cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Salt, time, and metaphor: examining norms in scientific culture

As has been widely discussed, the National Research Council’s (NRC) current policy in United States education advocates supporting students toward acquiring skills to engage in scientific practices. NRC policy also suggests that supporting students in the practices of science may require different approaches than what is required for supporting student engagement with scientific content. Further, acquiring skills in scientific practices is not limited to gaining proficiency in utilizing tools that support scientific inquiry: students must also understand how to interpret information generated from such tools. These tools of scientific practices are embedded within scientific culture, which from Sewell’s perspective, is comprised of both practice and semiotic code (symbols and meanings). To become scientifically literate students must learn to utilize this code in practice. Author Germa Garcia-Belmonte identified one example of learning to utilize the semiotic code in scientific practice and considers challenges faced by undergraduate physics and engineering students within that context. Garcia-Belmonte observes students struggle to interpret symbols and meaning (the visual display generated) while engaging in practice (utilizing an oscilloscope) and posits that two, culturally bound, competing, linguistic metaphors of time may be the cause. Ultimately, however, the author does not explore beyond hypotheses. Although his theory may be correct, the paper serves as a reminder of the responsibility we have to students. As educators, it is useful and beneficial to make observations and develop theories surrounding why our students struggle. However, in addition to theorizing on why, for example, a particular scientific norm might present challenges for our students, we must remain mindful that challenges may not be uniform and may vary considerably according to students’ culture(s). Engaging with students and soliciting specific information regarding the challenges they face allows us, as educators, to both examine whether students’ reported challenges align or conflict with our own perceptions of those challenges, and subsequently devise and test methods toward supporting students in overcoming their challenges.
Critical Friends Protocol: Andragogy and Learning in a Graduate Classroom:

The Critical Friend is a powerful concept partly due to the inherent tension between a challenging critic and a trusting friend. Originally utilized in the PreK-12 sector in both England and the Un...
OCT Angiography: An Upcoming Non-invasive Tool for Diagnosis of Age-related Macular Degeneration.

The purpose of this study was to review the most recent findings, characteristics, faults, and future perspectives of optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) in age-related macular degeneration (AMD). In dry AMD, OCTA is useful on the evaluation of choriocapillaris perfusion and detection of naive quiescent non-exudative choroidal neovascularization (CNV). In wet AMD, OCTA can provide detailed anatomic and morphologic information of CNVs, which may help to understand why and how they develop and become active. In other hand, the many artifacts present in OCTA images may lead to misinterpretation and misdiagnosis. OCTA is a still developing technology that is able to provide a large amount of anatomic, functional, and morphologic information in macular diseases and, particularly, AMD. As the technology evolves, the need of dye-based modalities tends to decrease.
Abstract WMP84: Worse Functional Outcome in Stroke Patients With Elevated Urine Specific Gravity

Introduction: An estimated 44-70% of stroke patients present to the hospital in a dehydrated state. Prior studies suggest that volume contraction contributes to worsened neglect syndromes and reduced chance of early recovery. Thus we hypothesized that patients who were clinically dehydrated at the time of stroke carried a higher probability of worse functional outcome at three months. Methods: We enrolled a consecutive series of ischemic stroke patients who presented to the hospital within 12 hours from stroke symptom onset. Patients were excluded if they had baseline kidney disease, presented with signs of active infection, or were unable to complete MRI. Clinical function was measured via daily NIHSS and 3 month modified Rankin scale (mRS). A priori, we defined a volume contracted state as BUN/creatinine ratio > 15 or urine specific gravity (SG) > 1.010. Results: One hundred and four patients were eligible for inclusion after 1 year of recruitment, of whom 83 (80%) had urinalysis measured and were thus included in this analysis. 62/83 patients (75%) had elevated urine SG consistent with a clinically dehydrated state. Independent of age, sex, and baseline NIHSS score, patients with elevated urine SG > 1.010 had a 3.6 increased odds (95% CI; 1.31-9.93) of being in a higher (worse) modified mRS category (Figure). A combined model defining volume contraction using both elevated BUN/creatinine ratio and urine SG did not demonstrate a statistically meaningful difference in outcomes. Conclusions: Elevated urine specific gravity at the time of ischemic stroke is associated with worse 3 month outcome. This objective marker may represent a readily available, standardized way to measure clinical dehydration syndromes as we attempt to define structured rehydration strategies for this population of patients. ![][1] [1]: /embed/graphic-1.gif
Studies on a New Kind of Fuzzy Power System Stabilizer

Abstract This paper is concerned with the application of a new fuzzy inference method to the design of fuzzy power system stabilizer. Based on Truth-Value-Flow-Inference(TVFI), a fuzzy logic controlled power system stabilizer is proposed to enhance the stability of power system with weak or negative damping. The design of the proposed fuzzy power system stabilizer is presented. Numerical simulation results are presented and compared with two other kinds offuzzy power system stabilizers.
Synthesis and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) catalytic performance of Ni2−xRuxP nanocrystals: enhancing activity by dilution of the noble metal

Aiming to create an efficient, less-expensive catalyst for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER), a synthetic protocol is developed to prepare ternary metal phosphide nanoparticles, Ni2−xRuxP, incorporating Ru, a traditional catalyst for OER, and Ni, a highly active but inexpensive metal. Using solution-phase arrested-precipitation reactions, crystalline Ni2−xRuxP particles could be realized for compositions up to x ≤ 1, whereas more Ru-rich compositions, including Ru2P, were amorphous. For x ≤ 1, particles are spherical, of sizes that vary between 5 and 10 nm in diameter (with a clear decreasing trend as the Ru amount is increased), and samples exhibit narrow size distributions (polydispersity < 15%). In contrast, amorphous Ru-rich phases exhibit worm-like morphologies. ICP-MS data indicate the actual metal ratio closely follows the target ratio employed in the synthesis. OER electrocatalytic activity was evaluated for selected compositions over the entire synthesis range (0 ≤ x ≤ 2). Intriguingly, Ru2P proved to be the least active phase (overpotential of 0.56 V at 10 mA cm−2 in 1.0 M KOH) with the best performance observed for the bimetallic Ni1.25Ru0.75P phase (overpotential of 0.34 V). The augmented activity at x = 0.75 is attributed, at least in part, to electronic activation of Ni by Ru, facilitating Ni oxidation and thus decreasing the kinetic barrier for OER.
Understanding the function of cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide in lithium/sulfur cells

A surfactant material plays a significant role in creating a sulfur/carbon composite for lithium/sulfur cells. CTAB (cetyltrimethylammoniumbromide) is a widely used surfactant material in various fields. In this study we identified the functions of CTAB in a sulfur–graphene oxide composite used as the cathode material for lithium/sulfur cells, and the key features for enhancing the capacity of the cells. The CTAB added in the synthesis procedure reacts with polysulfides during the 155 °C heat treatment and produces cetylamine, cetylmethylamine, cetyldimetylamine, and dimethylpolysulfide as products. Furthermore the composite produced by the reactions between cetyldimetylamine and sulfur cover the surface of the sulfur. These work to enhance the performance of the cells. The findings presented here can be applied to various kinds of sulfur/carbon composites to enhance the performance of the sulfur electrode.
Predictors of hematological abnormalities in multiple sclerosis patients treated with fingolimod and dimethyl fumarate and impact of treatment switch on lymphocyte and leukocyte count.

Abstract Background There is limited data regarding the predictors of hematological abnormalities in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients treated with dimethyl fumarate (DMF) or fingolimod (FNG), and the impact of treatment switch on lymphocyte and leukocyte count Methods We identified 405 patients on DMF and 300 patients on FNG (treatment duration: at least 12 month) within a large prospective study of MS patients conducted at the Partners MS Center, Brigham and Women's Hospital (CLIMB study) between Jan 2011 to Feb 2016. Patients had complete blood counts with differentials at baseline and every 6 months while on treatment. Most participants had a clinical visit with complete neurologic examinations every 6 months and brain MRI scan every 12 months. T cell subset profile was available for subgroup of patients (n = 116). Results In the FNG group, the risk of developing lymphopenia grade 4 ( Conclusion Female sex and prior exposure to natalizumab increased the probability of lymphopenia on FNG, while low absolute lymphocyte count was associated with increased risk of lymphopenia on DMF. Parallel switch did not lead to recovery from hematological abnormalities. Long-term studies with larger number of patients are required to confirm our findings and to establish guidelines for prediction and management of hematological abnormalities.
Abstract 18097: PTEN Inhibition With VO-OHPIC Ameliorates Myocardial Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury Mediated by RISK Pathway Activation-Mediated Reduction of Apoptosis: An in vitro and in vivo Study

Introduction: RISK is the main cardioprotective pathway against ischemia-reperfusion (I-R) injury, and starts with the phosphorylation (activation) of Akt. Phosphatase and tensin homolog deleted on...
Edmund Spenser’s Ancient Hope: The Rise and Fall of the Dream of the Golden Age in The Faerie Queene

In the later twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, a debate has rumbled over the sources and significance of Platonic and Neoplatonic motifs in Edmund Spenser’s poetry. While this debate has focused on the presence (or absence) of various aspects of Platonism and/or Neoplatonism, critics have largely ignored the hints of magic derived from Neoplatonism. Through the probable influence of John Dee, Marsilio Ficino, and Giordano Bruno as well as Spenser’s own wide-ranging and particular reading, The Faerie Queene makes it evident that the English poet found himself attracted to an ancient hope in the restoration of a Golden Age that would be inaugurated by a great monarch. However, by the end of the poem, Spenser has largely lost faith in the restoration of this Golden Age; what he has uncovered along the way forces a retreat to Christian hope in his personal salvation.
Sorption kinetics of plutonium (V)/(VI) to three montmorillonite clays

Abstract Pu(V) adsorbed to the surface of montmorillonite clay can be reduced to Pu(IV). In this work, the role of clay structural Fe on this surface mediated reduction reaction was investigated by quantifying Pu(V)/(VI) sorption rates under atmospheric (oxic) conditions to three montmorillonite clays with variable Fe content (SWy-1: 2.6 wt % Fe; STx-1: 0.6 wt % Fe; Barasym synthetic mica-montmorillonite: 0.01 wt % Fe) at pH 4, pH 6, and pH 8. The experiments were performed over a period of one year, a timescale at which the sorption rates were expected to capture both adsorption and surface mediated reduction processes. At pH 6 and pH 8, the rate of sorption was positively correlated with structural Fe content. However, by 360 d, the extent of sorption was independent of Fe. Moreover, in the case of the synthetic montmorillonite it was not apparent that sorption equilibrium had been achieved by the end of the experiment. There was minimal difference in sorption rates between the clays at pH 4, suggesting that structural Fe content may be less important in Pu(V)/(VI) reduction at low pH. The results indicate that at circumneutral pH, structural Fe will affect the kinetics of Pu surface mediated reduction on montmorillonite clays but not necessarily the equilibrium Pu sorption affinity at environmentally relevant timescales. The differences in rates on the three clays emphasize the need to perform long-term sorption experiments (>1 year) to adequately capture the equilibrium processes controlling the uptake of Pu under atmospheric conditions. Comparison to other minerals indicates that the sorption rates can vary by as much as five orders of magnitude depending on the structure and composition of the surface.
Expression of cytokines and chemokines in mouse skin treated with sulfur mustard

Abstract Sulfur mustard (2,2′-dichlorodiethyl sulfide, SM) is a chemical warfare agent that generates an inflammatory response in the skin and causes severe tissue damage and blistering. In earlier studies, we identified cutaneous damage induced by SM in mouse ear skin including edema, erythema, epidermal hyperplasia and microblistering. The present work was focused on determining if SM-induced injury was associated with alterations in mRNA and protein expression of specific cytokines and chemokines in the ear skin. We found that SM caused an accumulation of macrophages and neutrophils in the tissue within one day which persisted for at least 7 days. This was associated with a 2–15 fold increase in expression of the proinflammatory cytokines interleukin-1β, interleukin-6, and tumor necrosis factor α at time points up to 7 days post-SM exposure. Marked increases (20–1000 fold) in expression of chemokines associated with recruitment and activation of macrophages were also noted in the tissue including growth-regulated oncogene α (GROα/CXCL1), monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 (MCP-1/CCL2), granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (GCSF/CSF3), macrophage inflammatory protein 1α (MIP1α/CCL3), and IFN-γ-inducible protein 10 (IP10/CXCL10). The pattern of cytokines/chemokine expression was coordinate with expression of macrophage elastase/MMP12 and neutrophil collagenase/MMP8 suggesting that macrophages and neutrophils were, at least in part, a source of cytokines and chemokines. These data support the idea that inflammatory cell-derived mediators contribute to the pathogenesis of SM induced skin damage. Modulating the infiltration of inflammatory cells and reducing the expression of inflammatory mediators in the skin may be an important strategy for mitigating SM-induced cutaneous injury.
Sonographic Urethrogram: Comparison to Roentgenographic Techniques in 22 Patients

AbstractA sonographic technique was devised to examine the anterior urethra in 22 men suspected of having stricture disease. All patients underwent sonographic and roentgenographic urethrograms. Cystoscopic examination was done in 17 patients. The sonographic urethrogram findings were as diagnostic as the roentgen findings in 19 patients. In 1 patient the sonographic urethrogram identified a bulbar urethral stricture not seen on a retrograde urethrogram. In 2 patients a bulbar urethral sinus tract was found by the retrograde urethrogram but not by the sonographic urethrogram, although the remaining 2 sonographic urethrograms correctly identified the urethral pathological condition. Structures outside the lumen of the urethra including the urethral wall, corpus spongiosum, corpus cavernosum, bulb and external urinary sphincter were seen clearly by the sonographic urethrogram. The fossa navicularis can be visualized as well. Foreign bodies in the urethra, straddle injury and stricture disease were correctly...
Employee Value System Analysis: A New Tool for More Effective Management

Ever since the Industrial Revolution management has been searching for and experimenting with „fads“ or „panaceas“ that would enhance production and the efficiency of the labor force. Frederick Taylor was one of the first such researchers with his Scientific Management efforts, followed by the Gilbreths, Follett, and Mayo and Roethlisberger with the Hawthorne experiments. The Hawthorne experiments focused attention, for the first time, on the feelings, emotions, and intrinsic satisfiers of the working man. Management and researchers began to realize the importance of the individual employee and that each employee is different with different motivators and satisfiers. The Hawthorne research and the aftermath are appropriately credited with establishing the „employee behavior“ era of organizational theory.
Maximizing Solar Water Splitting Performance by Nanoscopic Control of the Charge Carrier Fluxes across Semiconductor–Electrocatalyst Junctions

Protective insulating layers between a semiconductor and an electrocatalyst enable otherwise unstable semiconductors to be used in photocatalytic water splitting. It is generally argued that in these systems the metal electrocatalyst must have work function properties that set a high inherent barrier height between the semiconductor and electrocatalyst and that the insulating layer should be as thin as possible. In this study we show that, for systems which suffer from inherently low barrier heights, the photovoltage can be significantly improved by tuning the thickness of the insulating layer. We demonstrate this in a case study of a system consisting of n-type silicon, a hafnium oxide protective layer (thickness 0–3 nm), and a Ni electrocatalyst. By optimizing the protective layer thickness, we observe increased efficiencies for photocatalytic oxygen evolution with a thick Ni electrocatalyst supported on n-Si. Our findings open avenues for the use of inexpensive electrocatalysts with favorable electroca...
Senescent glia spell trouble in Alzheimer's disease.

DNA damage or cellular stresses can induce senescence, and increased senescence with aging contributes to age-associated tissue damage, inflammation and disease. Zheng and colleagues report increased senescent oligodendrocyte progenitor cells around amyloid plaques. Therapeutically eliminating these senescent cells may influence the onset and progression of Alzheimer’s disease pathology.
A Study of CSR as an antipoverty instrument

This paper mentions the comparative study of various CSR activities of a few of the top companies in India and their fight against poverty in the country. This research is based on how CSR can be used to eliminate poverty, what the scope of the project is, and the contribution of the companies in developing the poor local communities. The aim of this study is to start to ﬁll the gap in our understanding of how, when and through what means the business can help to reduce poverty while recognizing the equally powerful potential of the business community to exacerbate poverty. Taking particular CSR initiatives as a starting point, we seek to look at the broader developmental footprint of business-as-usual strategies, as well as those which fall under the banner of CSR, to gain a fuller picture of how business is implicated in the development process. This paper focuses on the type and nature of the CSR activities of MNCs in their attempt to eliminate poverty.
Distributed Ledger Technology Design and the Role of Internal Controls

Challenges presented as a result of emerging technologies and the developments revolving around the financial environment, as well as the need to design tools and techniques which can accommodate and realize potential and intended benefits of Distributed Ledger Technologies, are considered in this section of the volume. Even though it might be expected that internal controls and corporate governance related matters would influence and dominate main concerns relating to implementation of emerging technologies, it appears from recent surveys and statistics that employing staff and employees with adequate skills and expertise, as well as concerns relating to those risks emanating from cyber risks constitute and generate the greatest levels of concerns for industry experts and professionals. Designing tool and techniques which can accommodate and adapt to – as well as ensure that enterprise programs and systems are able to align with the demands presented by emerging technologies, back up plans, namely internal control measures should constitute or rather, also embody part of the fore of concerns in a changing business and financial environment. The Future of Forensic Accounting – particularly Computer Forensics, in becoming more engaged in Distributed Ledger Technology Designs – particularly in matters relating to internal control systems and designs – as a means of more effectively addressing associated risks attributed to crypto currencies and other emerging technologies is also considered in this section of the volume.
N-Glycanase 1 Transcriptionally Regulates Aquaporins Independent of Its Enzymatic Activity.

Summary Patients with pathogenic mutations in NGLY1 cannot make tears and have global developmental delay and liver dysfunction. Traditionally, NGLY1 cleaves intact N-glycans from misfolded, retrotranslocated glycoproteins before proteasomal degradation. We demonstrate that Ngly1-null mouse embryonic fibroblasts, NGLY1 knockout human cells, and patient fibroblasts are resistant to hypotonic lysis. Ngly1-deficient mouse embryonic fibroblasts swell slower and have reduced aquaporin1 mRNA and protein expression. Ngly1 knockdown and overexpression confirms that Ngly1 regulates aquaporin1 and hypotonic cell lysis. Patient fibroblasts and NGLY1 knockout cells show reduced aquaporin11 mRNA, supporting NGLY1 as regulating expression of multiple aquaporins across species. Complementing Ngly1-deficient cells with catalytically inactive NGLY1 (p.Cys309Ala) restores normal hypotonic lysis and aquaporin1 protein. We show that transcription factors Atf1/Creb1 regulate aquaporin1 and that the Atf1/Creb1 signaling pathway is disrupted in Ngly1-deficient mouse embryonic fibroblasts. These results identify a non-enzymatic, regulatory function of NGLY1 in aquaporin transcription, possibly related to alacrima and neurological symptoms.
Primary immunization of meningococcal meningitis vaccine among children in Hangzhou, China, 2008-2017.

Although China’s Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI) provides two doses of group A meningococcal polysaccharide vaccine (MPV-A) for children younger than 2 y, more self-paying group A and group ...
Proactive safety monitoring: A functional approach to detect safety-related anomalies using unmanned aerial vehicle video data

Abstract The advent of smart cities has motivated the field of transportation safety to transition towards a proactive approach that anticipates and mitigates risks before crashes occur. One of the stepping-stones to complete this transition is to monitor the risk levels of the transportation roadway system continuously. With the advancement in emerging technologies, computer-vision-based safety analysis approaches that focus on risk assessment using traffic conflicts quantified by surrogate safety measures extracted from traffic videos have been proposed. As the detailed movements of all the vehicles are logged in the video data, the quantified traffic conflicts can depict the whole picture of risk levels for a specific location. However, the capability of using traffic videos and the quantified traffic conflicts for proactive safety monitoring has yet to be investigated widely. In addition, one of the limitations of past safety research is that safety-related data are mostly aggregated into summary statistics (such as the total number of crashes/conflicts), which constitutes a major simplification of the real risk levels that change over time. Therefore, this study contributes to the literature by proposing a novel functional approach that models time series of a variant of the time exposed time-to-collision safety indicator directly to detect safety-related anomalies from traffic video data. Functional data smoothing methods that can mitigate overfitting and account for the nonnegative characteristics of safety indicator are applied. Nine commonly used functional anomaly detection methods are summarized and compared using approximately one-hour of traffic video data recorded by an unmanned aerial vehicle at a signalized intersection. Ground truth safety-related anomalies are identified by manually reviewing the video data, which is used to validate the performances of anomaly detection methods. Good separation between safety-related anomalies and non-anomalies (0.85 area under the receiver operating characteristics and 0.8 area under the precision-recall curve) has been found. By applying the proposed safety-related anomaly detection method, significant amount of human resources can be liberated.
Constraining the 6.05 MeV 0 + and 6.13 MeV 3 − Cascade Transitions in the C 12 ( α , γ ) O 16 Reaction Using the Asymptotic Normalization Coefficients

The 12C(α,γ)^16O reaction plays a fundamental role in astrophysics and needs to be known with accuracy better than 10%. Cascade γ transitions through the excited states of 16 O are contributing to the uncertainty. We constrained the contribution of the 0+ (6.05 MeV) and 3- (6.13 MeV) cascade transitions by measuring the asymptotic normalization coefficients for these states using the α-transfer reaction 6 Li(12C,d)^16O at sub-Coulomb energy. The contribution of the 0+ and 3- cascade transitions at 300 keV is found to be 1.96 ± 0.3 and 0.12 ± 0.04 keV b for destructive interference of the direct and resonance capture and 4.36 ± 0.45 and 1.44 ± 0.12 keV b for constructive interference, respectively. The combined contribution of the 0+ and 3- cascade transitions to the 12C(α,γ)16O reaction cross section at 300 keV does not exceed 4%. Significant uncertainties have been dramatically reduced.
Dermoptera (Flying Lemurs)

Dermopterans are an order of placental mammals represented by only two living species confined to Southeast Asia. Numerous anatomical specializations for arboreal climbing and gliding distinguish dermopterans from other mammals. Competing phylogenetic reconstructions place dermopterans as the nearest relatives of either primates or bats. Keywords: colugos; gliding; Primatomorpha
Product Echo State Networks: Time-Series Computation with Multiplicative Neurons

Echo state networks (ESN) are efficient and accurate artificial neural systems for time series processing and learning. An ESN consists of a core of recurrent neural networks, called a reservoir, with a small number of tunable parameters to generate a high-dimensional representation of an input, and a readout layer which is easily trained using regression to produce a desired output from the reservoir states. Certain computational tasks involve real-time calculation of high-order time correlations, which requires nonlinear transformation either in the reservoir or the readout layer. Traditional ESN employs a reservoir with sigmoid function neurons. In contrast, some types of biological neurons obey response curves that can be described as a product unit rather than a sum and threshold. Inspired by this class of neurons, we introduce an ESN with a reservoir of product nodes for time series computation. We find that the capacity of a product ESN for learning nonlinear functions surpasses that of a standard ESN. In particular, product ESN resolves the limitation of standard ESN to learn symmetric (even) nonlinear functions of the input. On standard benchmarks for chaotic prediction tasks, a product ESN network maintains the performance of a standard nonlinear ESN while being more amenable to mathematical analysis. Our study provides evidence that such networks are powerful in highly nonlinear tasks owing to high-order statistics generated by the recurrent product node reservoir.
Preparation and properties of uniform coated inorganic colloidal particles: III. Zirconium hydrous oxide on hematite☆

Abstract Spheroidal particles of zirconium hydrous oxide of a reasonably uniform size have been synthesized by aging at elevated temperatures aqueous solutions of zirconium sulfate in the presence of formamide. Uniform coatings of zirconium hydrous oxide have been deposited over spindle-type hematite particles by aging the preformed solids in the above solutions in the presence of a stabilizing agent (polyvinyl pyrrolidone or polyvinyl alcohol). The nature of the resulting systems and the thickness of the deposited layers could be manipulated by suitably adjusting the reactant concentrations, amount of added hematite, and temperature.
Micro-AIRS: a microcomputer-based arabic information retrieval system comparing words, stems, and roots as index terms

Experimentation with retrieval systems in Arabic language environments has been very limited. Arabization of available information retrieval systems has dealt mostly with internal representation of the Arabic data and translation of menus and system messages to Arabic. The problems of working with the Arabic language have not been confronted directly. Stemming algorithms have been widely used to enhance the retrieval behavior of information retrieval systems. In English based systems, stemming algorithms deal with the removal of suffixes to reduce the storage needed for the keyword list and to increase the recall factor by conflating word variants. In the Arabic language, both prefixes and suffixes are added to roots and stems to form related words. The number of affixes used in the Arabic language exceeds that used in English. Surface affix removal processes produce word stems while deep affix removal processes produce word root. This research studies the effect of using words, stems, and roots of Arabic words as index terms on the effectiveness of the retrieval of Arabic bibliographic records. To run the experiment for these three different retrieval methods we used 355 Arabic bibliographic records covering computer and information science, and 29 queries. The test was conducted on an IBM/AT compatible microcomputer using the Microcomputer-based Arabic Information Retrieval System, Micro-AIRS. The effectiveness of the system using word, stem, and root retrieval methods are presented using the recall and precision measures along with two nonparametric statistical tests. The system evaluation results shows the superiority of the root retrieval method over the word retrieval method, and over the stem retrieval method at high recall levels. It also shows the superiority of stem retrieval method over the word retrieval method at all recall levels. The experiments with ranking methods using dice, cosine, and Jaccard similarity coefficients shows that all three similarity coefficients produce exactly the same results when applied to a binary weighted word counts.
Thermal Evolution Methods for Carbon, Sulfur, Oxygen, Nitrogen and Hydrogen in Iron and Steel Analysis

A thermal evolution method is a method of destructive analysis in which the sample is subjected to heating, combustion, or fusion1 to quantify the chemical composition of iron and steel. Thermal evolution methods have been used for many years to determine carbon, sulfur, oxygen, nitrogen, and hydrogen contents of iron and steel. Carbon and sulfur are determined using combustion techniques. Oxygen and nitrogen are determined using inert gas fusion techniques. Hydrogen is determined using either inert gas fusion or hot extraction techniques. Analytical instrumentation for all of these techniques is commercially available.
Practising Development at Home: Race, Gender, and the “Development” of the American South

Drawing on a range of works that extend from gendered historical analyses of colonialism to critical histories of development, and based on archival research in Alabama, Arkansas, and Mississippi, I argue in this paper that what we now call international development—a form of hegemony different from but related to colonialism—needs to be understood not only as a geopolitical tool of the Cold War, but also as a technique of governance that took shape within the realm of the domestic and through a racialized gaze. I do so by tracing some of the key elements of the US international development practices in the postwar era to a different time and place: the American South, a region considered “undeveloped” in the first decades of the twentieth century, and the agricultural extension practices that targeted the rural farm home and farm women, particularly African-American women.
Measuring the rate of release of nitrogen and phosphorus from river bottom deposits

Materials released from accumulated bottom deposits often constitute a major portion of the pollutant loading in rivers and ponds. Interactions between the pollutants in such bottom deposits and the overlying water column are significant in any water quality modeling assessment. Ammonia nitrogen and orthophosphate are among the most important substances which are released from the bottom deposits. Release rates for these substances are an important part of any waterway assessment. In situ measurement of the release rates is a necessary step in water quality model calibration. This paper reports the results of a study which involved in situ measurement of bottom deposit pollutant release rates in a polluted urban waterway. The waterway studied was the Muddy River-Back Bay Fens system which is located in the City of Boston. This system suffers from water quality problems due to sluggish low dry weather flows, extensive urban storm drainage, illegal cross connections and occasional combined sewer discharges. The slower downstream reaches have extensive bottom deposits which are a major factor in the river water quality. In situ reactors were submerged during the summer of 1995 for periods up to 10 days in 15 locations to measure phosphorus and ammonia nitrogen release rates from the bottom deposits. Interstitial water samplers were simultaneously installed in the bottom deposits at the same locations to measure the soluble concentrations of ammonia and phosphorus in the deposit interstitial water. Short term and longer term sediment phosphorus release rates were obtained for the various deposits ranging from 6.9 to 289 mg P/m2 h. Ammonia nitrogen release rates from the same deposits were also measured. The ammonia nitrogen release rates ranged from 1 to 173 mg N/m2 h.
Educators' Symposium Overview

The Educators' Symposium brings educators from both academia and industry together to share their ideas, experiences and techniques in teaching agile methods. The objective is to provide a collaborative venue with various activities to facilitate exchanges. The Symposium this year will be a full-day event including a keynote, paper presentations, a workshop, and a panel discussion.
Lipid and Lipoprotein Metabolism

Lipoprotein metabolism can be subdivided into transport of exogenous lipids, transport of endogenous lipids from the liver to peripheral tissues, and reverse cholesterol transport with eventual excretion of cholesterol and its catabolic end products, bile salts, into the bile. Lipids are transported through the bloodstream as macromolecular complexes called lipoproteins, of which there are a number of classes that can be separated by sequential ultracentrifugation. Lipoprotein particles consist of a hydrophobic lipid core that is stabilized by a monolayer of phospholipids, free cholesterol, and apolipoproteins. Nine apolipoproteins are members of a multigene family. Eight of these are clustered at two loci: apoA-I, apoA-IV, apoA-V, and apoC-III on chromosome 11; and apoC-I, apoC-II apoC-IV, and apoE on chromosome 19. The apoB gene codes for two major structural proteins, one of which is produced by a novel mRNA editing mechanism. There are an increasing number of key genes recognized that play important roles in lipid metabolism and transport. Those that code for intracellular proteins involved in cholesterol synthesis, storage, or catabolism include HMGCoA synthase (HMGCS1), HMGCoA reductase (HMGCR), acyl-CoA:cholesterol acyltransferase (ACAT1/SOAT1 and ACAT2/SOAT2), and cholesterol 7α-hydroxylase (CYP7A1). The diacylglycerol O-acyltransferases (DGAT1 and DGAT2) are important in triglyceride synthesis. The microsomal triglyceride transfer protein (MTP) is a major participant in the assembly of very low density lipoproteins (VLDL). There is a family of lipoprotein receptor genes, most notable of which is the LDL receptor. Similarly, there is a family of lipases including lipoprotein lipase (LPL), hepatic triglyceride lipase (LIPC), and endothelial lipase (LIPG). In addition to the apolipoproteins, but also associated with lipoproteins, are a number of gene products that are important for lipid transport. These include lecithin:cholesterol acyltransferase (LCAT), phospholipid transfer protein (PLTP), and cholesterol ester transfer protein (CETP). Key genes involved in reverse cholesterol transport are ATP-binding cassette A1 (ABCA1), scavenger receptor SR-BI/CLA1 (SCARB1), and caveolin (CAV1). Other members of the ABC transporter family are being increasingly seen as major players in lipid transport. For example, ABCA7 and ABCB4 are phospholipid transporters, and ABCB11 is the bile salt export protein. Over the last decade, a number of nuclear receptors that regulate the genes mentioned above have been identified. These include the sterol regulatory element binding proteins (SREBPs), the liver X receptors (LXRα, NR1H3, and LXRβ, NR1H2), the farnesoid X receptor (FXR, NR1H4), and the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPARα, PPARγ, and PPARδ). Recent advances in molecular cell biology and molecular medicine, involving studies of these genes and their products, have significantly increased our understanding of lipoprotein metabolism and atherosclerotic heart disease. Keywords: Apolipoproteins; Chylomicrons; HDL; IDL; Kringles; LDL; VLDL
Reclaiming Race as a Topic of the U.S. Biology Textbook Curriculum

Even though human racial difference has been a longstanding topic of the school biology curriculum, there is little evidence that contemporary biology textbooks challenge stereotypical racial beliefs that are based in biological thinking. Rather, the modern biology curriculum may be a place where such beliefs about race are perpetuated unwittingly. Drawing upon a theoretical framework of racial conceptualization based in psychological essentialism, this paper argues that biology textbook curricula ought to directly challenge problematic and unscientific racial beliefs to increase understanding of human genetic variation and decrease racial beliefs associated with prejudice.
Sensitivity and specificity of 24-hour urine chemistry levels for detecting elevated calcium oxalate and calcium phosphate supersaturation.

Objectives: The gold standard for determining likelihood of calcium oxalate (CaOx) and calcium phosphate (CaPhos) stone formation in urine is supersaturation of CaOx and CaPhos. Our objective was to investigate whether traditional measurement of total calcium, oxalate and phosphate in a 24-hour urine collection is sufficiently sensitive and specific for detecting elevated supersaturation to preclude the more expensive supersaturation test. Methods: We performed a retrospective review of 150 consecutive patients with nephrolithiasis who underwent measurement of CaOx supersaturation (CaOxSS) and CaPhos supersaturation (CaPhosSS), as well as total calcium, oxalate and phosphate in a 24-hour urine collection. We used various cut-off values to determine sensitivity and specificity of 24-hour urine measurements for detecting elevated CaOxSS and CaPhosSS. Results: In men and women, the sensitivity of 24-hour calcium for detecting elevated CaOxSS was 71% and 79%, respectively; for oxalate, sensitivity was 59% and 36%, respectively. In men and women, the sensitivity of 24-hour calcium for detecting elevated CaPhosSS was 74% and 88%, respectively; for phosphate, sensitivity was 57% and 8%, respectively. In men and women, the specificity of 24-hour calcium for detecting elevated CaOxSS was 55% and 48%, respectively; it was 60% for detecting elevated CaPhosSS in both men and women. Conclusion: Traditional 24-hour urine analysis is sensitive, but not specific, for detecting elevated CaOxSS and CaPhosSS. Most patients with abnormal 24- hour urine analysis have normal supersaturation, and treatment decisions based on traditional urine analysis would lead to overtreatment in these patients.
Principled Synthesis for Large-Scale Systems: Task Sequencing

This paper describes ongoing work toward a principled controller synthesis methodology for large-scale, minimalist multi-robot systems. The work’s key objectives is to establish a set of programming primitives (processes) for which macroscopic behavior can be formally predicted. Such prediction is made possible by statistical physics techniques that use properties of time-invariant processes while exploiting the system’s large size. This paper’s focus is on the use of numerical and simulation methods during construction of the primitive process set. A computational method, developed by physicists, is used as a high-level simulation to characterize individual process behavior. The output, when interpreted qualitatively, guides distributed system design. In order to validate the approach, we consider a sequential inspection domain with a swarm of 400+ simulated robots. Synchronization is achieved through processes analyzed with the methods described, and predictions are compared with behavior exhibited in a traditional multi-robot simulation. The two simulation tools play different roles in characterizing collective behavior; the differences shed new light on the problem of multi-robot controller synthesis.
A Sophisticated Scaffold Wields a New Trick

Many cellular processes are governed by proteins that are docked onto a scaffold protein. In addition to providing binding sites, scaffolds influence the signaling output of these multiprotein complexes.
The Presidentialist Tradition in Latin America

Abstract The diffusion of presidentialism to Latin America has led to its distortion. The North American constitutional pattern, termed presidentialism under separation of powers and its most distinguishing feature, presidential leadership, while modeled in Latin America, has rarely led to democratic–constitutional government a la the United States. The institution of the presidency in Latin America is also typical for nondemocratic regimes in the region. One of the most widely accepted and widely professed facts in Latin American politics is the dominant role of the president but, curiously, most discussions of presidentialism are limited to the US and comparisons with Great Britain. Few studies of Latin American chief executives lend shape to the corpus of scholarly literature, despite the region's long experience and ejecutivismo. The gap, and this article, should be taken as a stimulus for more systematic explication, analysis, and research.
Biochemical characterization of the BETA-adrenergic receptor of the frog erythrocyte

The beta-adrenergic receptor which is coupled to adenylate cyclase in the frog erythrocyte plasma membrane provides a convenient model system for probing the molecular characteristics of an adenylate cyclase coupled hormone receptor. Direct radioligand binding studies with beta-adrenergic agonists and antagonists such as [3H]hydroxybenzylisoproterenol and [3H]dihydroalprenolol have shed new light on the biochemical properties of the receptor as well as on its mode of interaction with other components of the adenylate cyclase system. Agonist binding to the receptor induces a high affinity state of the receptor which can be selectively reverted to a low agonist affinity state by guanyl nucleotides. This agonist-induced high affinity state of the receptor appears to correspond to a receptor moiety which has larger apparent molecular weight and which is probably a complex of the beta-adrenergic receptor and nucleotide regulatory binding protein. Antagonists do not appear capable of inducing or stabilizing the formation of this high affinity receptor-nucleotide site complex. The beta-adrenergic receptors have been solubilized using the plant glycoside digitonin as the detergent and have been highly purified by biospecific affinity chromatography on an alprenolol-agarose affinity support. These highly purified receptor preparations retain all of the binding characteristics observed in the unpurified soluble receptor preparations. Remarkably, antibodies raised in rabbits against affinity chromatography purified preparations of the receptor, themselves bind beta-adrenergic ligands with typical beta-adrenergic specificity. Such antibodies which possess binding sites similar to those of physiological receptors provide useful model systems for further probing the molecular characteristics of beta-adrenergic binding sites.
Interaction Barrier in Charged-Particle Nuclear Reactions

Simple expressions are obtained for the total reaction cross section in terms of the interaction barrier for the $s$ wave. These expressions allow the interaction barrier to be determined experimentally. Analysis of experimental data for heavy ions on $^{238}\mathrm{U}$ shows that the effective radius parameter decreases as projectile charges increase.
Double layers do accelerate particles in the auroral zone.

In response to a recent report (D. A. Bryant, R. Bingham, and U. de Angelis, Phys. Rev. Lett. 68, 37 (1991)) that makes the claim that electrostatic fields are weak in the auroral zone and that electrostatic fields cannot accelerate particles, it is pointed out that the evidence for electrostatic fields in the auroral zone is overwhelming and that these electrostatic fields often are accelerating electrons to produce aurora. The literature cited in the article above as evidence against double layers (strong electric fields) is reexamined and is found not to be evidence against double layers.
An integrated network of roadside sensors and vehicles for driving safety: Concept, design and experiments

One major goal of the vehicular ad hoc network (VANET) is to improve driving safety. However, the VANET may not guarantee timely detection of dangerous road conditions or maintain communication connectivity when the network density is low (e.g., in rural highways), which may pose as a big threat to driving safety. Towards addressing the problem, we propose to integrate the VANET with the inexpensive wireless sensor network (WSN). That is, sensor nodes are deployed along the roadside to sense road conditions, and to buffer and deliver information about dangerous conditions to vehicles regardless of the density or connectivity of the VANET. Along with the concept of VANET-WSN integration, new challenges arise and should be addressed. In this paper, we investigate these challenges and propose schemes for effective and efficient vehicle-sensor and sensor-sensor interactions. Prototype of the designed system has been implemented and tested in the field. Extensive simulations have also been conducted to evaluate the designed schemes. The results demonstrate various design tradeoffs, and indicate that satisfactory safety and energy efficiency can be achieved simultaneously when system parameters are appropriately chosen.