cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Correction Behavior of Good and Poor Readers.

Abstract The purpose of this research was to quantitatively and qualitatively examine differences in corrected substitutions made in oral reading by good and poor readers. Two groups of students in grades 4–8 were randomly selected; good readers (N=60) and poor readers (N = 60) reading one or more years above and below grade level, respectively. Corrected substitutions made in oral reading samples at instructional and frustration levels were identified. Corrections were analyzed for graphophonemic, syntactic, and semantic acceptability. Findings indicated that good readers corrected higher percentages of miscues than did poor readers. Poor readers relied more heavily on graphophonemics to make corrections than did good readers. There were generally small differences between both groups’ use of semantics and syntax to make corrections except as material increased in difficulty. Information reported here suggests a need for additional research in correction behavior.
Perceived exertion and metabolic responses of women during aerobic dance exercise.

The relationship between ratings of perceived exertion (RPE) and metabolic responses was examined during aerobic dance exercise with combined arm and leg movements. 16 women with previous aerobic dance instructional experience performed three consecutive trials of 8 min. each of aerobic dance exercise at a cadence of 124 and 138 beats.min.-1. Estimates of RPE reported at the end of each trial were significantly different across the trials while heart rate and % maximum heart rate were significantly different between Trials 1 and 3. Correlations and partial correlations between RPE and all metabolic variables were not significant across trials and with trials combined except for ventilation. Results indicated that RPE should not be used singularly as an indicator of exercise intensity during aerobic dance exercise.
Homogeneous catalysis: Catalysts feel the force

Latent catalysts require activation, and this is often achieved with either heat, light or an additional chemical agent. By attaching polymer chains to known classes of metal–carbene complexes, it has now been shown that mechanical force can also be used to induce catalytic activity.
Comparative properties of channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus) and blue crab (Callinectes sapidus) acetylcholinesterases

Abstract 1. 1. Acetylcholinesterases (AChEs) from channel catfish and blue crabs were examined for substrate preference, K m s, effects of inhibitors, and pH and osmotic activity profiles. 2. 2. Similarities were noted for substrate preference along with pH and osmotic optima. 3. 3. Crab AChE had a lower K m (9 × 10 −5 vs 2 × 10 −4 M ) and was more sensitive in terms of ki 50 than fish AChE to eserine (2.6 × 10 −7 vs 3 × 10 −7 M), malathion (4.5 × 10 −5 vs 1.6 × 10 −4 M) and parathion (6.9 × 10 −5 vs 7 × 10 −4 M). 4. 4. Fish AChE appeared easier to solubilize using Triton X-100.
Operational Analysis of Uninterrupted Bicycle Facilities

The popularity of bicycles in North America is growing. As the popularity of bicycles has increased, so has the physical network of separate bicycle facilities and designated bicycle lanes in many locations. As a consequence of this growth, there is a demand for more information about bicycle operations on these facilities. Unfortunately, the state of knowledge regarding bicycle operations in the United States currently lags far behind that of motor vehicles and pedestrians. The international research that has been conducted to date regarding bicycle operations on uninterrupted facilities is thoroughly reviewed, and recommended procedures for the operational analysis of uninterrupted bicycle facilities are outlined. The recommended procedures are based on the concept of "frequencies of events" involving a bicyclist and other bicyclists or facility users. Events are defined as bicycle maneuvers required by a bicyclist on a facility, including passings (same-direction encounters) and meetings (opposite-dire...
Rapid three-dimensional functional magnetic resonance imaging of the initial negative BOLD response

Abstract Functional MRI is most commonly used to study the local changes in blood flow that accompanies neuronal activity. In this work we introduce a new approach towards acquiring and analyzing fMRI data that instead provides the potential to study the initial oxygen consumption in the brain that accompanies activation. As the oxygen consumption is closer in timing to the underlying neuronal activity than the subsequent blood flow, this approach promises to provide more precise information about the location and timing of activity. Our approach is based on using a new single shot 3D echo-volumar imaging sequence which samples a small central region of 3D k-space every 100 ms, thereby giving a low spatial resolution snapshot of the brain with extremely high temporal resolution. Explicit and simple rules for implementing the trajectory are provided, together with a straightforward reconstruction algorithm. Using our approach allows us to effectively study the behavior of the brain in the time immediately following activation through the initial negative BOLD response, and we discuss new techniques for detecting the presence of the negative response across the brain. The feasibility and efficiency of the approach is confirmed using data from a visual–motor task and an auditory–motor–visual task. The results of these experiments provide a proof of concept of our methodology, and indicate that rapid imaging of the initial negative BOLD response can serve an important role in studying cognition tasks involving rapid mental processing in more than one region.
Interactions between the tobacco budworm, Heliothis virescens, and the δ-endotoxin produced by the HD-1 isolate of Bacillus thuringiensis var. kurstaki: Relationship between length of exposure to the toxin and survival

Abstract Larvae of the tobacco budworm, Heliothis virescens, which were fed ad libitum for 24, 48, and 72 hr on a diet treated with various levels of the δ-endotoxin produced by the HD-1 isolate of Bacillus thuringiensis var. kurstaki and then transferred to an untreated diet, showed an unexpected capacity to recover from the effects of the toxin, although, as the length of exposure increased, the capacity decreased. Observations on larvae held to emergence indicated that recovery from the toxin was complete. X-ray studies using Ba2+ incorporated into the diet showed that, although the toxin paralyzed the midgut of the treated animals, many animals recovered after the toxin was removed, with food once again passing through the gut.
Design of a nano-machined pyroelectric detector for low thermal conductance

Pyroelectric detector is a class of thermal detector in which the change in temperature causes the change in the spontaneous polarization in the sensing material. In this work, we report the design of uncooled pyroelectric detectors which utilized a nanometer sized truss to support the suspended detector. The design and performance of pyroelectric detectors have been conducted by simulating the structure with Intellisuite™ utilizing Finite Element Method (FEM). The simulated detectors had a spider web-like structure with each of the strut of spider web had a width of 100 nm. Ca modified lead titanate (PCT) was employed as the thermometer because of its high pyroelectric figure of merit. The pyroelectric detectors utilized Ni 0.8 Cr 0.2 absorber, PCT sensing layer, Ti electrodes, Al 2 O 3 structural layer to obtain low thermal conductance between the detector and Si substrate. Three different types of pyroelectric detectors were designed and analyzed. The first design had linear electrode and simple spider web support. The value of the thermal conductance of this detector was found to be 3.98×10 -8 W/K. The second design had a longer thermal path than the first one and had a thermal conductivity of 2.41×10 -8 W/K. The design was optimized for the best result by modifying the shape, dimension and thickness of various layers namely absorber, electrodes, sensing layer and struts. The thermal conductance of the third design was found to be as low as 4.57×10 -9 W/K which is significantly lower than previously reported values. The highest calculated detectivity and reponsivity values were 1.15 × 10 10 cm Hz 1/2 /W and 4.9 × 10 7 V/W respectively.
New universal physical model for the recoverable part of NBTI degradation

In this study, we propose a new universal electron trapping/detrapping model of interface traps for the recoverable part of negative bias temperature instability (NBTI) using dispersive relaxation time. In particular, our model can separate different phases of NBTI process by different slopes of logarithmic time dependence for the first time. We have also successfully derived a normalized universal relaxation relation of this part of NBTI.
Solving the aerodynamics of fungal flight: how air viscosity slows spore motion

Viscous drag causes the rapid deceleration of fungal spores after high-speed launches and limits discharge distance. Stokes' law posits a linear relationship between drag force and velocity. It provides an excellent fit to experimental measurements of the terminal velocity of free-falling spores and other instances of low Reynolds number motion (Re 10 m s(-1) and travel as far as 2.5m (Re>100).
Stored waveform simultaneous mass-selective ejection/excitation for Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry

Abstract Compared with prior single-frequency or frequency-sweep excitation, the recently demonstrated stored waveform inverse Fourier transform (SWIFT) technique can produce any desired discrete frequency-domain excitation power spectrum with more uniform magnitude and higher mass selectivity. In particular, SWIFT can produce a power spectrum with multiple segments of different magnitude to achieve simultaneous high-power ejection of ions of selected m/z range(s) and low-power excitation of ions of other m/z range(s). The SWIFT technique can effectively compress a multiple excitation event sequence by combining the ejection and excitation periods. The combined ejection/excitation period can thus be made either longer (for higher mass selectivity) or shorter (to reduce the extent of ion/molecule reactions during the excitation period) than temporally distinct ejection and excitation. Simultaneous ejection/excitation at a mass resolution greater than 20 000 is demonstrated experimentally for 13 C 12 C 6 H 7 + and 12 C 7 H 8 + at nominal m/z = 92.
Responsiveness of placental prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) and PGF2 receptors to a single course of antenatal betamethasone

RECEPTORS TO A SINGLE COURSE OF ANTENATAL BETAMETHASONE WILBERT FORTSON JR, KAY BEHARRY, PAM RUMNEY, HOUCHANG MODANLOU, DEBORAH WING, MICHAEL P. NAGEOTTE, University of California, Irvine, Maternal Fetal Medicine, Irvine, California, University of California, Irvine, Pediatrics, Orange, California, Long Beach Memorial Medical Center, Maternal Fetal Medicine, Long Beach, California, University of California, Irvine, Orange, California, Long Beach Memorial Medical Center, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Long Beach, California OBJECTIVE: Prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) and PGF2aare increased in the placenta for normal transition to labor. Their biological effects are mediated via EP and FP receptors, respectively. A single course of antenatal betamethasone (B) is administered to women at risk for preterm birth and may influence prostanoid signaling. We conducted a prospective pilot study to examine the responsiveness of placental EP and FP receptors to antenatal B. a STUDY DESIGN: Group I (n = 21): women antenatally treated with a single course of antenatal B and who delivered!36 weeks gestation; Group II (n = 7): untreated women who delivered !36 weeks; and Group III (n = 15): untreated women who delivered > 38 weeks. Group I was divided into women delivering: (a) !2 weeks (IA), and (b) >2 weeks (IB), post B treatment. Placentas were collected at the time of delivery for PGE2 and PGF2 levels; and EP-2, EP3-3, EP3-6, & FP receptor mRNA expression. RESULTS: PGE2 (pg/mg protein) and PGF2a (ng/mg protein) levels were elevated in Group I (177G 36.6, P ! .05 and 24.9 G 6.1, P ! .01) and II (168.8 G 39.3, P ! .05 and 28.7 G 6.2, P ! .01) vs. Group III (65.5 G 28.4 and 9.7 G 2.3), respectively. In Group IB, EP3-2 was induced (P! .05 vs Group IA), while EP3-6 was suppressed (P ! .05 vs Groups IA, II, and III). FP receptor mRNA was lower in Groups I and II, than III (P ! .05). CONCLUSION: Preterm labor is associated with increased PGE2 and PGF2 levels, and decreased FP mRNA transcripts in the placenta. While antenatal B had no effect on the FP receptor, it may have opposing latent effects on placental EP3-2 and EP3-6 mRNA transcripts.
A design for environment methodology for evaluating materials

Industrial ecology is a new multidisciplinary field of study requiring that economic activity be integrated with, and have minimal impact on, surrounding natural systems. This systems-based approach is beginning to be implemented in private firms through the development of Design for Environment (DFE) methodologies and tools which support the integration of technological and environmental considerations in all economic activities. As part of this development process, a matrix system is proposed by the author by which the environmental and energy costs embedded in materials as used in generic applications may be identified, facilitating environmentally and economically efficient selection of materials. This Material Environmental Evaluation Matrix is supported by checklists which inform the evaluation process. A set of completed matrices for major materials in common applications forms the basis for an Environmentally Efficient Materials Database (EEMD). Once completed, the EEMD would inform consumers, product and process designers, business planners and managers, regulators and government purchasers, public interest groups, and others in their choice of optimal, environmentally and economically efficient, material options.
Psycho-biological adaptive dynamics in aging populations.

Summary The dynamics of self-organized systems are characterized by irreversible processes in which the exchange of matter, energy and signals among genetic, metabolic and environmental patterns are nonlinear; reversible events (i.e., at equilibrium) occur only in special cases. The adaptations of complex systems to the environment, at all levels of structural organization, involve boundaries of stability and dynamics of transition among stabilities; in this view, the classical concept of homeostasis refers only to the observed meta-stable status, reached, generally described by means and standard deviations, with the exclusion of three basic aspects of natural processes: (i) the prior evolutive dynamics, (ii) the coexistence of other meta-stable statuses and (iii) the role of the fluctuation as regards the successive evolution of the system. Some qualitative models to approach research on aging are discussed on the basis of nonlinear system theory.
Review of rare and forbidden τ decays

This is a review of rare and forbidden decays of the τ lepton. For the rare decays, this includes new results on the chiral anomaly decay τ− → π−ηπ0ντ, new upper limits on the second-class-current decay τ− → π−ηντ, and the observations of the Cabibbo-suppressed decay τ− → K−ηντ and the internal conversion decay τ¯→π¯npi=π0vπ. For the forbidden decays, there are new upper limits on the radiative decays τ− → e−γ and τ− → μ−γ. Some forbidden decays which have not been previously searched for are also suggested.
On models and politics

In this concluding article, I examine the political struggle that is related to the framing of issues. I argue that the politics of immigration in Europe and the United States has been defined by a continuing conflict over how the problem is defined. I then examine the most important dynamics that are driving the framing of immigration policy on both sides of the Atlantic. Two dynamics stand out: perceptions of failure linked to security, and electoral competition and mobilization of voters.
Long-Run Comparative Statics Under Output and Land Price Uncertainty

Several authors have noticed that, in the uncertain short run, the supply function may slope downward and the input demand functions may slope upward. These possibilities prevent the setup of unambiguous tests of rational behavior. In this article, testable hypotheses for the competitive firm operating in a price-uncertain environment are derived assuming a long-run horizon. Some of these hypotheses take the form of Slutsky-type relations involving the relative input demand functions (the ratios of input to output quantities). Homogeneity restrictions involving input and output mean prices, in general, are absent under uncertainty. Conditions for restoring this homogeneity are also discussed. The main result is the rediscovery of the importance of relative quantities for the analysis of a long-run equilibrium.
Performances in Prelingual Implanted Children According to the Age of Implantation and the Duration of CI Use

Cochlear implants have been used in prelingual deaf children for almost thirty years. Results reported are excellent, but there is a large variability in the performances observed in this group of children. It is known that age at implantation is a determinant factor in the quality of the results obtained (Harrison et al., 2001; Nikolopoulos et al., 1999). Children implanted after the age of 6 tend to be worse performers when compared to children implanted at younger ages (Harrison et al., 2001; Nikolopoulos et al., 1999; Kos et al., 2009). Among the younger children implanted, those who were implanted before the age of 3 show performances which are better than those implanted somewhat later (Harrison et al., 2001; Nikolopoulos et al., 1999). It has not yet been demonstrated if children implanted later progressively compensate for the delay in the years following implantation. The aim of this study was to compare performances of children implanted between 1 and 6 years old according to the length of implant use.
A Comparison of Work Aspect Preferences and Reinforcement Patterns in Foodservice Career Paths

Abstract This study examined the relationship between hospitality student work aspect preferences and work aspect reinforcement patterns in 5 foodservice career paths: fine dining, casual dining, quick service, catering and banquets, and institutional. Survey data were collected from 421 students and 144 industrymanagers. Students rated job security, self development, and friendly co-workers as important work aspects; industry managers rated management, self development, and physical activity as aspects reinforced. Students with an interest in quick service or casual dining had work aspects most closely matched to their industry segment; students with an interest in fine dining were least closely matched to their industry segment. Foodservice operators should analyze if and how they can better match preferences of future managers to raise job satisfaction levels and reduce managerial turnover levels.
Biochemical analysis of the capsid protein gene and capsid protein of tobacco etch virus: N-terminal amino acids are located on the virion's surface.

Abstract The sequence of the 1491 nucleotides found at the 3′ end of the genome of the highly aphid-transmissible (HAT) isolate of tobacco etch virus (TEV) has been determined. The nucleotide sequence of the capsid protein gene has been identified and compared with the corresponding region of the not-aphid-transmissible (NAT) isolate of TEV and with pepper mottle virus (PeMV). The deduced amino acid sequences of the two TEV capsid proteins displayed 98% homology and a 66% homology with PeMV capsid protein. Three of the six amino acid differences between the capsid proteins of the two TEV isolates occurred near the N terminus of the protein. Biochemical and immunological evidence suggested the N-terminal 29 amino acids of the capsid protein were hydrophilic and were located at or near the virion's surface.
Kruppel-Like Factor 2 as a Novel Mediator of Statin Effects in Endothelial Cells

Background— Although 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase inhibitors (statins) are known to modulate endothelial function, the transcriptional mechanisms underlying these effects are incompletely understood. We hypothesized that Lung-Kruppel–like factor (LKLF/KLF2), a novel and potent regulator of endothelial gene expression, may mediate the downstream effects of statins. Here we report that statin-induced expression of endothelial NO synthase (eNOS) and thrombomodulin is KLF2 dependent. Methods and Results— KLF2 mRNA was induced by treatment with multiple statins in a concentration-dependent manner. Multiple lines of evidence suggest that this induction is dependent on inhibition of the Rho pathway and requires de novo transcription. Furthermore, promoter deletion and mutational analyses suggest that mevastatin induced KLF2 promoter activity through a single myocyte enhancer factor binding site. Finally, small-interfering RNA–mediated knockdown of KLF2 strongly attenuated the ability of mevast...
Reconsidering the role of personality in placebo effects: dispositional optimism, situational expectations, and the placebo response.

Abstract Objective Prior investigations have failed to find reliable personality differences in placebo responding. The present study tests the hypothesis that personality and situational variables interact to determine placebo responding. Methods Optimists and pessimists were randomly assigned to one of three conditions. In the first condition, the participants were told that they were to ingest a pill that would make them feel unpleasant (deceptive-expectation group). In the second condition, the participants were told that they were to ingest a pill that would make them feel either unpleasant or was an inactive substance (conditional-expectation group). Finally, a third group was told they were to ingest a pill that was inactive (control group). Results Pessimists were more likely than optimists to follow a negative-placebo expectation when given a deceptive expectation, but not when given a conditional expectation. Conclusion The personality variable optimism–pessimism relates to placebo responding when individuals are given a deceptive but not a conditional expectation. This suggests that personality and situational variables interact to determine placebo responding.
Soil and plant tissue testing for nitrogen management in carrots

Abstract Carrots (Daucus carota L.) were grown in mineral soils with one of several nitrogen (N) programs during two years. Nitrogen management based on the available soil N content (nitrate plus ammonium) in the top 30 cm was compared with increasing amounts of N applied in multiple applications. Available soil N was monitored throughout the growing season. Nitrate‐N concentration in the petiole sap and in the root tissue was measured while the roots were sizing. In both years, total and marketable carrot yields were maximized with the N program which accounted for available soil N in the top 30 cm in mid‐June. Applying more N increased top biomass and nitrate‐N concentration in the carrot root which resulted in higher residual soil nitrate‐N after harvest in 1993. Insufficient N resulted in a greater incidence of foliar disease in the late fall. The nitrate‐N content of the expressed petiole sap related directly to the amount of N applied. An accounting of N inputs and plant accumulation indicates that ...
Investigations of Pyridine-2-thiol as a Ligand: Synthesis and X-ray Structures of the Mixed Mo−Mn Dinuclear Complex CpMoMn(CO)3(μ-CO)(μ-η2-pyS)(μ-η1-pyS), the Electron-Deficient Trimolybdenum Cluster Cp3Mo3(μ-CO)2(μ-S)(μ3-S)(μ-η2-NC5H4), and the Mononuclear CpMo(CO)2(μ-η2-pyS)

The reaction of Mn 2 (CO) 6 (pyS) 2 (1) with (CpMo(CO) 3 ) 2 (2) at 110 °C gives the heterodinuclear complex CpMoMn(CO) 3 (μ-CO)(μ-η 2 -pyS))(μ-η 1 -pyS) (3), the mononuclear molybdenum complex CpMo(CO) 2 (μ-η 2 -pyS) (4), and the 46-electron trimolybdenum cluster Cp 3 Mo 3 (μ-CO) 2 (μ-S)(μ 3 -S)(μ-η 2 -NC 5 H 4 ) (5). Compound 4 could also be prepared in high yield from the reaction of 2 with pyridine-2-thiol at 110 °C. Compound 3 represents a rare example of a Mo-Mn heterodinuclear complex containing a μ-η 2 -pyridine-2-thiolato, a μ-η 1 -pyridine-2-thiolato, and a cyclopentadienyl ligand. The 46-electron compound 5 represents a unique example of a trimolybdenum compound containing three cyclopentadienyl ligands, an orthometalated pyridyl ligand, a capping sulfido, a bridging sulfido, and two semibridging CO ligands. Curiously, although this complex is formally electron deficient, it is unreactive toward two-electron donors. The structures of all the compounds have been unambiguously established by single-crystal X-ray crystallography.
Identity and Institutions: The Social Construction of Trade Unions in Nineteenth-Century Germany and the United States*

The aim of this research note is to begin to develop the idea that trade unions are historically constructed as much through considerations of social identity as they are through calculations of economic self-interest, market power, or functional adaptation in the face of changes in the division of labor. By social identity, I mean the desire for group distinction, dignity, and place within historically specific discourses (or frames of understanding) about the character, structure, and boundaries of the polity and the economy. Institutions such as trade unions, in other words, are constituted through and by particular understandings of the structure of the social and political worlds of which they are part. In making this argument, it should be immediately said that I in no way intend to claim that trade unions are only to be understood through the lens of identity or that they do not engage in strategic calculation either in labor markets or in the broader political economy. The point is that action along the latter lines presupposes some kind of commitment on, and even resolution of, issues concerning the former. The discussion below focuses on the emergence of trade union movements in the United States and Germany during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It Attempts first to develope the two cases as constituting a paradox and then, second, explains the paradox with an argument about identity.
Flexible Approximation Schemes for Wave Refraction in Negative Index Materials

Materials with negative index of refraction are attracting much attention due to their unusual characteristics and potential applications for focusing and guiding of light. Simulation of such materials by the traditional finite difference (FD) methods in the time or frequency domain is inhibited by poor approximation at the interfaces between positive and negative index media. The paper demonstrates the superior accuracy of the recently developed flexible local approximation method as compared with the standard FD analysis.
Conformational transition in the aminoacyl t-RNA site of the bacterial ribosome both in the presence and absence of an aminoglycoside antibiotic

Peptide bonds are made at the ribosomal decoding site. Structural information reveals that two bases in the RNA that constitute the decoding site, A1492 and A1493, can have both intrahelical and extrahelical conformations. Aminoglycoside antibiotics bind to the decoding site, and the structural information reveals the two bases in the extrahelical positions. We have shown by explicit-solvent molecular dynamics simulations and free-energy calculations that ribosomal RNA bases A1492 and A1493 are inherently prone to sampling conformational states that include both intrahelical and extrahelical positions. The simulations reveal that base flipping occurs through the minor groove of the double helix. Furthermore, free-energy calculations for the conformational change of the bases to the extrahelical positions in both processes are exergonic and highly favorable. It is likely that the correct codon-anticodon recognition by mRNA and tRNA arrests the bases in extrahelical conformations in the course of normal translation. In contrast, the sequestration of the aminoglycoside antibiotic at the decoding site facilitates the conformational change of the bases to the extrahelical position. Once the antibiotic is bound, the extrahelical positions for the bases are highly favored based on contributions by both electrostatic and entropic components of the free energy for the process.
Collection-level user searches in federated digital resource environment

As part of a federation project providing integrated access to over 160 digital collections, we are studying how collections can best be represented to meet the needs of diverse user communities. This paper reports preliminary transaction log analysis results from that project on subject representation of the digital collections. The findings reveal prevalence of the broadly defined subject search at the collection level, and the lack of semantic similarity between the user queries and the GEM controlled vocabulary terms used for collection description. Based on the actual search data, it is recommended that the 2nd group of entities in the FRBR model be updated to cover ethnic/national groups and classes of persons. The paper proposes definitions of the two major collection-level search types - known-item and subject - and formulates research questions for further investigation into subject access to federated collections.
Polyalkylene sulfides. X. The reaction of hexamethylenedithiol with 1,3‐butadiene1

Hexamethylenedithiol and 1,3-butadiene react in an emulsion system in the presence of peroxides to produce 1,6-dicrotylmercaptohexane. Hexamethylenedithiol and 1,6-dicrotylmercaptohexane did not yield a polymer by either bulk or emulsion techniques which confirms earlier work that a sulfur atom beta to a double bond prevents free radical initiated addition of a mercaptan to that bond. Hexamethylenedithiol does give a polymer with bicrotyl showing that a buried double bond will react. Polymerizations of hexamethylenedithiol with both biallyl ether and bis-10-hendecen-1-yl ether will take place, but they show that an oxygen atom beta to a double bond inhibits the free radical catalyzed addition of a mercaptan to that bond.
Nanoparticles induced by ultraviolet rays support electrons for enzymatic reaction

BACKGROUND: The NAD(P)H cofactor, which is the reduced form of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate, plays the important role of electron donor in enzymatic metabolism. The primary drawback of metabolism reactions involving enzymes is the dependence on this highly expensive cofactor. RESULTS: Electron formation was effectively triggered by inducing Qdots with (UV) irradiation at 365 nm. The analytical potential of the Qdots-based electron-transfer system was demonstrated by examining two different types of cofactors, i.e. chemical (NADPH) and nanoparticle (Qdots). The Qdots-based method gave promising results in comparison with the NADPH-dependent system. A Qdots-based electron supply to a CYP2B4 and 7-pentoxyresorufin incubation mixture produced a resorufin metabolite. The kinetic rates of the cytochrome P450 reactions induced by photoactivated Qdots were determined CONCLUSIONS: The influence of electron formation from ultraviolet (UV)-induced quantum dots (Qdots) on the cytochrome P450 (CYP2B4) reaction was elucidated. The process comprised UV-induced electron formation by photoactivated Qdots and subsequent enzyme reactions mediated by the resultant electron supply. Copyright © 2012 Society of Chemical Industry
Must we Know What we Say

'You cannot satisfactorily explain the meaning of your religious utterances; if you cannot explain the meaning, you don't know it; and if you, the speaker, don't know it, how could it exist?' So runs, in schematic form, the typical challenge to the meaningfulness of religious language. The assumption that, on pain of uttering nonsense, we must know what we are saying, is so deeply ingrained that more often than not it is left tacit. Yet it is an assumption which religious thinkers may well want to deny, on the grounds that the meaning of religious language must like God himselfremain partially hidden to us, at least during our sojourn in this world. To confess in this manner our inability fully to comprehend religious language is not to deny is, in fact, to presuppose that it has a meaning (of which we are incompletely aware). An unknown meaning is a meaning all the same. I believe that until recently the philosophical underpinnings of such a religious response have been lacking. I hope to show that recent work on meaning and reference has made available a foundation for the logical possibility of this response. The main thesis of this paper is that religious language might have more meaning than typical speakers are aware of. A subsidiary thesis is that this partial ignorance would not necessarily interfere with the fundamental purposes for which religious language is used. Section I presents a general thesis in the philosophy of language which, in Section ii, we apply to the special case of talk about God. Section iII suggests that there is something about religion which makes the abstract possibilities imagined in Section II worth taking seriously as an account of the actual use of religious language.
Determining the Significance of Item Order In Randomized Problem Sets

Researchers who make tutoring systems would like to know which sequences of educational content lead to the most effective learning by their students. The majority of data collected in many ITS systems consist of answers to a group of questions of a given skill often presented in a random sequence. Following work that identifies which items produce the most learning we propose a Bayesian method using similar permutation analysis techniques to determine if item learning is context sensitive and if so which orderings of questions produce the most learning. We confine our analysis to random sequences with three questions. The method identifies question ordering rules such as, question A should go before B, which are statistically reliably beneficial to learning. Real tutor data from five random sequence problem sets were analyzed. Statistically reliable orderings of questions were found in two of the five real data problem sets. A simulation consisting of 140 experiments was run to validate the method's accuracy and test its reliability. The method succeeded in finding 43% of the underlying item order effects with a 6% false positive rate using a p value threshold of <= 0.05. Using this method, ITS researchers can gain valuable knowledge about their problem sets and feasibly let the ITS automatically identify item order effects and optimize student learning by restricting assigned sequences to those prescribed as most beneficial to learning.
Real Option Pricing of Network Design Investments

A real option solution and method are used to quantify the value of flexibility for deferral and design strategies in investments made in a network. The model is proposed to address managerial flexibility in transportation planning and can be applied to any network design problem under uncertainty. The core framework is based on the assumption that some variable such as travel demand can be characterized by nonstationary, multi-dimensional stochastic processes, such as geometric Brownian motion. By exploiting that characterization, it is possible to determine the value of the flexibility to defer the investment or to redesign the network by solving a dynamic program with network design subproblem using a least squares Monte Carlo simulation algorithm. The option premium is shown to decompose into a basic deferral premium and a flexible network design premium, which quantifies the cost of committing to preferred alternative in transportation planning. The proposed model is tested on the classic Sioux Falls, South Dakota, network, showing that a traditional discounted cash-flow analysis may support an immediate investment of a continuous network design but that under some conditions, deferral with the option to redesign can offer the greatest option value.
Computing the VCO sweep rate limit for a second-order PLL

Phase-locked loops serve important roles in receivers, coherent transponders and similar radio-frequency-based applications. For many of these uses, the bandwidth of the loop must be kept small to limit the detrimental influence of noise, and this requirement makes the natural PLL pull-in process too slow and/or unreliable. To aid the acquisition process in these cases, an external sweep voltage can be applied to the VCO when the loop is unlocked. Hopefully, the sweep voltage will effect a rapid decrease in closed-loop frequency error to a point where phase lock is achieved quickly. For a second-order loop containing a perfect integrator loop filter, there is a maximum VCO sweep rate magnitude, denoted as Rm rad/sec2, for which phase lock is guaranteed. If the actual VCO sweep rate magnitude is less than Rm, the loop cannot sweep past a stable phase-lock state without locking correctly. For an applied sweep rate greater than Rm, the loop may sweep past a lock point and fail to achieve phase lock. In the PLL literature, only a trial-and-error approach has been described for approximating Rm given values of loop damping factor p and natural frequency omegan. Furthermore, no plot exists of Rm/omegan 2 versus rho. This dearth of results is remedied here. A new numerical algorithm is given that converges to the maximum sweep rate magnitude Rm. It is used to generate a plot of Rm/omegan 2 versus rho, a never-before-explored relationship in the PLL literature.
Comparison of 10 Gb/s transmission schemes over already installed multimode fibers

We can basically summarize 3 different approaches for 10 Gb/s multimode fibre transmissions. 1. 4-channel WDM at 2.5 Gb/s. 2. 2-channel WDM at 5 Gb/s. 3. Single-channel at 10 Gb/s. The third approach can achieve the best distance-bit rate product performance.
A biomolecule-compatible visible-light-induced azide reduction from a DNA-encoded reaction-discovery system

Using a system that accelerates the serendipitous discovery of new reactions by evaluating hundreds of DNA-encoded substrate combinations in a single experiment, we explored a broad range of reaction conditions for new bond-forming reactions. We discovered reactivity that led to a biomolecule-compatible, Ru(II)-catalysed azide-reduction reaction induced by visible light. In contrast to current azide-reduction methods, this reaction is highly chemoselective and is compatible with alcohols, phenols, acids, alkenes, alkynes, aldehydes, alkyl halides, alkyl mesylates and disulfides. The remarkable functional group compatibility and mild conditions of the reaction enabled the azide reduction of nucleic acid and oligosaccharide substrates, with no detectable occurrence of side reactions. The reaction was also performed in the presence of a protein enzyme without the loss of enzymatic activity, in contrast to two commonly used azide-reduction methods. The visible-light dependence of this reaction provides a means of photouncaging functional groups, such as amines and carboxylates, on biological macromolecules without using ultraviolet irradiation.
Human movement capture and analysis in intelligent environments

Investigators from multiple disciplines and applications areas are interested in Human body modeling, tracking, and synthesis related topics. These topics offer fertile ground for challenging research problems aswell as potential for awide range of applications. Our own interest and involvement in human modeling, analysis, and synthesis comes froma very specific need: that of developing “intelligent” environments or spaces [1–3]. An intelligent environment automatically derives and dynamically maintains an awareness of its composition as well as events and activities occurring within.Moreover, these spaces should be responsive to specific events and triggers. Such spaces need not be limited to rooms in buildings, but extend to outdoor environments [4] and any other spaces that humans occupy such as a performance on a stage or an automobile on a highway [5]. The spaces are monitored by multiple audio and video sensors, which can be unobtrusively embedded in the infrastructure. To avoid intrusion on the normal human activities in the space, all sensors, processors, and communication devices should remain “invisible” in the infrastructure. The system should also support natural and flexible interactions among the participants without specialized or encumbering devices. In a conference room environment, multiple video cameras and microphones may be embedded in walls and furniture. Video and audio signals are analyzed in real time for a wide range of low-level tasks, including person identification, localization and tracking, and gesture and voice recognition [6]. Combining the analysis tasks with human face and body synthesis enables efficient interactions with remote observers, effectively merging disjoint spaces into a single intelligent environment. We are currently embedding distributed video networks in rooms, laboratories, museums, and even outdoor public spaces in support of experimental research in this domain. This involves the development of new frameworks, architectures, and algorithms for audio and video processing as well as for the control of various functions associated with proper execution of a transaction within such intelligent spaces. These test beds are also helping to identify novel applications of such
An empirical study of regression analysis as an analytical procedure

. A newly issued AICPA auditing standard focuses attention on analytical procedures. Regression analysis has been shown to be a useful audit tool and is used to a limited extent in practice. This study compares a univariate regression-based decision rule with that of exponential smoothing. The effect on the regression-based decision method when additional input information is included to develop a multivariate model is also evaluated. Comparisons are accomplished by seeding various error patterns into the audit period data and evaluating the results of the various models. The results indicate that the regression-based decision model was at least as efficient and effective as the exponential smoothing-based model. Additional input information into the univariate regression model to develop a multivariate model did improve auditor decisions for some types of accounts but did not significantly affect the number of incorrect rejections and/or acceptances for other types. The multivariate model did improve the achieved precision of the univariate model but still did not reach desired levels. Resume. Dans un Auditing Standards Procedures qu'il publiait recemment, l'AICPA se penche sur les procedes analytiques. L'analyse de regression s'est revelee un instrument de verification utile et son emploi dans la pratique est modere, Les auteurs comparent une regle de decision fondee sur une regression comportant une seule variable aleatoire avec celle du lissage exponentiel. L'incidence d'un supplement d'information a l'entree sur la methode de decision fondee sur la regression permet de mettre au point un modele a plusieurs variables aleatoires, que les auteurs evaluent egalement. Les comparaisons sont realisees en introduisant divers scenarios d'erreur dans les donnees de la periode soumise a la verification. Les resultats de l'etude indiquent que le modele de decision fonde sur la regression est au moins aussi efficient et efficace que le modele fonde sur le lissage exponentiel. L'introduction d'un supplement d'information dans le modele de regression a une seule variable aleatoire de maniere a creer un modele a plusieurs variables aleatoires a de fait ameliore les decisions du verificateur pour certains types de comptes, mais n'a pas eu d'incidence significative sur le nombre d'erreurs de premiere et de seconde especes pour d'autres types de comptes. La performance du modele a plusieurs variables aleatoires est de fait superieure a celle du modele a une seule variable aleatoire, sans toutefois permettre d'obtenir les niveaux de precision souhaites.
Clinical Ultrasound Pattern Recognition

Ultrasonic imaging diagnosis has become more sophisticated as instrument performance has advanced and as the educational base of its practitioners has extended. By and large, the method is used qualitatively to answer specific medical questions, usually those involving anatomic features delineated by fluid spaces or involving local changes in tissue macrostructure. Some physiologic information is inferred from the anatomic appearance, from target dynamics, and from ancillary forms of data manipulation and display, such as the Doppler frequency shift.© (1987) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Climatic dipoles drive two principal modes of North American boreal bird irruption

Pine Siskins exemplify normally boreal seed-eating birds that can be sparse or absent across entire regions of North America in one year and then appear in large numbers the next. These dramatic avian “irruptions” are thought to stem from intermittent but broadly synchronous seed production (masting) in one year and meager seed crops in the next. A prevalent hypothesis is that widespread masting in the boreal forest at high latitudes is driven primarily by favorable climate during the two to three consecutive years required to initiate and mature seed crops in most conifers. Seed production is expensive for trees and is much reduced in the years following masting, driving boreal birds to search elsewhere for food and overwintering habitat. Despite this plausible logic, prior efforts to discover climate-irruption relationships have been inconclusive. Here, analysis of more than 2 million Pine Siskin observations from Project FeederWatch, a citizen science program, reveals two principal irruption modes (North-South and West-East), both of which are correlated with climate variability. The North-South irruption mode is, in part, influenced by winter harshness, but the predominant climate drivers of both modes manifest in the warm season as continental-scale pairs of oppositely signed precipitation and temperature anomalies (i.e., dipoles). The climate dipoles juxtapose favorable and unfavorable conditions for seed production and wintering habitat, motivating a push-pull paradigm to explain irruptions of Pine Siskins and possibly other boreal bird populations in North America.
Effects of preferential and differential diffusion on the mutual annihilation of two premixed hydrogen–air flames

The unsteady process of upstream head-on quenching of two laminar premixed hydrogen–air flames at different equivalence ratios in one dimension is investigated numerically in the presence of preferential and differential diffusion effects. Important chemical and transport characteristics of the mutual annihilation process are studied during the two primary stages of upstream mutual annihilation, preheat layers' and reaction layers' interactions. Because of the diffusive mobility of the fuel, hydrogen, relative to heat and the oxidizer, preferential and differential diffusion effects result in a shift in the equivalence ratio in the reaction zone to leaner conditions. This shift, in turn, affects the subsequent reaction layers' interactions through qualitative and quantitative changes in the rates of reactants' consumption and radicals' production. Another consequence of this shift is the presence of excess and ‘unburnt’ fuel or oxidizer at the end of the mutual annihilation process. The process of mutual ...
Molecular Profiling of Direct Xenograft Tumors Established from Human Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma After Neoadjuvant Therapy

Background Pancreatic adenocarcinoma is among the most resistant of human cancers, yet specific mechanisms of treatment resistance remain poorly understood. Models to study pancreatic cancer resistance remain limited and should reflect in vivo changes that occur within patient tumors. We sought to identify consistent, differentially expressed genes between treatment of naive pancreatic tumors and those exposed to neoadjuvant therapy using a strict, in vivo direct xenograft model system.