cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Development of Antibodies Against Conjugated Benzophenone, as a Tool in Photoaffinity Crosslinking Studies

The photoaffinity scanning (PAS) methodology is widely used for mapping the bimo-lecular ligand-acceptor interface. In the case of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCR’s), which are not yet amenable to either NMR or X-ray analysis, the benzo-pheneone-based PAS approach is almost the only direct method to gain insight on the contact sites between ligands and their cognate receptors. Identification of the contact sites is based on the analysis of the enzymatic and chemical fragmentation patterns of the radiolabeled ligand-receptor photoconjugate. Efficient and specific isolation of the radiolabeled ligand-receptor photoconjugate and photoconjugated fragments is detrimental for generating the quantities of highly pure material needed for sequencing or mass-spectrometric analysis. To this end, we undertook the development of antibodies that will identify the benzhydrol moiety (BH) obtained from the photophore, the benzopheneone (BP) moiety, upon photoinsertion reaction at the contact site. Such antibodies will discriminate between and separate the conjugated from the non-conjugated species, and provide a universal affinity purification tool for the BP-based PAS approach. If successful, the use of anti-BH polyclonal antibodies will provide access to less stringent experimental design, eliminate the need for radiotaging, and facilitating access to a wider range of analytical instrumentation.
Innate Immune Responses and Bronchiolitis Obliterans Syndrome

The innate immune system, central to host defense, is now recognized to play a critical role in regulating adaptive immune responses, including allograft rejection. Innate immunity is of particular importance in lung transplantation, given the specialized innate defense mechanisms within the lung and the constant interaction between the allograft and the external environment. A central principle of innate immunity is the recognition of highly conserved molecular patterns present on microbial pathogens or injured tissue by host innate pattern recognition receptors (PRRs). The Toll-like receptors (TLRs) are the best described and most extensively studied PRRs of relevance to transplant rejection. For example, in animal models, genetic inhibition of TLR signaling attenuates allograft rejection, while TLR activation impedes successful transplant tolerance. These findings have been translated into clinical lung transplantation, as we have shown that functional polymorphisms in the innate receptors TLR4 and CD14 impact the risk for acute rejection and bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome (BOS). Consequently, a more complex view of BOS pathogenesis that considers the influence of previously identified clinical risk factors on activation of both innate and adaptive immunity has emerged. While additional studies are needed to define the full spectrum of innate ligands and PRRs relevant to lung transplantation, it is clear that innate mechanisms are likely to play a central role in mediating lung allograft rejection and BOS. Selective inhibition of innate pathways represents an attractive approach that could complement existing immunosuppressive strategies to reduce rejection after lung transplantation.
A review of risk factors for adverse neurologic outcome after cardiac surgery

Although the incidence of overt sequelae has traditionally been higher in patients undergoing isolated intracardiac procedures such as valve replacement or repair, recent studies show that the incidence of stroke for intracardiac procedures now approximates that for isolated coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG), in the range of 1 to 4%. In both intracardiac and extracardiac surgery, macroemboli (>200 μm in diameter) and microemboli (<40 μm in diameter) seem to be responsible for most neurologic complications. The risk of overt stroke is clearly increased in patients who undergo more complicated, combined procedures such as CABG plus valve replacement or CABG plus carotid endarterectomy. For isolated CABG, preoperative risk factors include advanced patient age, proximal aortic atherosclerosis, hypertension, previous stroke or transient ischemic attack, diabetes, and female gender. One area of controversy and current research concerns whether hypothermia is better than normothermia during cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB). Another debatable issue is whether CPB itself results in neurologic damage, owing to nonpulsatile perfusion, complement activation and the inflammatory response, or a greater propensity for platelet activation and aggregation into microemboli in this setting. Strategies for preventing adverse neurologic outcome (new paradigms for managing intra-aortic plaque and controlling the cerebral reperfusion temperature) and for acute intervention (using specific cerebral protective agents) are under investigation. Further research into techniques for preventing or mitigating cerebral injury, particularly in high-risk patients, is clearly mandated.
Empirical Evaluation of Workload Forecasting Techniques for Predictive Cloud Resource Scaling

Many predictive resource scaling approaches have been proposed to overcome the limitations of the conventional reactive approaches most often used in clouds today. In general, due to the complexity of clouds, these reactive approaches were often forced to make significant limiting assumptions in either the operating conditions/requirements or expected workload patterns. As such, it is extremely difficult for cloud users to know which – if any – existing workload predictor will work best for their particular cloud activity, especially when considering highly-variable workload patterns, non-trivial billing models, variety of resources to add/subtract, etc. To solve this problem, we conduct comprehensive evaluations for a variety of workload predictors under real-world cloud configurations. The workload predictors cover four classes of 21 predictors: naive, regression, temporal, and non-temporal methods. We simulate a cloud application under four realistic workload patterns, two different cloud billing models, and three different styles of predictive scaling. Our evaluation confirms that no workload predictor is universally best for all workload patterns, and shows that Predictive Scaling-out + Predictive Scaling-in has the best cost efficiency and the lowest job deadline miss rate in cloud resource management, on average providing 30% better cost efficiency and 80% less job deadline miss rate compared to other styles of predictive scaling.
Not for Turning: The Life of Margaret Thatcher

The Daily Mail called it “The political biography of the decade.” It lives up to the billing. Robin Harris has written a very readable, informative, balanced, and fair book about the late Margaret ...
Epistemic Cognition: A Promising and Necessary Construct for Enriching Large-scale Online Learning Analysis

Epistemic cognition refers to the process of thinking about one's forms of knowledge and ways of knowing. Epistemic cognition becomes especially critical when learners need to, assess the validity, certainty, reliability, source, and limits of their knowledge, as when working through ill-structured problems or evaluating contradictory knowledge claims. This psychological construct is relevant to Massively Open Online Courses (MOOCs), for instance, in that researchers are modeling learner behavior and performance (i.e., how learners handle knowledge) based on inferred learner knowledge states. In this synthesis paper, I provide a brief account of epistemic cognition research, summarize the field's key findings and theories, and outline the affordances that epistemic cognition offers to online learning researchers. I also show that, without knowing it, online learning researchers have already engaged with epistemic cognition concepts and provide recommendations for future, more theoretically and practically enriching work.
Dining and Dunking the Dead: Postmortem Rituals in First-Century Hellenistic Society and What They Reveal About the Role of the Body in Christianity

Johnson’s study explores two rituals—baptism for the dead and dining with the dead—that were adapted from Hellenistic society and practiced in the first century in church at Corinth. Both rituals have a strong corporeal aspect to them; they involve animate bodies engaging in actions in proximity to and with the intent to affect a deceased relative. An understanding of these somatic practices of the early church and Paul’s reaction to them in his correspondence, Johnson argues, provides a paradigm for modern Christian engagement with the new vision of “body” and “person” that is unfolding in the pursuit of radical life extension.
Counterfeit product detection: Bridging the gap between design science and behavioral science in information systems research

Abstract In IS research, there is a dichotomy where design science and behavioral science are distinct research paradigms. IS researchers should view these paradigms as complementary with research drawing upon the strengths of both, yet few have done so. This work demonstrates how design science and behavioral science can be united in IS research via counterfeit product detection based on product reviews in an online marketplace. Product authenticity in the online marketplace is a common issue plaguing consumers. The decision process involved in determining product authenticity is lengthy and complex. Despite the pressing need for an automatic authenticity rating system for online shopping, little research has been done to develop such a system and assess its effects on consumer purchase behavior. To respond to this need, our study develops a design artifact, called OnCDS, to automatically calculate the likelihood that a product is counterfeit based on online customer reviews. Drawing upon lexicon-based sentiment analysis approaches and TF-IDF as kernel theories for our design, we employ web scraping, natural language processing, and topic analysis methods to process customer reviews and calculate the counterfeit score of a product. In assessing the effects of OnCDS on consumer behavior, we develop a research model that encompasses trust and perceived risk based on the valence framework. Results show that our design artifact's efficacy is validated and that the counterfeit score affects perceived risk and trust, which in turn influences attitude toward purchase.
Emerging M&S challenges for human, social, cultural, and behavioral modeling

The discipline of Modeling and Simulation (M&S) is ubiquitous in many domains, such as training and education, support of decision-making, or analysis of potential developments. In particular the armed forces apply M&S extensively and enable pioneering applications of M&S. Events within the last decade have resulted in a radical change of tasks the armed forces have to fulfill. These new tasks focus not so much on attrition, movement, and warfighting operations, but on reconstruction, crisis prevention, police tasks, and many other efforts that are conducted in collaboration with or in support of civil agencies and organizations. Challenges of these changing tasks require a new view on M&S support as well, as a "whole of society" approach is needed, focusing on human, social, cultural, and behavioral modeling. Human sciences are playing an increasing role. One of the first challenges is to establish a community of experts that can support such endeavors. One of the results should be a list of necessary and available models and methods. On the longer term, a common framework to identify applicable models and methods, select the best option, compose individual solutions, and orchestrate their execution is needed. This paper contributes to a research agenda.
Real-Time Incident Clearance Time Prediction Using Traffic Data from Internet of Mobility Sensors

The time wasted in traffic congestion especially the non-recurring (unexpected) is priceless. Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) technologies aims at improving transportation safety and mobility, reduce environmental impacts, and enhance productivity by utilizing the current available infrastructure. Providing the drivers with an accurate clearance time will help them manage their trips efficiently. Existing studies attempted to predict the clearance time of highway incidents through statistical modeling by fitting the incident features to their models. Unfortunately, the incident features are not available at the beginning of the incident. In this study, we develop efficient prediction models by training millions of real-time traffic and weather data from Florida Department of Transportation - District 4 (FDOT-D4), in conjunction with the crash data reported for the same period. Our models can predict the incident clearance time in real-time once the accident happens by using the real-time traffic data. In this paper, we mainly use Deep Leaning (DL) to build the clearance time prediction model. In addition, we build two other models, Distributed Random Forests (DRF)and Generalized Linear Model (GLM) then, we compare the results of all these models. Traffic Management Centers (TMCs) will use the predicted results to display them on Dynamic Message Signs (DMSs) and broadcast them on the Highway Advisory Radio (HAR). The models performances are validated with the actual clearance times provided by the incidents respondents. DL outperforms both DRF and GLM in predicting the clearance time, reflected in the lowest root mean squared error (RMSE) of 0.99 and the lowest mean absolute error (MAE) of 0.6.
Discovering different types of topics: factored topic models

In traditional topic models such as LDA, a word is generated by choosing a topic from a collection. However, existing topic models do not identify different types of topics in a document, such as topics that represent the content and topics that represent the sentiment. In this paper, our goal is to discover such different types of topics, if they exist. We represent our model as several parallel topic models (called topic factors), where each word is generated from topics from these factors jointly. Since the latent membership of the word is now a vector, the learning algorithms become challenging. We show that using a variational approximation still allows us to keep the algorithm tractable. Our experiments over several datasets show that our approach consistently outperforms many classic topic models while also discovering fewer, more meaningful, topics.
Decision to Return to Sport Participation After Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction, Part II: Self-Reported and Functional Performance Outcomes.

Context: Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction (ACLR) is the most commonly used method for helping athletes regain function and return to preinjury activity levels after ACL injury. Outcomes after ACLR have suggested that athletes return to a level of function that would support a return to sport participation; however, in a recent meta-analysis, pooled return rates were only 55%. It is unclear whether this discrepancy is a result of functional impairments. Objective: To compare patient-reported outcomes (PROs), dynamic balance, dynamic functional performance, strength, and muscular endurance in athletes who returned to sport (RTS) and athletes who did not return to sport (NRTS) after ACLR. Design: Case-control study. Setting: University research laboratory. Patients or Other Participants: Two groups of participants with primary unilateral ACLR: 18 RTS individuals (7 males, 11 females; age = 23 ± 11 years, height = 163.58 ± 40.41 cm, mass = 70.00 ± 21.75 kg, time since surgery = 4.02 ± 3.20...
Terminally Ill Children and Treatment Choices: a Reply to Gareth Matthews

Gareth Matthews’ paper [5] is a penetrating discussion of two closely related topics. In the first part of the paper, he offers a description and analysis of what he has called the “Standard Developmental Account” of children’s conceptions of death. In the second part of the paper he focuses on an in-depth study of terminally ill children and compares its findings with the Standard Developmental Account. My commentary will explore the implications Matthews draws from these studies for the questions of whether and how to inform seriously ill children about their disease and help them participate in decisions about its treatment.
Comparison of models for estimation of genetic parameters for mature weight of Hereford cattle.

Genetic parameters of mature weight are needed for effective selection and genetic evalua- tion. Data for estimating these parameters were col- lected from 1963 to 1985 and consisted of 32,018 mature weight records of 4,175 Hereford cows that were in one control and three selection lines that had been selected for weaning weight, for yearling weight, or for an index combining yearling weight and muscle score for 22 yr. Several models and subsets of the data were considered. The mature weight records consisted of a maximum of three seasonal weights taken each year, at brand clipping (February and March), before breeding (May and June), and at palpation (August and September). Heritability estimates were high (0.49 to 0.86) for all models considered, which suggests that selection to change mature weight could be effective. The model that best fit the data included maternal genetic and maternal permanent environmental effects in addition to direct genetic and direct permanent environmental effects. Estimates of direct heritability with this model ranged from 0.53 to 0.79, estimates of maternal herita- bility ranged from 0.09 to 0.21, and estimates of the genetic correlation between direct and maternal effects ranged from −0.16 to −0.67 for subsets of the data based on time of year that mature weight was measured. For the same subsets, estimates of the proportions of vari- ance due to direct permanent environment and mater- nal permanent environment ranged from 0.00 to 0.09 and 0.00 to 0.06, respectively. Using a similar model that combined all records and included an added fixed effect of season of measurement of mature weight, di- rect heritability, maternal heritability, genetic correla- tion between direct and maternal effects, proportion of variance due to direct permanent environmental ef- fects, and proportion of variance due to maternal per- manent environmental effects were estimated to be 0.69, 0.13, −0.65, 0.00, and 0.04, respectively. Mature weight is a highly heritable trait that could be included in selection programs and maternal effects should not be ignored when analyzing mature weight data.
Neural Mechanisms of Spatial Attention Deficits in Trauma.

Abstract Background Survival requires effective shifting of attention from one stimulus to another as goals change. It has been consistently demonstrated that posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is associated with both faster orienting of attention toward and slower disengagement of attention from affective stimuli. Prior work, however, suggests that attention abnormalities in PTSD may extend beyond the affective domain. Methods We used the Attention Network Test—modified to include invalid spatial cues—in conjunction with functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine the neurocognitive underpinnings of visuospatial attention in participants with PTSD (n = 31) and control participants who were (n = 20) and were not (n = 21) exposed to trauma. Results We observed deficits in the utilization of spatial information in the group with PTSD. Specifically, compared with the non-trauma-exposed group, participants with PTSD showed a smaller reaction time difference between invalidly and validly cued targets, demonstrating that they were less likely to use spatial cues to inform subsequent behavior. We also found that in both the PTSD and trauma-exposed control groups, utilization of spatial information was positively associated with activation of attentional control regions (e.g., right precentral gyrus, inferior and middle frontal gyri) and negatively associated with activation in salience processing regions (e.g., right insula). Conclusions This pattern suggests that both trauma exposure and psychopathology may be associated with alterations of spatial attention. Overall, our findings suggest that both attention- and salience-network abnormalities may be related to altered attention in trauma-exposed populations. Treatments that target these neural networks could therefore be a new avenue for PTSD research.
Synthesis of 4′‐Ester Analogues of Resveratrol and Their Evaluation in Malignant Melanoma and Pancreatic Cell Lines.

Ester analogues (IV) of resveratrol are synthesized from resorcylic acid using a decarbonylative Heck coupling as key step.
Association between suicide death and concordance with benzodiazepine treatment guidelines for anxiety and sleep disorders

Abstract Objective Guidelines for management of anxiety and sleep disorders emphasize antidepressant medications and/or psychotherapy as first/second-line and benzodiazepines as third-line treatments. We evaluated the association between suicide death and concordance with benzodiazepine guidelines. Methods Retrospective case-control study of patients with anxiety and/or sleep disorders from health systems across 8 U.S. states within the Mental Health Research Network. Suicide death cases were matched to controls on year and health system. Appropriate benzodiazepine prescribing defined as: no monotherapy, no long duration, and/or age Results Sample included 6960 patients with anxiety disorders (2363 filled benzodiazepine) and 6215 with sleep disorders (1237 filled benzodiazepine). Benzodiazepine guideline concordance was associated with reduced odds for suicide in patients with anxiety disorders (OR = 0.611, 95% CI = 0.392–0.953, p = 0.03) and was driven by shorter duration of benzodiazepine use with concomitant psychotherapy or antidepressant medication. The association of benzodiazepine guideline concordance with suicide death did not meet statistical significance in the sleep disorder group (OR = 0.413, 95% CI = 0.154–1.11, p = 0.08). Conclusions We found reduced odds for suicide in those with anxiety disorders who filled benzodiazepines in short-moderate duration with concomitant psychotherapy or antidepressant treatment.
The Rise of the Global South and the Protestant Peace with Socialism

This article explores a major shift in European Protestant thought about socialism during the mid-twentieth century, from intense hostility to acceptance. During the twentieth century's early decades it was common for European Protestant theologians, church leaders and thinkers to condemn socialism as a threat to Christianity. Socialist ideology, many believed, was inherently secular, and its triumph would spell anarchy and violence. In the decades after the Second World War, however, this hostility began to wane, as European Protestant elites increasingly joined Christian-socialist associations and organisations. By focusing on the Protestant ecumenical movement, this article argues that one of the forces in this change was decolonisation, and in particular the rise of Christian and socialist thinkers in the Global South. It shows how concerns about Christianity's future in Asia and Africa helped some European Protestants to rethink their long-held suspicion towards state-led economic management and distribution.
Combined Effects of Race and Educational Attainment on Physician Visits Over 24 Years in a National Sample of Middle-Aged and Older Americans

Background The literature on Minorities’ Diminished Returns (MDRs) have shown worse than expected health of the members of racial and ethnic minority groups particularly Blacks. Theoretically, this effect can be in part due to weaker effects of educational attainment on preventive care and disease management in highly educated racial and ethnic minorities. Objectives The current study explored the racial and ethnic differences in the effect of baseline educational attainment on % adherance to the routine physician visits among middle-aged and older adults in the US. Methods This is a prospective study with 24 years of follow up. The Health and Retirement Study (HRS: 1992-2016) included 10 880 middle-aged and older adults who were Hispanic, non-Hispanic, Black or White. The independent variable was educational attainment. The dependent variable was adherance to the routine physician visits (%). Age, gender, marital status, income, health behaviors (smoking and drinking) and health (depression, self-rated health, and chronic diseases) were the covariates. Race and ethnicity were the focal moderators. Linear regression was used for data analysis. Results Overall, higher educational attainment was associated with higher % of adherance to the routine physician visits over the course of follow-up, net of all confounders. Race showed a significant statistical interaction with educational attainment suggesting of a smaller effect of high education attainment on % adherance to the routine physician visits for Black than White middle-aged and older adults. Similar interaction could not be found for the comparison of Hispanic and non-Hispanic middle-aged and older adults. Conclusion Educational attainment is associated with a larger increase in preventive and disease management doctor visits for White than Black middle-aged and older adults. This is a missed opportunity to improve the health of highly educated middle-aged and older adults. It is not race/ethnicity or class that shapes health behaviors but race/ethnicity and class that shape people’s pro-health behaviors. At least some of the racial health disparities is not due to low SES but diminished returns of SES.
Emotion Regulation in Elementary School-Aged Children with a Maternal History of Suicidal Behavior: A Pilot Study.

Parental history of suicidal behavior is associated with an increased risk of early onset suicidal behavior in their offspring. The objective of this pilot study was to compare clinical characteristics, temperament, and emotion regulation in children, aged 6–9 years, with (PH+) and without (PH−) a maternal history of suicidal behavior to determine which factors could be markers of early vulnerability. At baseline, PH+ children, compared to PH− children, demonstrated more difficulties with temperament, emotion regulation, and experienced more life events in the year prior to their baseline appointment. At study follow-ups, however, no differences were found between PH+ and PH− children. Results suggest there are some signals of early vulnerability present in children with a maternal history of suicidal behavior and recruitment/retention of this group of youth is feasible.
Variability of Salivary and Nasal Specimens for SARS-CoV-2 Detection

In a large cohort of ambulatory confirmed COVID-19 patients with multiple self-collected sample time points, we compared 202 matched nasal-oropharyngeal swabs and oral salivary fluid sample pairs by RT-PCR. Nasal-oropharyngeal swabs were more sensitive than this salivary sample type (oral crevicular fluid) suggesting that not all saliva sample types have equivalent sensitivity. However, all samples that were Vero E6-TMPRSS2 cell culture positive (e.g., infectious virus) were also oral fluid RT-PCR positive suggesting that oral fluid may find the patients most likely to transmit disease to others.
Metal oxide based non-enzymatic electrochemical sensors for glucose detection

Abstract Glucose sensors play an important role in managing blood glucose level of diabetic patients. Although enzyme-based glucose test strips dominate glucose detection market, the intrinsic chemical and thermal sensitivity of enzymes stimulates researchers to explore chemically and thermally stable metal oxides as alternative sensing materials for non-enzymatic glucose detection. This review begins with sensing mechanisms and working principles of metal oxides based glucose sensors, followed by the discussion and summarization of recent progress of metal oxide based non-enzymatic glucose detection with a focus on electrochemical techniques. Finally, this review concludes with a discussion of future trends in developing advanced non-enzymatic glucose sensors.
Leveraging Virtual Reality and Exergames to Promote Physical Activity

This work introduces a Virtual Reality Exergame application to promote physical activity. With obesity on the rise, it is more important than ever to encourage and motivate people to be active. Exercise helps with the expenditure of energy via body movements, which is key to living a healthy life. However, exercise by itself is not an engaging activity for most people. The objective of the exergame introduced in this work is to encourage users to perform full-body movements to pass through a series of obstacles and achieve higher scores, unlock content, and complete a series of achievements. The application implements a variety of game elements to help motivate users to play the game and perform physical activity. Each of the game elements can be toggled on or off depending on whether the player feels they are benefitting or hindering the experience. This feature allows users to customize the application. Moreover, this exergame application leverages Virtual Reality and Depth-sensor technology to help provide users with an immersive first-person experience. While in the game, users can visualize their motions. This is because the users can control their virtual avatar with their body movements with the use of the depth-sensor. It is expected that this immersivity will motivate and encourage the users even more. The objective of this work is to introduce this Virtual Reality Exergame application as well as the hardware and software development aspects of it.
Examining the Growth of the Global Space Situational Awareness Sector: A Network Analysis Approach

Abstract The global space situational awareness sector is rapidly evolving as government and commercial entities around the world increase their ability to monitor the space environment. In many cases, these entities are increasing capabilities by creating or joining international organizations, forging partnerships, and purchasing data or services from new sources. The ways in which these entities engage with one another will affect the quality of SSA data available to civil, commercial, and foreign users around the world. This, in turn, affects the security of key military space assets as well as the sustainability of the space environment as a whole. In this paper, I use social network analysis to map out the current state of the global SSA sector and discuss its potential future evolution.
From Legible Victims to Collective Photographic Autobiographies: Zanele Muholi's Visual Activism

Zanele Muholi became known as a photographer who countered the then-invisible lives of Black lesbians in South Africa by documenting the systematic violence to which her community was subjected. Muholi has produced an activist archive of the fullness of LGBTI lives, including domesticity, intimacy and pleasure. Her images mobilize a vision of queer privacy in a collective autobiographical visual project that makes a powerful claim on national space. This project envisions the private as the arena of a dissident memory that questions the exclusions of national narratives, and finds in photography a utopian imagining of “the country we want to live in” (Mkhize, et al, 201'7. In Muholi’s photographs, we see a consistent theme of dream selves, dream bodies, dream communities and dream spaces. For her, remaking the visual archive is a powerful political strategy. The communal autobiographical visual archive created by Muholi contains compelling portraits of ordinariness and eroticism, while also unflinchingly addressing the difficulties faced by her subjects. This wholeness, radical playfulness and the utopian promise of pleasure and self-invention in Muholi’s photography constitute what I term a strategy of “public privacy” by queer people in South Africa which makes a powerful new claim on public space.
Multivariate Fuzzy-Random Normalized Neural Network Approximation

In this chapter we study the rate of multivariate pointwise convergence in the q-mean to the Fuzzy-Random unit operator or its perturbation of very precise multivariate normalized Fuzzy-Random neural network operators of Cardaliaguet-Euvrard and “Squashing” types.
The Effect Of Surfactants To The Conversion Of Coal And Coal-Derived Asphaltenes In Coal Liquefaction Process

Due to the agglomeration of coal particles and coal-derived asphaltenes, conventional processes for coal liquefaction require its reactions under severe conditions. Even at a high temperature and a high hydrogen pressure, the yield of coal liquefaction is still not satisfactory. In this investigation, surfactant is introduced in the coal liquefaction process to reduce the agglomeration of the coal particles and coal-derived asphaltenes. Thus, the yield of coal liquefaction is improved significantly. In the surfactant screening test, six selected surfactants were examined at elevated temperatures separately in both coal/coal solvent systems. The viscosity of coal suspension and the suspended coal concentration are used as indicators to determine the performance of surfactants. The results show that surfactant calcium lignosulfonate has the best performance among selected surfactants which may be due to the increase of surface charges and double layer expansion. In the autoclave experiments, the suggested surfactant not only raises the yield of coal liquefaction but also changes the distribution of products. Under the same condition, almost twice the yield was obtained for both coal and lignite samples with the aid of surfactants.
Age at Marriage, Divorce, Fertility and Labor Force Participation of Women: a Time Series Perspective

This paper uses vector-autoregressions to gain insights into the dynamic relationships between age at marriage, divorce, fertility, and labor force participation of women. The use of vector-autoregressions let us circumvent the statistical problems faced by previous studies. Age at marriage, fertility, the divorce rate, and the labor force participation rate are permitted to depend on the past values of each other. The impulse response simulations allowed us to observe the short-run reactions of the variables to the unexpected perturbations in the system. Contrary to the evidence presented by cross-sectional analyses, no significant influence of young marriages on the divorce rate is found: A positive shock to the proportion of young marriages did not generate an increase in the divorce rate. On the other hand, young marriages and the divorce rate simultaneously increased or decreased when there were increases in the fertility or the labor force participation rates. This outcome implied that the inverse association between age at marriage and divorce is not a causal relationship; rather divorces and marriages co-vary due to changes in labor force participation and fertility. The results hold when we use the unemployment rate for women as the labor market variable.
Testing Theories for the Gender Difference

Women in Science Career Processes and Outcomes. Yu Xie and Kimberlee A. Shauman. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 2003. 336 pp. $59.95, £38.95, €55.30. ISBN 0-674-01034-5. In this comprehensive exploration of gender differences in science careers in the United States, the authors consider the trajectory from high school to graduate school to combining jobs with families. Analyzing 17 data sets, they consider how students are selected into and out of science education and how social forces shape choices in the science labor market.
Mechanisms of DNA utilization by estuarine microbial populations.

The mechanisms of utilization of DNA by estuarine microbial populations were investigated by competition experiments and DNA uptake studies. Deoxyribonucleoside monophosphates, thymidine, thymine, and RNA all competed with the uptake of radioactivity from [3H]DNA in 4-h incubations. In 15-min incubations, deoxyribonucleoside monophosphates had no effect or stimulated [3H]DNA binding, depending on the concentration. The uptake of radioactivity from [3H]DNA resulted in little accumulation of trichloroacetic acid-soluble intracellular radioactivity and was inhibited by the DNA synthesis inhibitor novobiocin. Molecular fractionation studies indicated that some radioactivity from [3H]DNA appeared in the RNA (10 and 30% at 4 and 24 h, respectively) and protein (approximately 3%) fractions. The ability of estuarine microbial assemblages to transport gene sequences was investigated by plasmid uptake studies, followed by molecular probing. Although plasmid DNA was detected on filters after filtration of plasmid-amended incubations, DNase treatment of filters removed this DNA, indicating that there was little transport of intact gene sequences. These observations led to the following model for DNA utilization by estuarine microbial populations. (i) DNA is rapidly bound to the cell surface and (ii) hydrolyzed by cell-associated and extracellular nonspecific nucleases. (iii) DNA hydrolysis products are transported, and (iv) the products are rapidly salvaged into nucleic acids, with little accumulation into intracellular nucleotide pools.
The Glutamic Acid-rich Protein-2 (GARP2) Is a High Affinity Rod Photoreceptor Phosphodiesterase (PDE6)-binding Protein That Modulates Its Catalytic Properties

The glutamic acid-rich protein-2 (GARP2) is a splice variant of the β-subunit of the cGMP-gated ion channel of rod photoreceptors. GARP2 is believed to interact with several membrane-associated phototransduction proteins in rod photoreceptors. In this study, we demonstrated that GARP2 is a high affinity PDE6-binding protein and that PDE6 co-purifies with GARP2 during several stages of chromatographic purification. We found that hydrophobic interaction chromatography succeeds in quantitatively separating GARP2 from the PDE6 holoenzyme. Furthermore, the 17-kDa prenyl-binding protein, abundant in retinal cells, selectively released PDE6 (but not GARP2) from rod outer segment membranes, demonstrating the specificity of the interaction between GARP2 and PDE6. Purified GARP2 was able to suppress 80% of the basal activity of the nonactivated, membrane-bound PDE6 holoenzyme at concentrations equivalent to its endogenous concentration in rod outer segment membranes. However, GARP2 was unable to reverse the transducin activation of PDE6 (in contrast to a previous study) nor did it significantly alter catalysis of the fully activated PDE6 catalytic dimer. The high binding affinity of GARP2 for PDE6 and its ability to regulate PDE6 activity in its dark-adapted state suggest a novel role for GARP2 as a regulator of spontaneous activation of rod PDE6, thereby serving to lower rod photoreceptor “dark noise” and allowing these sensory cells to operate at the single photon detection limit.
Efficacy of Copper Sulfate for the Treatment of Ichthyophthiriasis in Channel Catfish

Abstract Ichthyophthirius multifiliis is a protozoan that may infest and significantly damage cultured fish species. The purpose of this study was to measure the efficacy of copper sulfate in treating ichthyophthiriasis. Fingerling channel catfish Ictalurus punctatus exposed to at least 2,000 theronts of I. multifiliis per liter of water developed consistent infestations of I. multifiliis (20 or more trophonts on the dorsal surface of the head of the fish). Infestation was observed in untreated controls at day 5 after exposure and mortality occurred after day 10. Coexposure studies with theronts and different concentrations of copper sulfate revealed that all theronts were killed at concentrations greater than 0.05 mg/L. To determine the effect of copper sulfate in the treatment of ichthyophthiriasis, fish were exposed to the parasite until trophonts were observed (day 5), and they were subsequently treated with copper sulfate. The lowest effective concentration of copper sulfate for treatment of ichthyop...
Measuring Movement of Incomes

We consider a small set of elementary properties for income movement measures, and show that there is essentially only one measure that satisfies all of these properties: the per capita aggregate change in log-incomes. We demonstrate next that this movement-mobility measure has a number of appealing descriptive and normative properties, and provide a formal generalization of our basic characterization theorem drawing from the related literature on poverty measurement. Finally, we present here an empirical application in which we show by using our new measure that there has been a broad-based increase in income movement in the United States between the 1970s and 1980s.
Coupling-mass mapping of dijet peak searches

We study hypothetical gauge bosons that may produce dijet resonances at the LHC. Simple renormalizable models include leptophobic Zbosons or colorons that have flavor- independent couplings and decay into a color-singlet or -octet quark-antiquark pair, respec- tively. We present the experimental results on dijet resonances at hadron colliders as limits in the coupling-versus-mass plane of a gauge boson associated with baryon number. This theoretical framework facilitates a direct comparison of dijet resonance searches performed at different center-of-mass energies or at different colliders.
Electron Spin Resonance of Ni(I) in Ni−Containing MCM-41 Molecular Sieves

Nickel-containing MCM-41 molecular sieves have been synthesized hydrothermally using cetyltrimethylammonium chloride as a template. The stabilization of Ni(I) in NiMCM-41 is minimal. The various Ni(I) species formed by reduction and adsorbate interactions in NiAlMCM-41 in which Ni(II) is incorporated into a framework position by addition of Ni(II) into the synthesis mixture and in Ni-AlMCM-41 where Ni(II) is incorporated into extraframework positions by liquid state ion exchange were studied by electron spin resonance (ESR) and electron spin−echo modulation. Dehydration at elevated temperature or thermal reduction by hydrogen produces Ni(I) species in Ni-AlMCM-41 which are detectable by ESR. By contrast, in NiAlMCM-41 neither dehydration at high temperature nor hydrogen reduction is effective in producing Ni(I). Ni(I) is obtained in NiAlMCM-41 by γ-irradiation at 77 K. Both NiAlMCM-41 and Ni-AlMCM-41 show differences in their ESR characteristics after reduction and adsorption of D2O, CO, and ethylene. D2O...
Liquid crystals enable chemoresponsive reconfigurable colloidal self-assembly.

Liquid crystals (LCs) and colloids have large response functions, a property that Nobel laureate Pierre-Gilles de Gennes (1) identified as the most significant unifying concept of soft matter. This strong response to external fields enables practical applications ranging from nonmechanical beam steering, to information displays, to label-free biological sensors (2–4). Poulin et al. (5) have demonstrated that colloidal particles embedded in a nematic solvent are stabilized by topological defects and interact via a new type of interactions that arise from the LC’s orientational elasticity. This seminal work initiated a great deal of excitement, and many self-assembled colloidal architectures have been reported in the bulk and at surfaces of LCs (6–14), promising a new class of reconfigurable composites that may enable mass production of tunable photonic crystals and optical metamaterials (14, 15). LC solvents can provide conceptually new means of predesigned control over self-organization of micrometer- and nanometer-sized particles that are not accessible in isotropic hosts. However, experimental demonstrations of such robust control are scarce and usually limited to the use of laser beams, electric fields, and colloidal particle shapes (6, 10–14). The study by Koenig et al. (16) in PNAS is a breakthrough in realizing a robust chemical control of colloidal self-assembly at the interface between an isotropic fluid (i.e., water) and LCs.
Orbits, sections, and induced transformations

A general me hod of constructing induced transformations in ergodic theory is introduced and studied. We show how this new method generalizes the well known construction of induced transformations defined by a recurrent transformation via the first return time to a subset of positive measure. Using our method we show a connection between ergodic transformations that preserve an equivalent measure and those that preserve no equivalent measure.
Shared features of L2 writing: Intergroup homogeneity and text classification

This study investigates intergroup homogeneity within high intermediate and advanced L2 writers of English from Czech, Finnish, German, and Spanish first language backgrounds. A variety of linguistic features related to lexical sophistication, syntactic complexity, and cohesion were used to compare texts written by L1 speakers of English to L2 writers of English in order to examine if L2 writing shares text similarities regardless of the L1 of the writer. The results of the study provide evidence for intergroup homogeneity in the linguistic patterns of L2 writers in that four word-based indices (hypernymy, polysemy, lexical diversity, and stem overlap) demonstrated similar patterns of occurrence in the L2 writer populations sampled. However, significant differences were reported for these indices between L1 and L2 writers. The results of this study provide evidence that some aspects of L2 writing may not be cultural or independent, but rather based on the amount and type of linguistic knowledge available to L2 learners as a result of language experience and learner proficiency level.
SARCOIDOSIS PRESENTING AS BILATERAL TESTICULAR MASSES

A 31-year-old black man presented to the emergency room with multiple skin lesions, shortness of breath and bilateral testicular masses. Genitourinary examination revealed a 7 3 7 3 4 cm. solid, nontender mass involving the right testicle and a similar but smaller mass on the left side. Although chest x-ray demonstrated a pattern most consistent with pulmonary sarcoidosis, metastatic germ cell tumor could not be excluded. Tumor markers were normal. Computerized tomography of the abdomen showed limited, shotty retroperitoneal adenopathy. The patient underwent inguinal exploration 2 days later. Because of the possibility for malignancy, radical orchiectomy was performed for the larger, right mass. Frozen sections revealed noncaseating granulomas and no evidence of tumor. Therefore, biopsy only of the contralateral testicle was done, which revealed a similar pathological condition. Permanent specimens confirmed bilateral testicular sarcoidosis with involvement of the epididymis and spermatic cord in the orchiectomy specimen. The patient began a course of corticosteroid therapy and had partial resolution of the symptoms and lesions.
Experimental and Psychotherapeutic Demand Characteristics and the Cognitive Therapy Rationale: An Analogue Study

In cognitive therapy (CT) for depression, the treatment rationale is presented in lay terms as an ABC sequence such that A represents a recent event, B represents automatic thoughts about the event, and C represents the resulting affective response. The role of demand characteristics in rationales such as this has been extensively explored in research on systematic desensitization but little has been done with regards to CT. This study investigated the influence of the CT rationale and an alternative rationale on participants' self-reported thoughts and feelings in response to images. While the CT rationale assumes that cognition precedes and causes affect, the alternative rationale flipped the terms of ABC into an ACB theory in which affect is assumed to precede and cause cognition. We found that both rationales influenced reporting: Those who received the ABC rationale reported that more automatic thoughts were evoked first, while those who received the ACB rationale reported that more automatic feelings were evoked first. The rationales also were more influential on high arousal images and less influential for participants with previous therapy experience. Results are discussed in terms of experimental demand characteristics (conscious compliance) and psychotherapeutic demand characteristics (nonconscious changes in clinically relevant behavior) and implications for therapy.