cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Theories of international regimes

Over the last decade, international regimes have become a major focus of empirical research and theoretical debate within international relations. This article provides a critical review of this literature. We survey contending definitions of regimes and suggest dimensions along which regimes vary over time or across cases; these dimensions might be used to operationalize “regime change.” We then examine four approaches to regime analysis: structural, game-theoretic, functional, and cognitive. We conclude that the major shortcoming of the regimes literature is its failure to incorporate domestic politics adequately. We suggest a research program that begins with the central insights of the interdependence literature which have been ignored in the effort to construct “systemic” theory.
Single frequency networks in DTV

Single Frequency Networks (SFNs) offer many advantages including better coverage, less interference, less power, and higher reliability. SFNs can also free up extra TV channels, resulting in more efficient use of the spectrum. The paper presents an overview of the advantages of SFNs and some basics about how to implement them. The significantly improved Signal to Interference performance and less radiated power in SFNs are derived from simple propagation models. Some potential problems that must be considered are discussed, including limitations due to receiver performance. Several simple formulas that should be helpful in quickly estimating and evaluating an SFN system are also presented. Finally, the likely implications of SFNs are covered, in particular the need for changed FCC rules and increased competition through a higher frequency reuse. The idea of the FCCs only limiting the power outside of the service area and letting the broadcasters decide on transmitter locations, number of transmitters and power levels is proposed.
Flight Test Evaluation of a Method to Determine the Level Flight Performance of a Propeller-Driven Aircraft

The overall drag of the aircraft is expressed in terms of the measured increment of power required to overcome a corresponding known increment of drag, which is generated by a towed drogue. The simplest form of the governing equations, D = delta D SHP/delta SHP, is such that all of the parameters on the right side of the equation can be measured in flight. An evaluation of the governing equations has been performed using data generated by flight test of a Beechcraft T-34B. The simplicity of this technique and its proven applicability to sailplanes and small aircraft is well known. However, the method fails to account for airframe-propulsion system.
Kinetics of formation of humic substances in activated sludge systems and their effect on flocculation

Humic substances were isolated during batch aeration studies with activated sludge and a complex waste source, by using concentration and separation techniques that employ reverse osmosis, ultrafitration, and gel permeation chromatography. The study suggests that the formation of high molecular weight humic substances may occur after the removal of the readily available carbon source. The amount of refractory material finally present in the solution will depend on its adsorptive properties toward bacterial cells. The adsorptive characteristics may be determined by the magnitude of the carbohydrate fraction present in the humic substances. If the carbohydrate content decreases, adsorption onto the cells may decrease resulting in an impairment of both the floe formation and settleability of the sludge floes. Decreased adsorption will result in a higher total organic carbon content and an increase in color bearing materials in the effluent.
The Structural Basis and Functional Consequences of Interactions Between Tetrodotoxin and Voltage-Gated Sodium Channels

Tetrodotoxin (TTX) is a highly specific blocker of voltage-gated sodium channels. The dissociation constant of block varies with different channel isoforms. Until recently, channel resistance was thought to be primarily imparted by amino acid substitutions at a single position in domain I. Recent work reveals a novel site for tetrodotoxin resistance in the P-region of domain IV.
Pseudomonas aeruginosa uses a cyclic-di-GMP-regulated adhesin to reinforce the biofilm extracellular matrix

Pseudomonas aeruginosa, the principal pathogen of cystic fibrosis patients, forms antibiotic-resistant biofilms promoting chronic colonization of the airways. The extracellular (EPS) matrix is a crucial component of biofilms that provides the community multiple benefits. Recent work suggests that the secondary messenger, cyclic-di-GMP, promotes biofilm formation. An analysis of factors specifically expressed in P. aeruginosa under conditions of elevated c-di-GMP, revealed functions involved in the production and maintenance of the biofilm extracellular matrix. We have characterized one of these components, encoded by the PA4625 gene, as a putative adhesin and designated it cdrA. CdrA shares structural similarities to extracellular adhesins that belong to two-partner secretion systems. The cdrA gene is in a two gene operon that also encodes a putative outer membrane transporter, CdrB. The cdrA gene encodes a 220 KDa protein that is predicted to be rod-shaped protein harbouring a beta-helix structural motif. Western analysis indicates that the CdrA is produced as a 220 kDa proprotein and processed to 150 kDa before secretion into the extracellular medium. We demonstrated that cdrAB expression is minimal in liquid culture, but is elevated in biofilm cultures. CdrAB expression was found to promote biofilm formation and auto-aggregation in liquid culture. Aggregation mediated by CdrA is dependent on the Psl polysaccharide and can be disrupted by adding mannose, a key structural component of Psl. Immunoprecipitation of Psl present in culture supernatants resulted in co-immunoprecipitation of CdrA, providing additional evidence that CdrA directly binds to Psl. A mutation in cdrA caused a decrease in biofilm biomass and resulted in the formation of biofilms exhibiting decreased structural integrity. Psl-specific lectin staining suggests that CdrA either cross-links Psl polysaccharide polymers and/or tethers Psl to the cells, resulting in increased biofilm structural stability. Thus, this study identifies a key protein structural component of the P. aeruginosa EPS matrix.
Landslides associated with the May 12, 2008 Wenchuan earthquake: Implications for the erosion and tectonic evolution of the Longmen Shan

Abstract Satellite images and aerial-photography following the Wenchuan earthquake show that a broad area experienced severe landsliding in association with the main earthquake and aftershocks. A zone of high density landsliding (> 10% landslide surface area affected) stretches for ~ 240 km along the earthquake region, in proximity to the Yingxiu, Beichuan and Pennguan faults, which ruptured during the earthquake. The width of this severe landsliding zone varies along the strike, from ~ 25–30 km wide in the southwestern section of the earthquake region, to ~ 3–5 in the northeastern section. These variations coincide with differences in hillslope gradients, bedrock lithologies, co-seismic slip and ground shaking observed in these sections of the earthquake region. In general, there is good correlation between the magnitude and distribution of ground shaking experienced during the earthquake and mapped landslide density, though limited data and varying fault models prevent any in-depth comparison with high-resolution maps of ground shaking experienced. Landslides associated with Wenchuan earthquake highlight interesting aspects of erosion and tectonic evolution of the Longmen Shan. Short-term erosion rates in the Longmen Shan region measured from cosmogenic nuclides prior to the earthquake were ~ 0.2–0.3 mm/yr, reflecting the last 2000–3000 years — a time period shorter than the estimated recurrence interval of large earthquakes along the fault that ruptured, while long-term erosion rates measured by low-temperature thermochronology were higher, 0.5–0.7 mm/yr for the last 8–10 Ma. Integrating the total amount of erosion associated the earthquake into the short-term erosion rate estimates pushes the rate much higher. This suggests that the earthquake and associated landslide erosion was necessary for the landscape to ‘catch-up’ and balance the long-term tectonic growth of the Longmen Shan, particularly in the southwestern section of the earthquake region. Taken together, the earthquake and associated landslide erosion can be seen as the most recent expression of the rapid deformation/uplift and erosion that previous geomorphic evidence and geodynamic models had argued for along Longmen Shan front.
Truthful auction for cooperative communications with revenue maximization

Auction theory has been applied to cooperative communications to either efficiently allocate resources or incentivize wireless devices to participate in cooperative communications. However, a common shortcoming of the existing studies is that the revenue generation is neglected. Revenue generation is the ultimate goal of commercial networks, e.g., WiMAX networks. In this paper, we study the problem of how to use auction mechanisms to allocate the relay nodes and charge the source nodes, such that the revenue of the seller, e.g., the base station, is maximized. We first propose a VCG-based auction mechanism, which can maximize the revenue while enforcing the truthfulness. To overcome the high time complexity of the VCG-based auction mechanism, we further design another truthful auction mechanism with low time complexity. Experiment results show that the suboptimal auction mechanism significantly reduces the time complexity without severely sacrificing the revenue.
African Women and the Decolonisation of Victimisation: Dazzling Crime Figures

This paper examines the variety of ways in which African women in the criminal justice system are treated as offenders when they are clearly innocent. Their treatment is compared with that of African men and white women and is situated in the history of slavery and colonialism. It is proposed that African women are relatively vulnerable to `victimisationas-mere-punishment' because they are marginalised in the articulation, re-articulation and disarticulation of race-gender-class relations. In the paper, all people of African descent would be simply referred to as Africans.
Structure and conformation of cyclopentene, cycloheptene and trans-cyclooctene

Abstract The molecular geometries of different conformations of cycloalkenes, C n H 2 n -2 , with n = 5, 7 and 8 were optimized by restricted Hartree-Fock calculations using the 6–31G∗ basis set followed by second-order Moller-Plesset perturbation theory (MP2) treatment of electron correlation. For cyclopentene, C 5 H 8 , the potential function for the ring-puckering motion was constructed, followed by solving for the vibrational eigenvalues in terms of distributed Gaussian bases. Good agreement was obtained with the observed frequencies in the far-infrared spectrum of the molecule. For cycloheptene, C 7 H 12 , geometries were optimized for the chair, boat, twist-boat, and three possible transition states. The chair-chair interconversion mechanism was investigated and compared with available experimental evidence and with the results of a previous molecular mechanics calculation. The computed potential barrier compares well with NMR evidence, but the conformation of the relevant transition state is found to be different from the one assumed in the experimental study. The structure of the smallest isolable trans -cycloalkene, trans -cyclooctene, C 8 H 14 , was optimized, yielding a structure in reasonable agreement with a previous gas phase electron diffraction study. The agreement includes the pyramidality of the olefinic carbon atoms which was also compared with available X-ray data on related compounds. The bond angles and torsion angles were in better agreement with the experiment than were those obtained in earlier molecular mechanics studies, although it is remarkable how well that method works for these highly strained cyclic systems.
Government on the Silver Screen: Contemporary American Cinema's Depiction of Bureaucrats, Police Officers, and Soldiers

Movies continue to be the most accessible art form to Americans and that reach allows films to have a tremendous effect on moviegoers. With more than a billion movie tickets sold annually in the United States, the ability of movies to influence the perceptions of moviegoers is pronounced. Frequently, the government is part of those depictions. Although film is routinely studied in a host of disciplines, a focus on the portrayal of government generally and government officials more specifically, remains elusive. Instead of using a case-study approach, we examine recent, popular films to investigate how government is portrayed generally and how individual governmental characters are depicted. For our sample, we use the top-10 box office grossing films from 2000 to 2009 to assess how government is depicted in the films most likely seen by the majority of movie-watching Americans. Perhaps unsurprisingly, we found that films generally have a mixed view of government with more negative depictions than positive. However, in examining bureaucrats, police officers, soldiers, and politicians, we found a much more positive depiction of these individual government characters. Americans may view government negatively, but in film they see positive depictions of individual civil servants.
The Need for Design Thinking in Business Schools

The demands placed on today’s organizations and their managers suggest that we have to develop pedagogies combining analytic reasoning with a more exploratory skill set that design practitioners have embraced and business schools have traditionally neglected. Design thinking is an iterative, exploratory process involving visualizing, experimenting, creating, and prototyping of models, and gathering feedback. It is a particularly apt method for addressing innovation and messy, ill-structured situations. We discuss key characteristics of design thinking, link design-thinking characteristics to recent studies of cognition, and note how the repertoire of skills and methods that embody design thinking can address deficits in business school education.
Temporal Patterns in use of an Iowa Woodlot During the Autumn Bird Migration

Abstract Migration is an important part of many temperate bird species' annual life history. We used a time-point census method to describe the changes in bird communities during the autumn migration in central Iowa. Site selection within a second-growth forest varied significantly based on diet and migration habits of birds. Temporal changes in individual activity and species presence show preferences that may be related to availability of fruit. We discuss the effect of the invasive shrub Rosa multiflora on bird abundances on both temporal and spatial scales.
Comparison of luminescence lifetimes from natural and laboratory irradiated diamonds

Abstract Among gem diamonds, one of the most challenging identifications is distinguishing naturally irradiated diamond from laboratory irradiated diamond. In both cases, the GR1 optical center is created, which in high concentrations imparts a greenish color to the diamond. This research attempted to identify if time-resolved spectroscopy at the nanosecond scale would demonstrate substantive differences between the lifetime behavior of the GR1, in addition to the H3 and NV 0 centers due to the type of irradiation. All three centers showed nominally similar behavior and decay times; however, the luminescence decay of treated diamonds showed more complex behavior with additional exponential decay components able to be resolved. To our knowledge, this is the first study directly comparing data derived from natural and laboratory irradiated diamonds, specifically here, the H3, NV 0 , and GR1 optical centers.
Abstract B2-42: Systematic dissection of multi-scale mutational hotspots across 21 cancer types reveals a rich landscape of functionally targeted oncogenic disruptions

Targeted exome sequencing across dozens of tumor types has led to the discovery of critical cancer-driver genes providing invaluable insight into the genetics and cell biology of cancer. However, most existing approaches are aimed at identifying protein-disrupting mutations alone and hence ignore ~45% of exome variant calls that fall outside of coding regions. Despite clear examples of import of non-coding mutations to specific diseases (such as recurrent mutations in the TERT promoter in melanoma), analyses of non-coding oncogenic alterations have been limited to a small subset of tumor types or have been performed across cancer-types (pan-cancer). Moreover, these analyses have employed either annotation-guided or fixed size sliding-window approaches that presume the relevant scale of functional elements altered in cancer. Here, we employed spatial clustering methods for multi-scale, unbiased detection of significantly mutated regions (SMRs) in 21 tumor types. Using data from >4,700 exomes, we uncovered a diversity of functional genomic elements (ranging from 1 bp to ≥1 kb) frequently disrupted in protein coding and novel, exon-proximal, non-coding features, including regions within 59 UTRs and promoters that are affected in up to ~18% of specific tumor-types. We identified functional associations between SMRs and changes in signalling pathways as determined from RPPA experiments. SMRs allowed us to explore substructure in the distribution of mutations within cancer-driver genes. This analysis revealed that PI3Kα is densely, but differentially mutated in distinct tumor types, and highlights a novel region recurrently disrupted within this well studied oncogene. Mapping coding SMRs to the molecular structures of ~180 proteins permitted a high-resolution interrogation of protein-protein interfaces altered in cancer and the detection of SMRs spatially clustered within protein structures. Coding SMRs disrupt numerous sites of post-translational modification and transcription factor binding, and are associated with alterations to transcriptional profiles as determined by RNA-seq. Surprisingly, we detect an SMR within NFE2L2 that leads to concordant, large-scale transcriptional changes in distinct cancer types. Finally, our results suggest candidate epitopes for immunotherapy and highlight valuable opportunities in reanalyzing the vast repertoire of exome data acquired to date. Note: This abstract was not presented at the conference. Citation Format: Carlos Luis Araya, Can Cenik, Jason Reuter, Michael Snyder, William Greenleaf. Systematic dissection of multi-scale mutational hotspots across 21 cancer types reveals a rich landscape of functionally targeted oncogenic disruptions. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on Computational and Systems Biology of Cancer; Feb 8-11 2015; San Francisco, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(22 Suppl 2):Abstract nr B2-42.
Pre- and postnatal effects of photoperiod on collared lemmings (Dicrostonyx groenlandicus)

We investigated the hypothesis that photoperiod information received during the prenatal and/or early postnatal periods influences subsequent development in collared lemmings. Pregnant lemmings were exposed to either a short [8:16-h light-dark cycle (8:16)] or long (22:2) photoperiod throughout gestation. On the day of birth, pups were cross-fostered to dams housed in either short or long photoperiod. After an 11-day experimental lactational period (LACT), all animals were transferred to an intermediate photoperiod (16:8), the response to which depends on prior photoperiod exposure. Pups remained on this photoperiod until death at postnatal day 90. Information received during gestation (GEST) influenced offspring growth, pelage color, guard hair length, presence of the bifid claw at weaning, testes mass at 10 wk postweaning, and serum prolactin (PRL). Parameters measured at weaning reflected directly the photoperiod experienced during GEST (e.g., short-day GEST pups had white pelage). Conversely, parameters measured at 10 wk postweaning reflected the change in photoperiod experienced between GEST and 16:8 (e.g., short-day GEST young had gray pelage, indicative of an increase in photoperiod). Information received during LACT influenced growth and the presence of the bifid claw at weaning.
Social media profiles: Striking the right balance

In today’s society, social networking is ubiquitous. Pharmacists can “tweet” about the highlight of their day, “check in” from an afterwork social event, “friend” a high-school sweetheart, and read everyone’s status updates. All this can be accomplished from the convenience of your
Evaluation of two pheromone dispensers in combination with plastic and wire cone traps for tobacco budworm (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae)

Combinations of two sex pheromone dispensers and two cone traps were evaluated for efficacy in capturing tobacco bud worm, Heltothts virescens (F.), males in cotton fields in Burleson County, Tex., in 1984. The two dispensers were a commercial laminated plastic dispenser containing 10 mg of seven pheromone components and a polyvinyl chloride (PVC) dispenser containing 6.25 mg of two components. The two traps were a commercial plastic trap and a wire cone trap. The combination of PVC dispenser and wire cone trap consistently captured significantly greater numbers of males than the other combinations. Although captures with the combination of the PVC dispenser and plastic cone trap were not as consistent, significantly higher captures as compared with the combination of laminated plastic dispensers in plastic or wire cone traps were observed during part of the evaluation period. Catches with the laminated plastic dispensers in plastic and wire cone traps were not significantly different.
Drivers of multi-century trends in the atmospheric CO 2 mean annual cycle in a prognostic ESM

Abstract. The amplitude of the mean annual cycle of atmospheric CO2 is a diagnostic of seasonal surface–atmosphere carbon exchange. Atmospheric observations show that this quantity has increased over most of the Northern Hemisphere (NH) extratropics during the last 3 decades, likely from a combination of enhanced atmospheric CO2, climate change, and anthropogenic land use change. Accurate climate prediction requires accounting for long-term interactions between the environment and carbon cycling; thus, analysis of the evolution of the mean annual cycle in a fully prognostic Earth system model may provide insight into the multi-decadal influence of environmental change on the carbon cycle. We analyzed the evolution of the mean annual cycle in atmospheric CO2 simulated by the Community Earth System Model (CESM) from 1950 to 2300 under three scenarios designed to separate the effects of climate change, atmospheric CO2 fertilization, and land use change. The NH CO2 seasonal amplitude increase in the CESM mainly reflected enhanced primary productivity during the growing season due to climate change and the combined effects of CO2 fertilization and nitrogen deposition over the mid- and high latitudes. However, the simulations revealed shifts in key climate drivers of the atmospheric CO2 seasonality that were not apparent before 2100. CO2 fertilization and nitrogen deposition in boreal and temperate ecosystems were the largest contributors to mean annual cycle amplification over the midlatitudes for the duration of the simulation (1950–2300). Climate change from boreal ecosystems was the main driver of Arctic CO2 annual cycle amplification between 1950 and 2100, but CO2 fertilization had a stronger effect on the Arctic CO2 annual cycle amplitude during 2100–2300. Prior to 2100, the NH CO2 annual cycle amplitude increased in conjunction with an increase in the NH land carbon sink. However, these trends decoupled after 2100, underscoring that an increasing atmospheric CO2 annual cycle amplitude does not necessarily imply a strengthened terrestrial carbon sink.
Continuous Level Set Algorithm Based on Improved CV Model for Magnetic Resonance Breast Image Segmentation

A continuous level set algorithm based on improved Chan-Vese(CV)model is proposed to segment magnetic resonance(MR)breast images with weak edges,large information,and low signal-to-noise ratio.B-spline basis functions are used to express the traditional discrete level set function as a continuous level set function,and the re-initialization of the level set function is replaced by the solution of variational problem in B-spline space.Anα-CV model is constructed to form energy function by introducing a shifted Heaviside function. Experimental results and comparison with the traditional CV model method show that the proposed algorithm is able to avoid local minimum,to improve segmentation accuracy,and to suppress noise effectively with a reduction in the number of algorithm iterations by magnitude of 101.
Approximating optimal social choice under metric preferences

We examine the quality of social choice mechanisms using a utilitarian view, in which all of the agents have costs for each of the possible alternatives. While these underlying costs determine what the optimal alternative is, they may be unknown to the social choice mechanism; instead the mechanism must decide on a good alternative based only on the ordinal preferences of the agents which are induced by the underlying costs. Due to its limited information, such a social choice mechanism cannot simply select the alternative that minimizes the total social cost (or minimizes some other objective function). Thus, we seek to bound the distortion: the worst-case ratio between the social cost of the alternative selected and the optimal alternative. Distortion measures how good a mechanism is at approximating the alternative with minimum social cost, while using only ordinal preference information. The underlying costs can be arbitrary, implicit, and unknown; our only assumption is that the agent costs form a metric space, which is a natural assumption in many settings. We quantify the distortion of many well-known social choice mechanisms. We show that for both total social cost and median agent cost, many positional scoring rules have large distortion, while on the other hand Copeland and similar mechanisms perform optimally or near-optimally, always obtaining a distortion of at most 5. We also give lower bounds on the distortion that could be obtained by any deterministic social choice mechanism, and extend our results on median agent cost to more general objective functions.
HCV Health Policy Developments in Response to the National Viral Hepatitis Action Plan: A Brief Update

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) kills 366,000 people worldwide and 17,000 people in the United States each year. In 2011, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) published a national viral hepatitis action plan to control and combat HCV in the United States. This article provides a brief update of HCV health policy developments that have emerged since publication of HHS's national viral hepatitis action plan and concludes with a discussion of the public health impact of these recent HCV health policy developments.
Weathering patterns of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons contained in submerged Deepwater Horizon oil spill residues when re-exposed to sunlight

The Deepwater Horizon (DWH) oil spill event released a large amount of sweet crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico (GOM). An unknown portion of this oil that arrived along the Alabama shoreline interacted with nearshore sediments and sank forming submerged oil mats (SOMs). A considerable amount of hydrocarbons, including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), were trapped within these buried SOMs. Recent studies completed using the oil spill residues collected along the Alabama shoreline have shown that several PAHs, especially higher molecular weight PAHs (four or more aromatic rings), are slowly weathering compared to the weathering levels experienced by the oil when it was floating over the GOM. In this study we have hypothesized that the weathering rates of PAHs in SOMs have slowed down because the buried oil was isolated from direct exposure to sunlight, thus hindering the photodegradation pathway. We further hypothesized that re-exposing SOMs to sunlight can reactivate various weathering reactions. Also, SOMs contain 75-95% sand (by weight) and the entrapped sand could either block direct sunlight or form large oil agglomerates with very little exposed surface area; these processes could possibly interfere with weathering reactions. To test these hypotheses, we completed controlled experiments to study the weathering patterns of PAHs in a field recovered SOM sample after re-exposing it to sunlight. Our experimental results show that the weathering levels of several higher molecular weight PAHs have slowed down primarily due to the absence of sunlight-induced photodegradation reactions. The data also show that sand particles in SOM material could potentially interfere with photodegradation reactions.
Identifying Emotions Aroused from Paintings

Understanding the emotional appeal of paintings is a significant research problem related to affective image classification. The problem is challenging in part due to the scarceness of manually-classified paintings. Our work proposes to apply statistical models trained over photographs to infer the emotional appeal of paintings. Directly applying the learned models on photographs to paintings cannot provide accurate classification results, because visual features extracted from paintings and natural photographs have different characteristics. This work presents an adaptive learning algorithm that leverages labeled photographs and unlabeled paintings to infer the visual appeal of paintings. In particular, we iteratively adapt the feature distribution in photographs to fit paintings and maximize the joint likelihood of labeled and unlabeled data. We evaluate our approach through two emotional classification tasks: distinguishing positive from negative emotions, and differentiating reactive emotions from non-reactive ones. Experimental results show the potential of our approach.
Atlas-guided automated analysis of small-animal PET studies

This work aims to develop a methodology for automated atlas-guided analysis of small animal PET data through deformable registration to an anthropomorphic mouse atlas. A non-rigid registration technique is used to put into correspondence relevant anatomic regions of rodents to the predefined atlas. The technique consists in registering CT images from actual mouse PET/CT data to corresponding CT images of the Digimouse atlas, thus providing a pre-segmented anatomical model consisting of 21 anatomical regions suitable for automated analysis. Image registration is performed using the Elastix package, which is a modular toolbox based on the ITK library allowing the implementation of various image registration algorithms. Once the optimal parameters were derived, these were applied to all data sets. The accuracy of image registration was assessed by segmenting mice CT images into 7 regions: brain, lungs, heart, kidneys, bladder, skeleton and rest of the body. This was realized previous to image registration in a semiautomated way using the ITK-Snap toolbox. Each segmented mouse was transformed using the output transformation parameters obtained during CT image registration. The resulting segmentation was compared with the original Digimouse atlas to quantify image registration accuracy using established figures of merit such as Dice coefficient and Hausdorff distance showing fair to excellent agreement and a mean registration mismatch distance of about 6 mm. Pre-registration was applied to some PET images which were slightly misaligned with the corresponding CT images. PET images were then transformed using the same method used earlier. The results demonstrate good quantification accuracy in most regions, especially the brain. As expected, relatively large deviations were obtained for the bladder. It can be concluded that the proposed automated technique is reliable and suitable for fast quantification of preclinical PET data in large serial studies.
The Effects of a Housing Mobility Experiment on Participants’ Residential Environments

We used the Moving to Opportunity (MTO) housing experiment to inform how housing choice vouchers and housing mobility policies can assist families living in high-poverty areas to make opportunity moves to higher quality neighborhoods, across a wide range of neighborhood attributes. We compared the neighborhood attainment of the three randomly-assigned MTO treatment groups (Low Poverty voucher, Section 8 voucher, Control group) at 1997 and 2002 locations (4-7 years after baseline), by using survey reports, and by linking residential histories to numerous different administrative and population-based datasets. Compared to controls, families in Low-Poverty and Section 8 groups experienced substantial improvements in neighborhood conditions across diverse measures, including economic conditions, social systems (e.g., collective efficacy), physical features of the environment (e.g., tree cover) and health outcomes. The Low-poverty voucher group moreover achieved better neighborhood attainment compared to Section 8. Treatment effects were largest for New York and Los Angeles. We discuss the implications of our findings for expanding affordable housing policy.
Essay: Why Sexist Language Matters

For eleven years I’ve been teaching a sociology course at the University of North Carolina on gender inequality. I cover such topics as the wage gap, the “second shift” (the disproportionate amount of housework and child care that heterosexual women do at home), the equation of women’s worth with physical attractiveness, the sexualizing of women in the media, lack of reproductive rights for women (especially poor women), sexual harassment, and men’s violence against women. But the issue that both female and male students have the most trouble understanding—or, as I see it, share a strong unwillingness to understand—is sexist language. I’m not referring to such words as “bitch,” “whore,” and “slut.” What I focus on instead are words that most people consider just fine: male (so-called) generics. Some of these words refer to persons occupying a position: postman, chairman, freshman, congressman, fireman. Other words refer to the entire universe of human beings: “mankind” or “he.” Then we’ve got manpower, man-made lakes, and “Oh, man, where did I leave my keys?” There’s “manning” the tables in a country where we learn that “all men are created equal.” The most insidious, from my observations, is the popular expression “you guys.” People like to tell me it’s a regional term. But I’ve heard it in Chapel Hill, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, and Montreal. I’ve seen it in print in national magazines, newsletters, and books. I’ve heard it on television and in films. And even if it were regional, that doesn’t make it right. I bet we can all think of a lot of practices in our home regions we’d like to get rid of. Try making up a female-based generic, such as “freshwoman,” and using it with a group of male students, or calling your male boss “chairwoman.” Then again, don’t. There could be serious consequences for referring to a man as a woman—a term that still means “lesser” in our society. If not, why do men get so upset at the idea of being called women?
Novel mechanism for creating long-lived metastable atomic negative ions

A novel mechanism is proposed for creating long-lived metastable atomic negative ions in complex atoms. It exploits the orbital collapse of the 5d orbital in Gd (Z=64) into the 4f orbital of Tb (Z=65). In the region of collapse the properties of the 5d and 4f orbitals are quite sensitive to the changes in the effective potential. Consequently the collapse phenomenon impacts significantly the core-polarization interaction in the relevant atoms. The mechanism is demonstrated in Tb and Dy through the appearance of long-lived Tb− and Dy− anions in the Regge-pole calculated electron elastic cross sections.
Ecophysiology of the Olympia Oyster, Ostrea lurida, and Pacific Oyster, Crassostrea gigas

The native Olympia oyster, Ostrea lurida, was once abundant in many US Pacific Northwest (PNW) estuaries, but was decimated by human activity in the late nineteenth early to twentieth centuries. Having been the subject of only few modern, detailed studies, a dearth of basic physiological information surrounded O. lurida and how it compared to the now dominant, non-native Pacific oyster, Crassostrea gigas. Utilizing laboratory and in situ studies in Yaquina Bay, OR, we explored the clearance rates of both species across a wide range of conditions. Pacific oysters not only had greater size-specific clearance rates than Olympia oysters, but also had a lower optimum temperature. Clearance rates for both species were reduced at lower salinity, at lower organic content, and at higher turbidity. Clearance rate models were constructed for each species using three approaches: (1) a single mechanistic model that incorporated feeding response functions of each species to the effects of temperature, salinity, turbidity, and seston organic content based on laboratory studies; (2) another additive model in which the number and type of response functions from laboratory studies were allowed to vary; and (3) a statistical model that utilized environmental data collected during in situ feeding trials. Clearance rate models that correlated feeding activity with in situ environmental data were found to often better predict oyster clearance rates (based on Adj R 2) for both species in Yaquina Bay, OR, than mechanistic, additive models based on laboratory feeding response functions; however, in situ correlative models varied in accuracy by species and season. This work represents important first steps towards better understanding the physiological ecology of the native Olympia oyster and how it differs from introduced and now dominant Pacific oyster.
Relational Maintenance and Social Support in the Aftermath of Sudden and Expected Death

Bereavement is a state of grieving after the loss of a loved one. Past research has suggested that bereavement is particularly challenging, both physically and emotionally, in the aftermath of unexpected death. Here, we examine bereavement in which death occurred suddenly, compared to a chronic condition where death was expected, in terms of perceived social support and relational maintenance with the deceased in the form of imagined interactions and social media interactions. Results indicated that individuals experiencing sudden death bereavement were more likely to engage in both postmortem relational maintenance techniques and perceived less social support than individuals in the expected death bereavement group. Results are discussed in terms of previous findings.
The medial habenula and interpeduncular nucleus circuitry is critical in addiction, anxiety, and mood regulation.

Abstinence from chronic use of addictive drugs triggers an aversive withdrawal syndrome that compels relapse and deters abstinence. Many features of this syndrome are common across multiple drugs, involving both affective and physical symptoms. Some of the network signaling underlying withdrawal symptoms overlaps with activity that is associated with aversive mood states, including anxiety and depression. Given these shared features, it is not surprising that a particular circuit, the dorsal diencephalic conduction system, and the medial habenula (MHb) and interpeduncular nucleus (IPN), in particular, have been identified as critical to the emergence of aversive states that arise both as a result and, independently, of drug addiction. As the features of this circuit continue to be characterized, the MHb-IPN axis is emerging as a viable target for therapeutics to aid in the treatment of addiction to multiple drugs of abuse as well as mood-associated disorders. This is an article for the special issue XVth International Symposium on Cholinergic Mechanisms.
Thrombin: Structure, Functions, and Regulation

Thrombin is a Na+-activated, allosteric serine protease that plays opposing functional roles in blood coagulation. Binding of Na+ is the major driving force behind the procoagulant, prothrombotic, and signaling functions of the enzyme, but is dispensable for cleavage of the anticoagulant protein C. The anticoagulant function of thrombin is under the allosteric control of the cofactor thrombomodulin. Recent structural advances have shed light on the remarkable molecular plasticity of this enzyme and the molecular underpinnings of thrombin allostery mediated by binding to exosite I and the Na+ site. Thrombin exists in three forms – E*, E, and E:Na+, which interconvert under the influence of ligand binding to distinct domains. The transition between the Na+-free slow form E and the Na+-bound fast form E:Na+ involves the structure of the enzyme as a whole, and so does the interconversion between the two Na+-free forms E* and E. E* is most likely an inactive form of thrombin, unable to interact with Na+ and substrate.
Ipsilateral Femoral Neck and Shaft Fractures

Fractures of the femoral neck and femoral shaft are relatively common but are rare in combination. The reported incidence of a femoral neck fracture in the setting of a femoral shaft fracture is 1–9%, with the largest retrospective review to date reporting a 3% incidence [1–12]. These injuries commonly occur in young patients (average age, 34 years) [8, 13–18] and are a result of a high-energy mechanism such as a motor vehicle accident or fall from a height [2, 3, 5, 6, 9, 11, 12, 19, 20]. The incidence of ipsilateral fractures of the femoral neck and shaft is increasing due to the rising number of high-energy motor vehicle accidents, improved survivorship after high-energy accidents, and enhanced recognition of this injury pattern [9, 12, 13, 21]. Importantly, multi-system injuries have been reported to occur in between 73% and 100% of patients presenting with this injury [8, 9, 13–15, 22].
Field Detection of Drugs of Abuse in Oral Fluid Using the Alere™ DDS®2 Mobile Test System with Confirmation by Liquid Chromatography Tandem Mass Spectrometry (LC–MS/MS)

The collection and analysis of drugs in oral fluid (OF) at the roadside has become more feasible with the introduction of portable testing devices such as the Alere™ DDS®2 Mobile Test System (DDS®2). The objective of this study was to compare the on-site results for the DDS®2 to laboratory-based confirmatory assays with respect to detection of drugs of abuse in human subjects. As part of a larger Institutional Review Board approved study, two OF samples were collected from each participant at a music festival in Miami, FL, USA. One OF sample was field screened using the DDS®2, and a confirmatory OF sample was collected using the Quantisal™ OF collection device and submitted to the laboratory for testing. In total, 124 subjects participated in this study providing two contemporaneous OF samples. DDS®2 field screening yielded positive results for delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) (n = 27), cocaine (n = 12), amphetamine (n = 3), methamphetamine (n = 3) and benzodiazepine (n = 1). No opiate-positive OF samples were detected. For cocaine, amphetamine, methamphetamine and benzodiazepines, the DDS®2 displayed sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of 100%. For THC, the DDS®2 displayed sensitivity of 90%, specificity of 100% and accuracy of 97.5%, when the threshold for confirmation matched that of the manufacturers advertised cut-off. When this confirmatory threshold was lowered to the analytical limit of detection (i.e., 1 ng/mL), apparent device performance for THC was poorer due to additional samples testing positive by confirmatory assay that had tested negative on the DDS®2, demonstrating a need for correlation between manufacturer cut-off and analytical reporting limit. These results from drug-using subjects demonstrate the value of field-based OF testing, and illustrate the significance of selecting an appropriate confirmation cut-off concentration with respect to performance evaluation and detection of drug use.
Catholic Schools, Liberalism and Strategies for the Formation of Catholic Identity

Current UK debates about faith schools include questions about whether these schools can promote liberal values while upholding the values and doctrines of their religious traditions. These debates are worked out in education policy, legislation and the media, and typically attend to macro- and meso-level generalisations. This chapter argues for attention to micro-level interactions to create a more nuanced understanding of the day-to-day negotiations of faith school communities. To this end, it considers information gathered from an ethnographic study in a London Catholic secondary school. Employing a Bourdieusian framework, it assesses processes of transmission and the means by which staff guide students to develop a habitus in which liberalism and Catholicism are not in tension with one another. This process involves the employment and transmission of particular strategies for negotiating experiences of tension between membership in the Catholic Church and the progressive liberal society in which the community is understood to be located.
Laboratory testing protocol to identify critical factors in bacterial compliance monitoring.

This research focused on providing guidelines for water utilities on the collection and handling of routine bacteriological samples and in developing scientifically-based approaches in selecting the most representative sampling locations. A laboratory-scale pilot distribution system was designed comprising two parallel loops, one using unlined cast-iron pipe and one using PVC pipe. Each loop contained six sampling ports, including (1) a distribution main dead end faucet, (2) one long (5.5 m; 18 feet) and (3) one short (0.3 m; 1 foot) household copper service line with threaded hose-bibb taps, (4) one hose-bibb with welded faucet, (5) one dedicated sampling port (modeled after a manufacturer’s specifications) and (6) one laboratory-style (PVC) stop-cock sampling port. Residual chlorine concentrations were maintained at 0, 0.5, 1.5 and 2.0 mg/L stages during the course of the experiment. Bacterial samples were collected from the different sampling ports and assayed by membrane filtration and/or spread plate. Nutrient and R 2 A agars were used for heterotrophic plate counts (HPC), m-Endo agar for total coliform (TC) counts and Chromocult agar for injured bacterial analyses. Several methods of sample collection were tested using various combinations of flushing and tap disinfection, including “first flush” (no flushing, without tap disinfection), flushing only, tap disinfection only (using alcohol or hypochlorite solution) and flushing coupled with tap disinfection. The results indicated that the bacterial counts in samples drawn from dead ends were not significantly different from counts in samples from the other sample port configurations. First flush samples consistently produced the highest bacterial count results. Bacterial counts in samples from the long household copper service line were typically three orders of magnitude higher than in samples from the other sample ports. Thus, there is evidence that long copper household service connections may be unsuitable sample tap configurations for collecting samples intended to represent microbial quality in the distribution system.