which makes the training more effective and reduces the potential overfitting. During the inference step, our approach comprehends information from multiple views for the final prediction to address the confusing cases caused by orientational variations and partial occlusions. On two public benchmark datasets, our method outperforms the state-of-the-arts.
The Inclusion of Ecosystem Service Valuations in Bioenergy Cost Analysis: A Case Study of Constructed Wetlands in the Neotropics

Abstract From an ecosystem services perspective, wetlands are among the most valuable ecosystems per unit area on earth. Here, we investigate the ability of a constructed wetland to provide two ecosystem services – biomass for bioenergy and wastewater treatment – using Costa Rica as a case study for a Neotropical developing world context. In the absence of wastewater treatment ecosystem services, biomass production costs are expected to range from 243 to 1287 $ dry Mg−1 depending on model assumptions. When ecosystem services are valued based on a contingent valuation method and given optimistic capital cost assumptions, the costs of biomass production range from 38 to −290 $ dry Mg−1. Negative costs indicate income and suggest that under certain assumptions, the value of water treatment services is large enough to pay for wetland operations, and that biomass can be provisioned for free while still maintaining system profitability. The analysis suggests that the valuation of multiple ecosystem services may alter the economic sustainability of some biomass for bioenergy production systems.
Neuropsychological Deficit Profiles, Vascular Risk Factors, and Neuropathological Findings in Hispanic Older Adults with Autopsy-Confirmed Alzheimer's Disease.

This study aimed to determine if patterns of neuropsychological deficits, vascular risk factors, and neuropathology differ in Hispanic and Non-Hispanic patients with autopsy-confirmed Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Participants were enrolled in a longitudinal study at the Shiley-Marcos AD Research Center at the University of California, San Diego. Hispanic (n = 14) and Non-Hispanic (n = 20) patients with autopsy-confirmed AD who scored ≥95 on the Dementia Rating Scale (DRS) were included. Patient groups were matched on age, education, global mental status, and severity of functional decline; they were compared to Hispanic (n = 14) or Non-Hispanic (n = 20) cognitively-normal controls of similar age and education. Ethnicity (Hispanic, Non-Hispanic) by disease state (autopsy-confirmed AD or cognitively normal) comparisons were made for cognitive test performance and vascular risk factors. Patient groups were further compared on measures of AD (Braak stage, neuritic plaques, neurofibrillary tangles), vascular neuropathology, and performance across cognitive domains of memory, language, attention, executive functions, and visuospatial abilities after scores were z-transformed based on respective culturally-appropriate control groups. Patient groups had similar overall AD pathology burden, whereas Hispanics with AD had more small parenchymal arteriolar disease and amyloid angiopathy than Non-Hispanics with AD. Despite largely similar pathology, Hispanics with AD were less cognitively impaired (relative to respective NC groups) than Non-Hispanics with AD, and exhibited a different pattern of deficits across cognitive domains. Findings suggest that cognitive deficits that are usually prominent in AD may be less salient in Hispanic patients and this may adversely impact the ability to clinically detect the disease in mild to moderate stages.
Bacterial Secretion Systems

In this chapter, we discuss the structure, mechanism of action, and function of bacterial secretion systems as they relate to the delivery of polypeptides into the host environment. These systems encompass those that deliver proteins into the extracellular milieu where they can diffuse to nearby cells or tissues as well as those that are directly delivered into eukaryotic or other prokaryotic cells. Since many of these secreted proteins are effectors or toxins, the relationship between their delivery and pathogenesis is explored using specific examples of their action for certain pathogens. The learner will be well versed in the basic biology of bacterial secretion, especially relevant concepts as they relate to the negative effects on host physiology.
A Reliable Photovoltaic Inverter Using a Fault Tolerant Algorithm and a Traic System

Power electronic inverters play a key role in power conversion of solar photovoltaic (PV) systems. Thus, the inverters should be highly reliable and immune to faulty conditions. This paper proposes a fault tolerant algorithm that detects, classifies the switch faults and tolerate them through applying a Triac based fault tolerant configuration. During the fault diagnosis process, the inductor current values and output voltage values are continuously observed. Consequently, the faults are identified and classified. Thus, the control system along with an additional Triac based configuration operate to maintain a stable power flow. Using these techniques and algorithms, the detection and classification of the faults is implemented in 1–2 switching cycle. Moreover, the reliability of PV inverters increases due to additional switching options created by Triac system.
Application of Probabilistic Risk Assessment (PRA) During Conceptual Design for the NASA Orbital Space Plane (OSP)

In order to meet the space transportation needs for a new century, America’s National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has implemented an Integrated Space Transportation Plan to produce safe, economical, and reliable access to space. One near term objective of this initiative is the design and development of a next-generation vehicle and launch system that will transport crew and cargo to and from the International Space Station (ISS), the Orbital Space Plane (OSP). The OSP system is composed of a manned launch vehicle by an existing Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV). The OSP will provide emergency crew rescue from the ISS by 2008, and provide crew and limited cargo transfer to and from the ISS by 2012. A key requirement is for the OSP to be safer and more reliable than the Soyuz and Space Shuttle, which currently provide these capabilities.
Power Cell Design and Assessment Methodology Based on a High-Current 10-kV SiC MOSFET Half-Bridge Module

While 10-kV silicon-carbide (SiC) MOSFETs are gradually penetrating medium-voltage (MV) applications, intertwined challenges concerning high-voltage insulation, high ${dv}/{dt}$ , protections, and thermal management are simultaneously imposed to MV converters. For the modular multilevel converter, a systematical power cell design and assessment methodology (DAM) to tackle the unprecedented challenge synergy is essential and, yet, absent. Thereby, this article aims to develop a DAM based on a high-current 10-kV SiC MOSFET half-bridge module. An overall introduction of the power cell and a hierarchical DAM workflow is first presented, followed by the comprehensive component-level DAM with details on design challenges, solutions, assessment instruments, procedures, and test results. Subsequently, the DAM is expanded to the power cell level by exploring its safe operating area associated with switching frequency, power-processing capability, and temperature limit in various operation modes, which, in turn, validates the component designs and determines if they need iterations. Following the methodology, the power cell design is finalized, capable of continuous operation under 6 kV, 84-A rms, and 10 kHz, exhibiting 99.3% efficiency and transient immunity up to 100 V/ns.
‘More than a million’: the politics of accounting for the dead of the Rwandan genocide

Accounting for the dead after a humanitarian catastrophe is often fraught with methodological and/or political pitfalls. The genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda is a case in point. A UN Commission...
Organic Components of Small Bodies in the Outer Solar System: Some Results of the New Horizons Mission.

The close encounters of the Pluto–Charon system and the Kuiper Belt object Arrokoth (formerly 2014 MU69) by NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft in 2015 and 2019, respectively, have given new perspectives on the most distant planetary bodies yet explored. These bodies are key indicators of the composition, chemistry, and dynamics of the outer regions of the Solar System’s nascent environment. Pluto and Charon reveal characteristics of the largest Kuiper Belt objects formed in the dynamically evolving solar nebula inward of ~30 AU, while the much smaller Arrokoth is a largely undisturbed relic of accretion at ~45 AU. The surfaces of Pluto and Charon are covered with volatile and refractory ices and organic components, and have been shaped by geological activity. On Pluto, N2, CO and CH4 are exchanged between the atmosphere and surface as gaseous and condensed phases on diurnal, seasonal and longer timescales, while Charon’s surface is primarily inert H2O ice with an ammoniated component and a polar region colored with a macromolecular organic deposit. Arrokoth is revealed as a fused binary body in a relatively benign space environment where it originated and has remained for the age of the Solar System. Its surface is a mix of CH3OH ice, a red-orange pigment of presumed complex organic material, and possibly other undetected components.
Vielfalt der Geschlechter-Welt? – Zur Reproduktion von Geschlechterstereotypen auf Spielzeugverpackungen

Die Untersuchung von Spielzeugen stellt eine wichtige und notwendige Herausforderung fur die Erziehungswissenschaft der Gegenwart dar. Sobald Kinder in ihrem Spielverhalten auf Spielzeuge zuruckgreifen, sind Spielzeuge unmittelbar mit der Sozialisation von Kindern verbunden. Damit leisten sie einen wesentlichen Beitrag zur Auseinandersetzung mit den Rollen-, Wert- und Normalitatsvorstellungen einer Gesellschaft. Vor allem Figuren und deren szenische Darstellung beinhalten die Moglichkeit, „die Vielfalt der Welt“ (geobra Brandstatter, Playmobil. Information fur Eltern, 2018) abzubilden, fur Heterogenitat zu sensibilisieren und die verschiedenen Lebenswelten von Kindern einzubeziehen. Sie konnen Einfluss auf die Wahrnehmung und Bewertung von Heterogenitat nehmen, sie bieten Kindern Identitatsentwurfe an und ermoglichen es ihnen, Bilder von sich selbst und ihrer Umwelt zu gestalten, zugleich konnen sie den Glauben an bestehende Stereotype festigen oder reduzieren. Der Beitrag beschaftigt sich mit der Frage, ob und wie ‚Vielfalt‘ auf Spielzeugverpackungen von Playmobil abgebildet wird und ob die figurlichen Darstellungen und die Art der Verpackungsgestaltung genderspezifische Rollenvorstellungen und Stereotypisierungen enthalten.
Service Outsourcing and Dispersion of Customer Needs

This research explores how customer needs dispersion influences a firm's intent to outsource, and, if the firm does decide to outsource, how it can retain the potential cost advantages offered by a third-party supplier. Customer service plays a crucial role for firms to retain customers and spur revenue growth. It is, however, often outsourced to a third-party supplier, driven by cost savings and ability to focus on core businesses. While there is a large body of literature studying service outsourcing, the dynamic nature of dispersion in customer needs has received sparse attention in the past but is becoming a major concern due to increased market turbulence. This research develops a normative model to explore key drivers that impact service outcomes with heterogeneous and evolving customer needs over time. We find that customer needs dispersion can accelerate a firm's propensity to outsource, and a firm typically benefits from outsourcing, at least initially. Such benefits, however, can dissipate rapidly over time due to knowledge decay with outsourcing; that is, the firm becomes less certain about the underlying customer needs because it is no longer directly involved in service provision. Monitoring efforts can potentially help the firm to arrest the dissipation of the service benefit over time; there exists, however, a threshold of monitoring effort where the benefit of monitoring emerges only if this threshold is surpassed. Hence, a firm is more likely to benefit from outsourcing when an efficient, consistent monitoring effort is implemented over time.
Landscape Correspondence of Empirical and Population Risks in the Eigendecomposition Problem.

Spectral methods include a family of algorithms related to the eigenvectors of certain data-generated matrices. In this work, we are interested in studying the geometric landscape of the eigendecomposition problem in various spectral methods. In particular, we first extend known results regarding the landscape at critical points to larger regions near the critical points in a special case of finding the leading eigenvector of a symmetric matrix. For a more general eigendecomposition problem, inspired by recent findings on the connection between the landscapes of empirical risk and population risk, we then build a novel connection between the landscape of an eigendecomposition problem that uses random measurements and the one that uses the true data matrix. We also apply our theory to a variety of low-rank matrix optimization problems and conduct a series of simulations to illustrate our theoretical findings.
Hybridizing Particle Swarm and Brain Storm Optimizations for Applications in Electromagnetics

This paper compares the performance of two global optimization algorithms: particle swarm optimization (PSO) and brain storm optimization (BSO). We observe that BSO has clear advantage in the speed of global exploration from a random initialization, while PSO outperformed in the accuracy of local exploitation with a predefined initialization. The possibility of hybridizing PSO and BSO is then investigated with an example of patch antenna circuit model determination. It is shown that the BSO-PSO hybrid algorithm could benefit from the advantages of both PSO and BSO, and therefore outperforms single optimization methods within the same number of iterations.
Comments on “Information and Product Differentiation”

Kelvin Lancaster’s revolution has been underway for ten years1; I can boast of having been a private in his army from the first (but brevetted to corporal by the Quarterly Review of Economics and Business) 2 Looking back, then, I find myself a little puzzled that the revolution has made as little progress as it has. In part, this may be a matter of no more than the passage of time. Kuhn has taught us that scientific revolutions are won only over the dead bodies and vacant chairs of the old guard, and many of the old guard are not so very old. I suspect, however, that there is more to it than that. Lancaster’s new consumer theory is indeed a superior kit of tools if we want to understand consumer decisions in a good deal of detail. But why should we want to do that? The difficulty may be this. However fine a kit of tools, the new demand theory contains no one grand hypothesis that can concentrate the forces of rebellion against a single point in the lines of reaction. Such a hypothesis is necessary to a scientific revolution. It is less important that the hypothesis be proved. Hypotheses are like areal bombs; an explosion is as effective in scattering the enemy as a solid impact, if not more so.3
11 Modeling Category Learning and Use: Representation and Processing

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses two ways to investigate general classes of concept and categorization models, given the tradeoff and indeterminacy between claims about the nature of processing and of representation. One approach is to move away from the mechanism language of representation and processing to test classes of models. In this approach, instead of detailing a mechanism, the effort is to precisely specify a class of mapping functions that the representation and process—whatever they may be—jointly compute. In the case of category learning, the function domain is a set of learning instances plus the target items to categorize, and the function range is the set of possible category judgments. Thus, any such function maps from the learning experience plus current example onto a categorization judgment of the current example. Testing a class of models, then, consists of testing a specified class of functions. Some property inconsistent with the specified class of mapping functions must be identified and the property can then be tested. Any test showing the necessity of the critical property is then a demonstration of the inadequacy of the specified class.
Cytochrome P-450 in insects: 2. Multiple forms in the flesh fly (Sarcophaga bullata, Parker), and the blow fly (Phormia regina (Meigen))☆

Abstract Microsomes prepared from the abdomens of the flesh fly ( Sarcophaga bullata , Parker) and the blow fly ( Phormia regina (Meigen)) contain approximately one-fifth and one-eighth as much cytochrome P -450, respectively, as those prepared from house fly ( Musca domestica , L.) abdomens. These values correlate well with the microsomal aldrin epoxidase activity of the three species and with their respective susceptibilities to the insecticide, propoxur. When the microsomes of the flesh fly and the blow fly are solubilized by treatment with deoxycholate and resolved by ion-exchange chromatography on DEAE-cellulose and hydroxylapatite, four chromatographically distinct fractions containing cytochrome P -450 are obtained. Spectrophotometric assays of the cytochrome P -450 in these fractions indicate purifications of two-to sixfold for the flesh fly hemoprotein and two-to eightfold for that of the blow fly. SDS-Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of the four column fractions from the flesh fly microsomes indicates that six hemoproteins in the 40,000–60,000 molecular weight range are present. In similar experiments with blow fly fractions containing approximately the same amount of cytochrome P -450 no high molecular weight hemoproteins could be detected. This result is interpreted, with other evidence, as an indication of the greater instability of the blow fly hemoprotein. The results indicate that multiple forms of cytochrome P -450 are present in both species but there is insufficient data on which to estimate the number of such forms.
Virulence of oomycete pathogens from Phragmites australis-invaded and noninvaded soils to seedlings of wetland plant species

Soil pathogens affect plant community structure and function through negative plant–soil feedbacks that may contribute to the invasiveness of non-native plant species. Our understanding of these pathogen-induced soil feedbacks has relied largely on observations of the collective impact of the soil biota on plant populations, with few observations of accompanying changes in populations of specific soil pathogens and their impacts on invasive and noninvasive species. As a result, the roles of specific soil pathogens in plant invasions remain unknown. In this study, we examine the diversity and virulence of soil oomycete pathogens in freshwater wetland soils invaded by non-native Phragmites australis (European common reed) to better understand the potential for soil pathogen communities to impact a range of native and non-native species and influence invasiveness. We isolated oomycetes from four sites over a 2-year period, collecting nearly 500 isolates belonging to 36 different species. These sites were dominated by species of Pythium, many of which decreased seedling survival of a range of native and invasive plants. Despite any clear host specialization, many of the Pythium species were differentially virulent to the native and non-native plant species tested. Isolates from invaded and noninvaded soils were equally virulent to given individual plant species, and no apparent differences in susceptibility were observed between the collective groups of native and non-native plant species.
Effects of amine fluoride cleaning chemistry on metallic aluminum IC films. II. Determining causal chemistry of OCPs by a time-dependent free energy relationship

A mathematical expression has been developed describing the change in thermodynamic free energy for a chemical system as a function of time to aid the interpretation of experimental time-dependent energy curves, such as the open circuit potential (OCP) plots, generated in corrosion studies. Accurate results of chemical potentials and reaction rates, one pair of constants for each causal chemical reaction, were found. Reaction rate constants were determined for OCPs of Fe(CN) 4 - 6 + ½I 2 → Fe(CN) 3 - 6 + I - at room temperature of ω 1 = 0.011 ′ 0.002/s, for oxidation of Fe(CN) 4 - 6 to Fe(CN) 3 - 6 and ω 2 = 0.108 + 0.003/s for reduction of I 2 to I - , and the known half-cell potentials were reproduced. Experimental aluminum dissolution OCP data was fit using regression analysis describing a four to ten chemical reaction model. The formalism was useful in describing results of OCP plots of integrated circuits (IC) interconnect metals, cleaned by fluoride-based silicon wafer remover formulas, in terms of identifying the causal corrosion chemistry.
Temperature and field dependence of the energy gap of MgB 2 / Pb planar junctions

We have constructed ${\mathrm{MgB}}_{2}/\mathrm{Pb}$ planar junctions for both temperature and field dependence studies. Our results show that the small gap is a true bulk property of ${\mathrm{MgB}}_{2}$ superconductor, not due to surface effects. The temperature dependence of the energy gap manifests a nearly BCS-like behavior. Analysis of the effect of magnetic field on junctions suggests that the energy gap of ${\mathrm{MgB}}_{2}$ depends nonlinearly on the magnetic field. Moreover, ${\mathrm{MgB}}_{2}$ has an upper critical field of 15 T, in agreement with some reported ${H}_{c2}$ from transport measurements.
The Impact of Select Chronic Diseases on Outcomes after Trauma: A Study from the National Trauma Data Bank

Background Data regarding pre-existing comorbidities is often poorly recorded in trauma registries, and reports of their impact on outcomes are conflicting. Additionally, many previous reports, when conducting data analysis, do not reliably account for differences in case and control cohorts. Our objective was to identify a subset of patients with reliable comorbidity and complication data in the National Trauma Data Bank (NTDB) in order to determine the impact of select chronic organ system dysfunction on morbidity and mortality using case-control methodology. Study Design We analyzed a refined dataset from NTDB 7.1 (2002 to 2006) containing admissions to Level 1 and 2 trauma centers, which specified using chart abstraction to document comorbidities and complications. Patients with a history of cirrhosis, dialysis, HIV, and warfarin therapy were compared with a 2:1 case-matched control group. Data regarding age; Injury Severity Score (ISS); ventilator, ICU, and hospital lengths of stay; complications; and mortality were obtained. Pearson's chi-square, Fisher's exact test, and the t -test were used to compare demographics and outcomes of each comorbidity group. A p value Results After case-control matching, pre-existing cirrhosis, dialysis, and warfarin therapy were found to be risk factors for both complications and mortality; HIV/AIDS was found to be a risk factor only for complications. Conclusions Chronic hepatic failure, end-stage renal disease, immunodeficiency, and acquired coagulopathy are associated with higher resource use, complication rates, and mortality in a refined subset of NTDB patients.
Organic ion transport during seven decades the amino acids

The amino acids are ions of various charge combinations, and one can argue that historically they were the first ions for which the ongoing problem of membrane transport was presented; also that among transported ions these may undergo a highly detailed molecular recognition. Furthermore, the distribution of charge on the amino acid molecule determines by what route or routes it is conducted across the biological membrane, with what directional and structural specificity, and therefore what regulation is imposed, and where. Cases where a presumably charged chemical group behaves as if it were somehow absent from the amino acid have been observed to fall into several categories: Straightforward cases where the pH has been low enough or high enough to remove the charge by protonation or deprotonation, even in free solution. Cases where that protonation or deprotonation is facilitated at the binding site, and perhaps by the total transport process. The cystine molecule can apparently thus be rendered either a tripolar anion or a tripolar cation for transport. Cases where an otherwise co-transported Na+ is omitted to redress charge, or where a Na+ serves as a surrogate for a missing charged group on the amino acid molecule. A case where the protonation occurs reversibly at the receptor site rather than on the amino acid molecule.
Estrogen Receptor β Polymorphisms Are Associated With Bone Mass in Women and Men: The Framingham Study†

ESR2 is expressed in bone cells, yet few studies have tested its variation for association with BMD, an important determinant of osteoporotic fractures. This was investigated in 723 men and 795 women from the Framingham study. Results show association of variation in this gene with BMD in both women and men. Introduction: Osteoporotic fracture risk is highly dependent on bone density, a quantitative multifactorial trait with a substantial genetic component. In contrast to the growing body of evidence that estrogen receptor α (ESR1) plays a role in bone metabolism, few studies have examined the estrogen receptor β (ESR2) gene for association with BMD. An ESR2 CA repeat polymorphism, D14S1026, was associated with BMD in two small studies, each with <200 women. Materials and Methods: The objective of this investigation was to assess whether D14S1026 or four other intronic polymorphisms were associated with BMD in 723 men and 795 women (mean age, 60 years) from the offspring cohort of the population-based Framingham Study. BMD was measured at the femur (neck, trochanter, and Ward's area) and the lumbar spine (L2-L4). Results: In both women and men, there was significant association of D14S1026 genotype with measures of femoral but not spinal BMD. In addition, genotypes of two common single nucleotide polymorphisms, rs1256031 and rs1256059, in strong linkage disequilibrium with one another but not with D14S1026, were associated with measures of femoral BMD in men. The rs1256031 genotypes had up to a 4.0% difference in mean femoral BMD. An inferred rs1256031-D14S1026-rs1256059 haplotype C-23CA-T was significantly associated with reduced femoral BMD in women (p = 0.03, 0.003, and 0.01 for neck, trochanter, and Ward's area, respectively). Haplotype-based BMD differences ranged from 3.0% to 4.3%. Conclusions: We have observed significant association of common ESR2 variants with measures of femoral BMD in both men and women.
Buried alive: Imagining Africa in the Brazilian Northeast

Many rural black communities in Brazil are currently petitioning for legal recognition as descendant communities of fugitive slaves (quilombos) under a provision in the 1988 Constitution of Brazil. In this article, I analyze the elaboration and transformation of a family story into a narrative about slavery in one such recognized quilombo. I then further analyze the narrative's transformation into a play performed regularly by adolescent members of the quilombo. Because quilombo identity took shape in tandem with changes in the story, elements of the narrative have become crucial to the production of new bases for self-identification, solidarity, and conflict. At the same time, those transformations have been guided by, and continue to be associated with, practices, beliefs, and worldviews about race, color, ethnicity, and religion that were salient prior to the invocation of the constitutional provision. In addition to illustrating how law can be instrumental in transforming local cultural practices and self-understandings, the story told in this article adds to reexaminations of community as an invocation of positive associations tied to an assumed communal past.
Hierarchical dummy fill for process uniformity

To improve manufacturability and performance predictability, we seek to make a layout uniform with respect to prescribed density criteria, by inserting "fill" geometries into the layout. Previous approaches for flat layout density control are not scalable due to the necessity of solving very large linear programs, the large data volume of the solution, and the impact of hierarchy-breaking on verification. In this paper, we give the first methods for hierarchical layout density control for process uniformity. Our approach trades off naturally between runtime, solution quality, and output data volume. We also allow generation of compressed GDSII of fill geometries. Our experiments show that this hybrid hierarchical filling approach saves data volume and is scalable, while yielding solution quality that is competitive with existing Monte-Carlo and linear programming based approaches.
New Modeling and Control Design Techniques for Smart Deformable Aircraft Structures

A new modeling and control design specie cally tailored to smart aeroelastic systems is presented. The control problem is to achievea roll maneuverwith a desired roll rateusing a piezoelectric material laminated e exible wing subject to aerodynamic e eld. This multidisciplinary system of an elastic structure with piezoelectric actuating and sensing under external aerodynamic load is modeled with an integrated e nite element method. The deformed structureforobtaining thespecie crollrateismadeupofnewmassandstiffnessmatrices,whicharefunctionsofthe steady-state input electric potential to piezoelectric actuators. The resulting model in the generalized coordinates, whichhasa massmatrix,a nonsymmetricaerodynamicdamping matrix,and anonsymmetricstiffnessmatrix (due to aerodynamic stiffness ), is then transformed to real but nonorthogonal modal coordinates and a reduced-order model is developed. A new control design algorithm based on reciprocal state-space framework is introduced to achieve the desired roll rate and to dissipate vibrations by applying acceleration feedback.
A model for Assembly program maintenance

This paper presents a model for understanding assembly programs for software maintenance. It is based on the theory that explicit representation of various structural and functional elements of code and multiple relationships among them will aid program understanding and thus software maintenance. We present a parsing technique to extract all the required elements from assembly code to populate the model. The model is a reverse engineering technique. We use the term reverse engineering in its broad sense to include specification as well as design recovery. Most features of this model have been implemented in a tool named “RETA” for Reverse Engineering Tool for Assembly programs. The model is useful for software maintenance activities such as program understanding, ripple effect analysis, and program re-documentation. The ripple effect of a contemplated change is the parts of code that depend on the variable or a piece of code to be changed. Once the change is made, those parts need to be re-examined for possible modification. The model generates a functional menu for a given application. The menu describes the functionality of each routine. It is a hierarchical presentation of major program routines, the sub-routines supporting each major routine and so on. A routine at any level of detail consists of one or more paths through the code. Paths are presented as control flow sequences between code blocks. Code blocks, and hence functionalities, use and modify data. The maintainer locates the routine to be modified at the lowest level of detail within the functional menu. This automatically slices out the set of paths, and hence the set of code blocks, that have a role in the functionality to be changed. The code blocks in the slice determine the data that are used and modified within the routine to be changed. Path analysis and associated data-used and data-modified information are used to determine which code blocks are to be changed and which data roles are to be modified. The same set of relations are applied in reverse to identify the ripple effect.
On the Role of Poison Centers in Radiation Emergency Preparedness and Response Activities: Findings of the “Radiation Emergencies Public Health Roundtable” (Atlanta, GA—August 2012)

After the earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan on 11 March 2011, the ensuing Japanese nuclear power plant emergency renewed concerns among officials and citizens of the USA about contamination with radioactive material and the need for medical countermeasures (MCMs) to protect the public's health. The nation's poison centers (PCs), particularly those on the West Coast, received 400 calls requesting information about protective actions for contamination with radioactive material and exposure to ionizing radiation. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) experts analyzed PC call data through the National Poison Data System (NPDS) in order to target communication messages effectively [1]. Poison centers are already used extensively by medical facilities, individual clinicians, and the general public to assess, triage, manage, and monitor known or suspected toxic exposures. Collectively, PCs receive more than four million exposure and information calls annually [2]. All calls are electronically reported to NPDS, a near real-time surveillance system maintained by the American Association of Poison Control Centers (AAPCC) and CDC. As noted by CDC speakers at a March 2010 Public Health Grand Rounds session, there is a lack of sufficient radiation subject matter expertise, as well as a lack of education and training, in this topic within the public health community [3]. These shortcomings also apply to PC staff. Calls about radiation are not as frequent as calls about other topics; therefore, PC staff may lack sufficient knowledge of such topics as ionizing radiation, the health effects of radiation exposure, contamination with radioactive materials, and appropriate MCMs to treat each type of incident. The Health Studies Branch and Radiation Studies Branch are located within CDC's National Center for Environmental Health in Atlanta, Georgia. Staff from these two branches proposed to identify and discuss the existing knowledge gaps in radiation emergency preparedness and response among PC staff by organizing an educational session for PC professionals, followed by a roundtable discussion. Organizers envisioned the roundtable as a means of initiating a continuing dialogue between PCs and other public health entities about the current and potential roles that PCs can play during a radiation public health emergency. This paper briefly summarizes the roundtable and its main findings; a full report is available online at CDC's radiation emergencies Web portal.1
A semi-parametric approach to dual modeling when no replication exists

In many applications, it is of interest to simultaneously model the mean and variance of a response when no replication exists. Modeling the mean and variance simultaneously is commonly referred to as dual modeling. Parametric approaches to dual modeling are popular when the underlying mean and variance functions can be expressed explicitly. Quite often, however, nonparametric approaches are more appropriate due to the presence of unusual curvature in the underlying functions. In sparse data situations, nonparametric methods often fit the data too closely while parametric estimates exhibit problems with bias. We propose a semi-parametric dual modeling approach [Dual Model Robust Regression (DMRR)] for non-replicated data. DMRR combines parametric and nonparametric fits resulting in improved mean and variance estimation. The methodology is illustrated with a data set from the literature as well as via a simulation study.