cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Cloning and characterization of cDNAs encoding putative glutamate transporters from Caenorhabditis elegans and Onchocerca volvulus

Abstract We report the identification and partial characterization of cDNAs encoding for putative glutamate transporters from the free-living nematode Caenorhabditis elegans and the filarial parasite Onchocerca volvulus. Glutamate transporters can be used as reliable markers for identifying cells and neurons that synaptically release glutamate and aspartate. An amplified PCR fragment containing a highly conserved amino acid heptamer found in all vertebrate glutamate transporters was used to screen a C. elegans cDNA library. Two full-length cDNA sequences from C. elegans were deduced from the isolated cDNA clones and RT-PCR products with the splice leader. The two C. elegans cDNA sequences differ by only 97 nucleotides at the 5′ end. The C. elegans glutamate transporter gene glt-1 spans at least 2.9 kb of chromosomal DNA and possesses nine exons and eight introns. Primers directed to the CeGlt cDNA were used with O. volvulus first-strand cDNA to amplify and isolate the O. volvulus cDNA homolog. The C. elegans and O. volvulus glutamate transporters are 98% identical over 492 amino acids to each other and 52 to 58% identical to the mammalian glutamate transporters. Antibodies generated against partial coding regions of the C. elegans glutamate transporter recognized a protein of approximately 66 kDa in C. elegans and O. volvulus protein extracts.
An examination of spatial ability in relation to factors from the Bem Sex-role Inventory.

-As the relationship between g l o h l sex-role classifications and spatial ability has yielded conflicting results, the present study examined factors embedded within a sex-role inventory for relationships to differences in spatial performance. The Bem Sex-role Inventory and two tests of spatial ability (Piagetian water level task and Paper-folding Test) were administered to 86 girls and 39 boys in the fall of 1981. While differences in spatial ability of boys and girls were significant, differentiation for masculine, feminine, and androgynous subjects was not obtained. Masculine and feminine items from Bem's inventory along with b t h scores on spatial tasks were subjected to factor analysis using the principal factor procedure followed by varimax rotation. The analysis yielded 11 factors which accounted for 6 8 % of the total variance. Three masculine factors (dominance, independence, and competitiveness) and one feminine factor (concern for others) emerged. Contrary to what was anticipated, none of the factors was associated with spatial ability.
The Impact of Urbansim on Death and Dying among Black People in a Rural Community in Middle Tennessee

Urbanism and technology brought profound and far-reaching changes in the manner in which black people in the rural South prepare for and celebrate the funeral ritual. The moment of death, the funer...
Total Synthesis of Brevisamide

The second total synthesis of Brevisamide, a marine cyclic ether alkaloid from Karenia brevis, is reported. This streamlined synthesis proceeds in 21 steps, 14 steps longest linear sequence, in 5.2% overall yield and features a key SmI2 reductive cyclization step to access the tetrasubstituted pyran core.
Induced resistance to platinum in Chinese hamster ovary cells

Abstract Cellular resistances to the toxic effects of two environmentally and industrially important platinum (Pt) complexes (K2PtCl6 and Pt(SO4)2) were induced separately in Chinese hamster ovary cells (CHO‐S) by continuous exposure to the compounds for 5 and 4 months, respectively. The two resulting cell lines, 220R (resistant to 220 μM K2PtCl6) and 550R (resistant to 550 μM Pt(SO4)2) have resistant phenotypes which are stable for at least 55 population doublings in the absence of a selective agent (i.e., Pt). Each resistance is quite specific with respect to the Pt atom as well as the attached ligands, but both cell lines show some cross resistance to other Pt complexes and to one other Noble metal complex (K3 RhCl6). X‐Ray fluorescence determinations of Pt in parental CHO‐S and 220R cells cultured in the presence and absence of K2PtCl6 demonstrated that very little of this compound is taken up by either cell line. However, comparable analyses revealed that the amount of Pt accumulated by 550 cells gro...
ULTRASTRUCTURE OF THE CAPILLARY LOOPS IN THE DERMAL PAPILLAE OF PSORIASIS

Electron microscopy was used to define the ultrastructure of the capillary loops in the dermal papillae of psoriatic lesions. Pustular psoriasis of von Zumbusch and psoriasis vulgaris were studied before and after treatment with the Goeckerman regimen. Capillary loops were reconstructed from 1-μm plastic-embedded sections. Ultrathin sections were taken at intervals for correlation with the 1-μm sections. There were no ultrastructural differences between the capillary loops in psoriasis vulgaris and pustular psoriasis. The intrapapillary portion of the loop was predominantly a venous capillary. Four basic ultrastructural loop patterns were recognized which can serve as markers in studying the responses of psoriatic loops in various experimental situations. Following 3 weeks of Goeckerman therapy, the morphology of psoriatic capillary loops changed from venous capillaries to arterial capillaries which are found in the papillae of normal skin. This transformation was observed to begin 48 to 72 hr after the initiation of therapy.
Picture This: Seeing Diverse Youths' Ideas about Schools' Purposes, Supports, and Impediments: Students from the “Through Eyes” Project

The high school dropout crisis in diverse urban communities in the United States is evidence of an endemic disengagement from formal education. The project on which this essay reports utilized visual sociology methods to explore city students' perceptions of schools' purposes, as well as the supports for and impediments to their school success. Students' photographs and reflections provide insights into the school structures, teacher roles, and instructional methods these students suggest are most effective and some of the causes of the strained relationships to schools represented by low graduation rate statistics.
International transmission of technology in the production of sugarcane

The transmission of improved technology from one economy to another is an important aspect of economic development. However, the difficulties encountered by development efforts designed to foster such transmission indicate a far from complete understanding of the technical and economic factors involved. This paper examines the experience of sugarcane varietal transfer between countries in an attempt to identify factors which have determined the extent of transmission of this particular form of technology. The sugarcane variety ‘embodies’ a major part of the technology of sugarcane production. This paper will first discuss the development of sugarcane varieties and their transmission largely from an historical perspective. This discussion will reveal that the sugarcane experiment stations have played a crucial role both in varietal development and in varietal transmission. That role is explored somewhat more systematically in the second part of the paper. Finally, a discussion of the relevance of this expe...
The effect of oxygen islanding on CO and H2 oxidation on Pt(111)

Abstract A Pt(111) surface partially covered with 16O islands was postdosed with 18O2 to increase the island size under conditions where oxygen atom mobility is limited. Subsequently, these islands were titrated with CO and H2. Preferential production of species containing 18O was not observed during any stage of the reaction. Assuming there is no extensive mixing of 16O and 18O isotopes within the islands, the results indicate no preferential reaction at island perimeters. The data are consistent with a model in which reaction proceeds uniformly over the whole island but the concentration of the mobile species (CO, H) inside the island is controlled by the island structure. This model qualitatively accounts for several apparent rate anomalies reported for CO and H2 oxidation.
Histoplasmin potency as affected by culture age.

A long term controlled study of histoplasmin production by 4 isolates of Histoplasma capsulatum showed a wide variation in time required for skin test antigen production. There appeared to be no specific time for harvesting cultures of H. capsulatum to produce an histoplasmin that would give a standard skin test on homologously infected guinea pigs. Concurrent chemical studies on the culture filtrates indicated, however, that skin test activity may be related to chemical changes in the medium. These studies indicated a close relationship between increasing skin test potency and increasing total protein with decreasing total carbohydrate.
A Power-Aware Study of Iris Matching Algorithms on Intel's SCC

Biometric applications become paramount across private sectors, industry, as well as government agencies. As large amount of data being collected from many different sources, managing such volumes of data and developing efficient and effective large-scale operational solutions are becoming a concern. For example, real-time identification of individuals with the purpose of allowing or denying their access to specific system or resource is challenging from the performance point of view. In addition, processing large amount of data would definitely consume a significant amount of energy. The Single-chip Cloud Computer (SCC) is an experimental processor created by Intel Labs. In this paper we employ SCC, which supports dynamic frequency and voltage scaling (DVFS), to investigate the power-aware computing and performance enhancement of an iris matching algorithm on such many-core architecture. This biometric application contains a large degree of parallelism that we can exploit by porting it onto the SCC. Results in terms of performance, power, energy, energy delay product (EDP), and power per speedup (PPS) metrics of executing the iris matching application under different number of cores, frequency, and voltage settings of the SCC platform are presented. We also analyze how the results for these metrics vary as we change these parameters.
Molecular Description of Erosion Phenomena in Biodegradable Polymers

A new model for the erosion kinetics of semicrystalline surface-erodible homopolymers and copolymers is presented. The model is derived for a class of surface-erodible polyanhydride copolymers, with the goal of describing erosion in terms of fundamental, elementary processes. This model is based on an accurate description of copolymer microstructure and can thereby account for the heterogeneous erosion due to microphase separation and crystallinity. In addition to accurately predicting the overall erosion profile and the release of individual monomer species, several key phenomena that occur during erosion are described. These include precipitation of slightly soluble degradation products inside the pores of the erosion zone and pH changes during erosion due to dissolution of acidic monomers and the consequent changes in monomer solubility. This model also motivates future experiments to investigate predicted phenomena such as the effects due to local changes in pH and degradation rate constants for cryst...
Combined Mobility and Manipulation Control of a Newly Developed 9-DOF Wheelchair-Mounted Robotic Arm System

A wheelchair-mounted robotic arm (WMRA) system was designed and built to meet the needs of mobility-impaired persons with limitations of upper extremities, and to exceed the capabilities of current devices of this type. The control of this 9-DoF system combines the 7-DoF robotic arm control with the 2-DoF power wheelchair control. The 3-degrees of redundancy can be optimized to effectively perform activities of daily living (ADLs) and overcome some workspace limitations. The control system is designed for teleoperated or autonomous coordinated Cartesian control, and it offers expandability for future research, such as voice or sip and puff control operations and sensor assist functions
The Death of Management — A Search for Causes

In this article the author provides his opinion on why he believes the study of management is dead. He believes that the field has become to concerned with what he calls trivia and is no longer concerned with what is actually taking place in the real world. He argues that there has been a communication failure and that the pressure universities place on publishing has watered down the quality of work. He closes by saying that management failed because it was not focused on the issues of the day.
Performance of Automated Scoring for Childrenâ€™s Oral Reading

For adult readers, an automated system can produce oral reading fluency (ORF) scores (e.g., words read correctly per minute) that are consistent with scores provided by human evaluators (Balogh et al., 2005, and in press). Balogh's work on NAAL materials used passage-specific data to optimize statistical language models and scoring performance. The current study investigates whether or not an automated system can produce scores for young children's reading that are consistent with human scores. A novel aspect of the present study is that text-independent rule-based language models were employed (Cheng and Townshend, 2009) to score reading passages that the system had never seen before. Oral reading performances were collected over cell phones from 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade children (n = 95) in a classroom environment. Readings were scored 1) in situ by teachers in the classroom, 2) later by expert scorers, and 3) by an automated system. Statistical analyses provide evidence that machine Words Correct scores correlate well with scores provided by teachers and expert scorers, with all (Pearson's correlation coefficient) r's > 0.98 at the individual response level, and all r's > 0.99 at the "test" level (i.e., median scores out of 3).
Transition processes in shock wave interactions

This paper is a discussion of recent experiments in shock-wave refraction which have clarified a special type of shock outflow process appearing to have relevance to other shock interactions, and notably to shock reflection from an oblique wall. For certain incident shock strengths and angles of incidence α, the air/methane refraction problem simulates closely the situation in the trouble-some range of the reflection problem, in which α lies between the value α e at which the theoretical solutions terminate and the value α 0 that marks the onset of Mach reflection, and in which the flow deflections cannot be reconciled with theoretically permissible reflected shock strengths. In the analogous refraction cases, the reflected shock is observed to increase in strength along its length to a maximum value at the intersection point, and to be followed by a subsonic rarefaction zone which also increases in severity near the intersection. In fact, this zone appers to coalesce into a subsonic discontinuity, just at the intersection point—a feature which would contradict one of the basic assumptions of the regular reflection and refraction theories. Other refraction experiments suggest that a similar process is relevant to the Mach reflection configuration, and may account for the discrepancies in the three-shock theory for weak incident shocks.
Fabrication and testing of vertical metal wedge devices with well defined gate to emitter separation

Cold cathode vacuum microelectronic devices typically consist of a sharp emitter tip, or wedge, separated from a gate by a micron or less, with an anode at a considerably greater separation. Our approach to the problem of fixing the emitter-to-grid separation relies not on photolithography, but rather on the thickness of a deposited conductive film, which is locally removed, to create the emitter-to-gate separation and, in some cases, a series resistor. Using this approach combined with integrated circuit fabrication techniques, we have been able to fabricate sharp wedge and tip emitters.
Variance contribution of luni‐solar and solar cycle signals in the St Lawrence and Nile river records

Spectrum analysis of the St Lawrence River and three Nile River hydrological records yields evidence for two peaks with periods near 19 and 11 years. For each series the wavetrains of the peaks are obtained by bandpass filters, summed, superimposed on trend-like components in the raw data, and plotted against the raw data. The contribution of the two waves to total variance in the St Lawrence data is 42 per cent, whereas the mean contribution in the Nile records varies from 20 to 28 per cent. The waves are identified as the 18–6-year luni-solar Mn 10–11-year solar cycle Sc signals in climate, which have also recently been reported in other variables such as precipitation (USA, UK, South Africa, India), tree-ring chronologies (world-wide), air temperature and air pressure (world-wide), height of sea-level (world-wide), and sea-surface temperature, as well as in economic variables such as American crop yield, European fish catches, dates of wine harvest, and other macro-economic data (Currie, 1988; Currie et al., 1993). The polarity of the 19-year St Lawrence wave changed phase 180° between epochs 1936–1 and 1954–7 (epochs are dates of maximum in tidal forcing), and this phenomenon is commonly found in the much longer Nile records, as well as in virtually all of the above mentioned climate parameters.
The role of fluid dynamics in plaque excavation and rupture in the human carotid bifurcation: a computational study

A 3D computational fluid dynamics model of the human carotid bifurcation has been created to explore plaque excavation and plaque rupture. The model considers different degrees of atherosclerotic stenosis, the form of which is determined using computerised tomography scans of a patient with moderate plaque stenosis. The results suggest that 70% stenosis will diminish blood flow to the brain from 245 ml/min to 71 ml/min. Pressure in the 50% stenosis model is increased by only 3.3%, while pressure in the 70% and 80% stenosis models are increased by 8.8% and 15.4%, respectively. Starting at 30% stenosis, each increase of 10% stenosis increases the peak wall shear stress value by a factor of two. Severely elevated magnitudes in the product of the pressure and the wall shear stress gradient were found on the upstream face of the stenosis. In specific cases, these peaks can be correlated to excavation points observed clinically.
Increasing the Number of Users in an Optical CDMA System by Pulse-Position Modulation

We analytically show that using PPM-OCDMA can increase the spectral efficiency of an OCDMA system up to factor of 3. Utilizing our results we generate the performance trends of PPM-OCDMA systems for varying code-sets
Limits to binary logic switch scaling - a gedanken model

In this paper we consider device scaling and speed limitations on irreversible von Neumann computing that are derived from the requirement of "least energy computation." We consider computational systems whose material realizations utilize electrons and energy barriers to represent and manipulate their binary representations of state.
How Do Their Initial Goals Impact Students' Chances to Graduate? An Exploration of Three Types of Commitment

Although previous research has not consistently shown that uncertainty about academic major negatively impacts graduation, commitment is largely believed to affect college students' success. We inv...
Generation of Branched-Chain Fatty Acids through Lipoate-Dependent Metabolism Facilitates Intracellular Growth of Listeria monocytogenes

The gram-positive bacterial pathogen Listeria monocytogenes has evolved mechanisms to rapidly replicate in the host cytosol, implying efficient utilization of host-derived nutrients. However, the contribution of host nutrient scavenging versus that of bacterial biosynthesis toward rapid intracellular growth remains unclear. Nutrients that contribute to growth of L. monocytogenes include branched-chain fatty acids (BCFAs), amino acids, and other metabolic intermediates generated from acyl-coenzyme A, which is synthesized using lipoylated metabolic enzyme complexes. To characterize which biosynthetic pathways support replication of L. monocytogenes inside the host cytosol, we impaired lipoate-dependent metabolism by disrupting two lipoate ligase genes that are responsible for bacterial protein lipoylation. Interrupting lipoate-dependent metabolism modestly impaired replication in rich broth medium but strongly inhibited growth in defined medium and host cells and impaired the generation of BCFAs. Addition of short BCFAs and amino acids restored growth of the A1A2-deficient (A1A2-) mutant in minimal medium, implying that lipoate-dependent metabolism generates amino acids and BCFAs. BCFAs alone rescued intracellular growth and spread in L2 fibroblasts of the A1A2- mutant. Lipoate-dependent metabolism was also required in vivo, as a wild-type strain robustly outcompeted the lipoylation-deficient mutant in a murine model of listeriosis. The results of this study suggest that lipoate-dependent metabolism contributes to both amino acid and BCFA biosynthesis and that BCFA biosynthesis is preferentially required for intracellular growth of L. monocytogenes.
Increased Expression of Cyclooxygenase-2 Mediates Enhanced Contraction to Endothelin ETA Receptor Stimulation in Endothelial Nitric Oxide Synthase Knockout Mice

The aim of this study was to determine whether prolonged loss of NO activity, in endothelial NO synthase knockout (eNOS(-/-)) mice, influences endothelin (ET) ETA receptor-mediated smooth muscle contraction and, if so, to define the underlying mechanism(s). In isolated endothelium-denuded abdominal aortas, contractions to the selective ETA receptor agonist ET-1(1-31) were significantly increased in aortas from eNOS(-/-) compared with wild-type (WT) mice. In contrast, contractions to the alpha1-adrenergic agonist phenylephrine or the thromboxane (TX) A2 analog U-46619 were similar between eNOS(-/-) and WT mice. Immunofluorescent and Western blot analysis demonstrated that the aortic expression of ETA receptors was decreased in eNOS(-/-) compared with WT mice. Contractions evoked by ET-1(1-31), but not phenylephrine, were reduced by inhibition of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) (indomethacin or celecoxib) or of TXA2/prostaglandin H2 receptors (SQ-29548). After COX inhibition, contractions to ET-1(1-31) were no longer increased and were actually decreased in eNOS(-/-) compared with WT aortas. Western blot analysis revealed that endothelium-denuded abdominal aortas express COX-2, but not COX-1, and that expression of COX-2 was significantly increased in eNOS(-/-) compared with WT mice. Contractions to the COX substrate arachidonic acid were also increased in eNOS(-/-) aortas. Furthermore, ET-1(1-31) but not phenylephrine stimulated production of the TXA2 metabolite TXB2, which was increased in eNOS(-/-) compared with WT aortas. Therefore, COX-2 plays a crucial and selective role in ETA-mediated smooth muscle contraction. Furthermore, COX-2 expression is increased in eNOS(-/-) mice, which overcomes a reduced expression of ETA receptors and enables a selective increase in contraction to ETA receptor stimulation.
Collaborative Toolkit for Crashworthiness Research

Ensuring the safety of vehicle's occupants during a crash is of foremost importance during the vehicle design process. Computer modeling of crashworthiness decreases the design cost and empowers the designers to explore new concepts with more confidence that their final product would be feasible and would perform to design specifications. To capture the complexity of vehicle deformations in computer simulations detailed models are necessary and, in general, require full utilization of available supercomputing resources. Due to the limited availability of supercomputing resources, the development of collaborative methods for crashworthiness research would allow for effective utilization of the computational and human resources, as well as permit researchers with different backgrounds, interests, and roles in the design and production system to actively participate in crashworthiness research. Development of collaborative problem solving environments for the ongoing crashworthiness research at Oak Ridge National Laboratory is presented in this paper.
Continuity and Transformation in the World Polity: Toward a Neorealist Synthesis

Kenneth Waltz's recent book, Theory of International Politics, is one of the most important contributions to international relations theory since his Man, the State and War. It picks up where the earlier work left off: with the structure of the international system serving as the basis for explaining a variety of international outcomes. The most profound and perhaps the most perplexing outcome Waltz attempts to explain is the lack of fundamental change in the international polity. The author argues that Waltz does not fully succeed in this endeavor for three reasons. First, his definition of structure fails to capture so momentous a change as that from the medieval to the modern international systems. Second, his application of the structuralist method leads him to ask questions in such a way that the answers systematically understate the degree of potential change in the contemporary international system. Third, his model of structural explanation turns out to allow only for a reproductive logic but not for a transformational logic. With the epistemological underpinnings of his theory thus biased against the possibility of change, it is not surprising that Waltz finds the likelihood of future continuity compelling. In the spirit of constructive criticism, this review article tries to amend and augment the theory in a manner that is not incompatible with its basic realist precepts.
Embodiment: Does a laptop have a body?

This paper analyzes the different understandings of “embodiment”. It argues that the issue is not on the hardware a system is implemented in (that is, robot or conventional computer), but on the relation between the system and its working environment. Using an AGI system NARS as an example, the paper shows that the problem of disembodiment can be solved in a symbolic system implemented in a conventional computer, as far as the system makes realistic assumptions about the environment, and adapts to its experience. This paper starts by briefly summarizing the appeal for embodiment, then it analyzes the related concepts, identifies some misconceptions, and suggests a solution, in the context of AGI research.
Fault tolerance by means of external monitoring of computer systems

A frequently suggested solution to the problem of increasing the reliability of an already existing computer system (to be called the object machine [OM]) is to employ a functionally and physically separate monitor computer (to be called the monitor machine [MM]) that probes the operation of the OM in real time. The purpose of the monitoring is to assure that the functional performance of the OM does not deviate from the behavior specified by its design and by the programs being executed.This paper systematically assesses the architectural and fault-tolerance issues that have to be resolved to effectively implement the monitoring process. The goal of the implementation is to create an integrated and uniformly fault-tolerant OM/MM complex, beginning with a given OM design.Four principal problems are addressed in the subsequent sections: (1) implementation of the monitor machine; (2) implementation of the monitoring (OM/MM) interface; (3) specification of the monitoring function; and (4) the cost and effectiveness of monitoring.The paper concludes with examples of model technical specifications for the architectural properties needed by the OM and the MM to attain a fault-tolerant implementation of the monitoring process.
Notes on Groundwater Age in Forward and Inverse Modeling

Several example applications of the groundwater age equation are used to derive some basic results about age in aquifers and to draw linkages among published results involving temporal moments and aquifer–aquitard diffusive mass transfer. We then describe a brief numerical study of an inverse problem in which hydraulic conductivities are identified using both piezometric head and groundwater age data where inclusion of age data helps to reduce evidential nonuniqueness. This reflects the global representation of flow process contained in age data, and that the value of age data in inverse identification of flow properties depends on the paths taken by the sampled groundwater.
ASSESSING OUTSOURCING POTENTIAL IN A STATE DOT

The purpose of this project was to develop a systematic, objective procedure to evaluate the potential to outsource functions and activities currently performed by the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (LaDOTD). A computer-based model was developed which evaluates the qualitative and cost aspects of contracting out activities and functions. The model was applied to three activities in the LaDOTD; highway markers, highway striping, and maintenance of rest areas. The results were in line with the expectations of officials who have experienced actual outsourcing of these activities. The model was constructed so that the perspectives it considers and the criterion on which outsourcing is assessed may be altered by the user to allow its use in a variety of settings.
Regional population growth and redistribution in the U.S.S.R. 1970-1979

Results from the recent 1979 census of the Soviet Union indicate that regional rates of population change between 1970 and 1979 were generally lower than those of the preceding intercensal period of 1959-70 and that regional variations were generally similar to those of 1959-70. The Soviet population is becoming more concentrated again with the most pronounced shift being towards the rapidly growing non-Slavic South especially Central Asia. However the extent of interregional redistribution appears to be lessening. Appreciable urbanization continued to occur in most regions especially in the western areas due to rapid urban growth and deepening rural population decline. (summary in FRE) (EXCERPT)
Risk Assessment, Risk Management & Risk Communication

The evaluation and resolution of environmental contamination problems, including affected water resources, is most effective if it involves appropriate application of three complementary elements: risk assessment, risk management and risk communication. These three components of the evaluation and resolution process address the following: an understanding of the extent and magnitude of the hazards (e.g., chemical contamination); the development of practical and technically effective qualitative or quantitative goals and decisions regarding safe exposure levels, coupled with methods to minimize or control potential exposures (e.g., remediation, engineered structures, restrictions on resource use); and, the dissemination and discussion of information among scientists, regulators, politicians, and the public, regarding potential risks and available management strategies.
Cross-Domain Matrix Factorization for Multiple Implicit-Feedback Domains

Cross-domain recommender systems represent an emerging research topic as users generally have interactions with items from multiple domains. One goal of a cross-domain recommender system is to improve the quality of recommendations in a target domain by using user preference information from other source domains. We observe that, in many applications, users interact with items of different types e.g., artists and tags. Each recommendation problem, for example, recommending artists or recommending tags, can be seen as a different task, or, in general, a different domain. Furthermore, for such applications, explicit feedback may not be available, while implicit feedback is readily available. To handle such applications, in this paper, we propose a novel cross-domain collaborative filtering approach, based on a regularized latent factor model, to transfer knowledge between source and target domains with implicit feedback. More specifically, we identify latent user and item factors in the source domains, and transfer the user factors to the target, while controlling the amount of knowledge transferred through regularization parameters. Experimental results on six target recommendation tasks or domains from two real-world applications show the effectiveness of our approach in improving target recommendation accuracy as compared to state-of-the-art single-domain collaborative filtering approaches. Furthermore, preliminary results also suggest that our approach can handle varying percentages of user overlap between source and target domains.
Factors that Promote High School Graduation: a Review of the Literature

A high school education prepares young people to participate positively in the economy and in civic life, among other positive life outcomes. However, nearly one in five American high school students does not graduate from high school on time, if ever. Progress has been made on understanding why students fail to complete high school and on raising graduation rates. Previous reviews and syntheses of this literature have focused on identifying factors that put students at risk for dropping out of school. Less is understood regarding what assets can promote high school graduation. Therefore, we reviewed research from the past 25 years on high school graduation, focusing on longitudinal, US-based studies of malleable factors that predict graduation. Through this systematic search, we identified 12 assets in individual, family, school, peer, and community contexts, which predict high school graduation, as well as identified assets for which more research is needed. Implications for policy and practice and directions for future research are discussed.
Action of Certain Bacteria on Uric Acid and Its Substitutes.

Morris and Ecker1 demonstrated that uric acid is destroyed in fecal infusions under conditions that indicate activity of microorganisms. Various bacteria were studied to determine their ability to utilize uric acid. It was found that 6 strains of B. aerogenes grew and utilized uric acid in Koser's medium and that the Bacterium acidi urici (Ulpiani) which was isolated from chicken excreta readily destroyed all the uric acid employed within 30 hours. No uricolytic enzyme, however, was extracted from the organisms.These observations led to the present study of whether or not the above named organisms are capable of attacking (a) 1-monomethyl uric acid, (b) 3-monomethyl uric acid, (c) 3-9-dimethyl uric acid, (d) 1-3-dimethyl uric acid, (e) 1-3-7-trimethyl uric acid, and a study of the selective destruction of uric acid in a mixture containing the substituted uric acids.The organisms were implanted in the Benedict and Hitchcock2 phosphate standard (containing 9 gm. of Na2HPO4-12 H2O; 1 gm. NaH2PO4-H2O; and 200...
Water balance and nutrient procurement of Sarcoptes scabiei var. canis (Acari: Sarcoptidae).

Sarcoptes scabiei var. canis were unable actively or passively to sorb sufficient water vapor from unsaturated air to compensate for water loss in spite of an active uptake mechanism. Maintenance of water balance in this mite is supported by its location at the dry stratum corneum–stratum lucidum and stratum granulosum interface by its ingestion of intercellular fluid that oozes into the burrow or around the mouth parts. Water loss rate constants for females were 20.6–23.8% h−1 (per hour) at 97% RH and ranged from 4.9 to 6.2% h−1 at 75 and 22% RH. Rate constants for uptake of tritiated water and approach of equilibrium tritiated body water content for males and females were independent of relative humidity and ranged from 8.55 to 12.4% h−1. Fast water loss and uptake rates, uptake rate constants independent of relative humidity, and the observation that isolated mites produce an external fluid secretion suggest that these mites actively gain water by ingesting a hygroscopic solution. However, this process is not adequate to fully compensate for water loss.
Crystallization of Glass Films on Single-Crystal MgO Substrates

Thin, calcium magnesium silicate glass films have been deposited onto (001)-oriented single-crystal MgO substrates by pulsed-laser deposition (PLD). The substrates were thinned to electron transparency and characterized in the transmission electron microscope (TEM) before and after the deposition and following different heat treatments. Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS) was used in the TEM to characterize the chemistry of the films. The heat treatments were performed both in situ and ex situ. Direct evidence for crystallization was obtained by in-situ experiments at 950°C. Subsequent heat treatments were performed for longer times in air between 950°C and 1100°C. The crystallized phase was found to be monticellite (CaMgSiO4) and the crystallites show moderate epitaxy with the underlying substrate. Films contaminated with aluminum resulted in the growth of magnesium aluminate spinel (MgAl2O4) epitaxially from the substrate. These observations of epitaxy indicated that crystallization initiated at the surface of MgO.
Knowledge and the Public Interest, 1575–1725

Many studies relate modern science to modern political and economic thought. Using one shift in order to explain the other, however, has begged the question of modernity's origins. New scientific and political reasoning emerged simultaneously as controversial forms of probabilistic reasoning. Neither could ground the other. They both rejected logical systems in favor of shifting, incomplete, and human-oriented forms of knowledge which did not meet accepted standards of speculative science. This study follows their shared development by tracing one key political stratagem for linking human desires to the advancement of knowledge: the collaborative wish list. Highly controversial at the beginning of the seventeenth century, charismatic desiderata lists spread across Europe, often deployed against traditional sciences. They did not enter the academy for a century but eventually so shaped the deep structures of research that today this once controversial genre appears to be a musty and even pedantic term of art.
Performance of hollow-core FRP–concrete–steel bridge columns subjected to vehicle collision

Abstract This paper presents the behavior of an innovative accelerated bridge construction system of hollow-core fiber-reinforced polymer–concrete–steel (HC-FCS) columns under vehicle collisions using LS-DYNA software. The HC-FCS column consists of a concrete wall sandwiched between an outer fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) tube and an inner steel tube. The steel tube works as a longitudinal and transverse reinforcement, and the FRP tube confines the sandwiched concrete. Detailed finite element analyses were conducted to investigate the effects of 14 different parameters including the concrete material model, the unconfined concrete compressive strength f c ′ , the material strain rate, the column height-to-diameter ratio, the column diameter, the FRP confinement ratio, the diameter-to-thickness ratio of the steel tube, the column void ratio, the embedded length of the steel tube, the infilled steel tube, the top boundary conditions, the axial load level, the vehicle’s velocity, and the vehicle’s mass on both dynamic and static impact forces. The peak dynamic force (PDF) and the equivalent static force (ESF) were investigated. The ESF is defined as the peak of the twenty-five millisecond moving average (PTMSA). The PTMSAs of the investigated columns were compared to the ESF of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials- Load and Resistance Factor Design (AASHTO-LRFD; 2670 kN (600 kips)). The AASHTO-LRFD was found to be non-conservative when the column was collided with a heavy vehicle with a mass of more than 16 tons (35 kips) or a high-speed vehicle with a velocity of more than 112 kph (70 mph).
Microstress in Reaction‐Bonded SiC from Crystallization Expansion of Silicon

Microstress in reaction-bonded silicon carbide (RBSiC) has been measured using piezo-Raman spectroscopy. Compressive microstresses as high as 2 GPa exist in the silicon phase and tensile microstresses as high as 2.3 GPa exist in the SiC phase of RBSiC. This is much larger than expected for thermoelastic microstress from coefficient of thermal expansion mismatch would provide. Instead the microstresses arise from the crystallization of liquid silicon. During the reaction bonding process, not all of the silicon reacts to form SiC and there is liquid free silicon. The phase transformation of the free silicon from liquid to solid has a large volume expansion, which results in large residual microstress within the silicon and SiC phases of RBSiC.
Sex-Selective Abortion Bans: Anti-Immigration or Anti-Abortion?

A new wave of legislation is sweeping state legislatures across the United States: laws prohibiting health professionals from providing an abortion if they believe a woman is seeking one because she does not want to have a child of a certain sex. Eight states have enacted such laws, and nearly half of all state legislatures in the country have considered them since 2009 and a bill is currently pending in the U.S. Congress. The preamble of these bills claim that these bans are needed to curb the tendency among Asian-American women to abort female fetuses consistent with practices in China and India. The Asian American population is the fastest growing racial group in the United States today. It is natural to question whether these bans are being adopted in response to the growing Asian population in the United States or because of anti-abortion sentiments. To test the hypothesis, I determined whether there is an association between whether a state considers and/or passes a ban on sex-selective abortion and the growth rate of Asian immigrants by state. Indeed, I found an association between high growth rates of Asian immigration and the introduction and/or passage of sex selective abortion bans. But I also found that state legislatures that had passed anti-abortion laws as of 2012 were also more likely to introduce and/or pass sex selective abortion bans. Upon further probing using a logit regression analysis for the binary outcome of passage or consideration of anti-abortion legislation, the passage of other anti-abortion legislation is significantly associated with consideration anti-abortion legislation, whereas the growth in Asian immigration is not. Thus, anti-abortion sentiments appear to be driving these bans more than the growth rate of Asian immigration in the states.
Saunders's framework for understanding limb development as a platform for investigating limb evolution

John W. Saunders, Jr. made seminal discoveries unveiling how chick embryos develop their limbs. He discovered the apical ectodermal ridge (AER), the zone of polarizing activity (ZPA), and the domains of interdigital cell death within the developing limb and determined their function through experimental analysis. These discoveries provided the basis for subsequent molecular understanding of how vertebrate limbs are induced, patterned, and differentiated. These mechanisms are strongly conserved among the vast diversity of tetrapod limbs suggesting that relatively minor changes and tweaks to the molecular cascades are responsible for the diversity observed in nature. Analysis of the pathway systems first identified by Saunders in the context of animals displaying limb reduction show how alterations in these pathways have resulted in multiple mechanisms of limb and digit loss. Other classes of modification to these same patterning systems are seen at the root of other, novel limb morphological alterations and elaborations.
Georg Christoph Lichtenberg, The Lichtenberg Reader: Selected Writings of Georg Christoph Lichtenberg: Trans., ed., and introduced by Franz H. Mautner and Henry Hatfield. Boston: Beacon Press, 1959. Pp. 196.

(1960). Georg Christoph Lichtenberg, The Lichtenberg Reader: Selected Writings of Georg Christoph Lichtenberg. The Germanic Review: Literature, Culture, Theory: Vol. 35, No. 3, pp. 232-234.
Validation of Body Condition Indices and Quantitative Magnetic Resonance in Estimating Body Composition in a Small Lizard

Measurements of body condition are typically used to assess an individual’s quality, health, or energetic state. Most indices of body condition are based on linear relationships between body length and mass. Although these indices are simple to obtain, nonlethal, and useful indications of energetic state, their accuracy at predicting constituents of body condition (e.g., fat and lean mass) are often unknown. The objectives of this research were to (1) validate the accuracy of another simple and noninvasive method, quantitative magnetic resonance (QMR), at estimating body composition in a small-bodied lizard, Anolis sagrei, and (2) evaluate the accuracy of two indices of body condition (based on length–mass relationships) at predicting body fat, lean, and water mass. Comparisons of results from QMR scans to those from chemical carcass analysis reveal that QMR measures body fat, lean, and water mass with excellent accuracy in male and female lizards. With minor calibration from regression equations, QMR will be a reliable method of estimating body composition of A. sagrei. Body condition indices were positively related to absolute estimates of each constituent of body composition, but these relationships showed considerable variation around regression lines. In addition, condition indices did not predict fat, lean, or water mass when adjusted for body mass. Thus, our results emphasize the need for caution when interpreting body condition based upon linear measurements of animals. Overall, QMR provides an alternative noninvasive method for accurately measuring fat, lean, and water mass in these small-bodied animals.
The dynamics of multimodal integration: The averaging diffusion model.

We combine extant theories of evidence accumulation and multi-modal integration to develop an integrated framework for modeling multimodal integration as a process that unfolds in real time. Many studies have formulated sensory processing as a dynamic process where noisy samples of evidence are accumulated until a decision is made. However, these studies are often limited to a single sensory modality. Studies of multimodal stimulus integration have focused on how best to combine different sources of information to elicit a judgment. These studies are often limited to a single time point, typically after the integration process has occurred. We address these limitations by combining the two approaches. Experimentally, we present data that allow us to study the time course of evidence accumulation within each of the visual and auditory domains as well as in a bimodal condition. Theoretically, we develop a new Averaging Diffusion Model in which the decision variable is the mean rather than the sum of evidence samples and use it as a base for comparing three alternative models of multimodal integration, allowing us to assess the optimality of this integration. The outcome reveals rich individual differences in multimodal integration: while some subjects’ data are consistent with adaptive optimal integration, reweighting sources of evidence as their relative reliability changes during evidence integration, others exhibit patterns inconsistent with optimality.