cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Fast Organic Vapor Phase Deposition of Thin Films in Light-Emitting Diodes.

Fast deposition of thin films is essential for achieving low-cost, high-throughput phosphorescent organic light-emitting diode (PHOLED) production. In this work, we demonstrate rapid and uniform growth of semiconductor thin films by organic vapor phase deposition (OVPD). A green PHOLED comprising an emission layer (EML) grown at 50 A/s with bis[2-(2-pyridinyl-N)phenyl-C](acetylacetonato)iridium(III) (Ir(ppy)2(acac)) doped into 4,4'-bis(N-carbazolyl)-1,1'-biphenyl (CBP) exhibits a maximum external quantum efficiency of 20 ± 1%. The morphology, charge transport properties, and radiative efficiency under optical and electrical excitation of the PHOLED EML are investigated as functions of the deposition rate via both experimental and theoretical approaches. The EML shows no evidence for gas phase nucleation of the organic molecules at deposition rates as high as 50 A/s. However, the roll-off in quantum efficiency at high current progressively increases with deposition rate due to enhanced triplet-polaron annihilation. The roll-off results from accumulation of stress within the PHOLED EML that generates a high density of defect states. The defects, in turn, act as recombination sites for triplets and hole polarons, leading to enhanced triplet-polaron annihilation at high current. We introduce a void nucleation model to describe the film morphology evolution that is observed using electron microscopy.
Functional interrogation of DNA damage response variants with base editing screens

Mutations in DNA damage response (DDR) genes endanger genome integrity and predispose to cancer and genetic disorders. Here, using CRISPR-dependent cytosine base editing screens, we identify > 2,000 sgRNAs that generate nucleotide variants in 86 DDR genes, resulting in altered cellular fitness upon DNA damage. Among those variants, we discover loss- and gain-of-function mutants in the Tudor domain of the DDR regulator 53BP1 that define a non-canonical surface required for binding the deubiquitinase USP28. Moreover, we characterize variants of the TRAIP ubiquitin ligase that define a domain, whose loss renders cells resistant to topoisomerase I inhibition. Finally, we identify mutations in the ATM kinase with opposing genome stability phenotypes and loss-of-function mutations in the CHK2 kinase previously categorized as variants of uncertain significance for breast cancer. We anticipate that this resource will enable the discovery of additional DDR gene functions and expedite studies of DDR variants in human disease.
Becoming Visible in the Public Sphere: Mobile Home Park Residents’ Political Engagement in City Council Hearings

In the United States, mobile homes provide the country’s largest source of unsubsidized affordable housing. Yet, state planning policies have relegated mobile home parks, the communities where many of these homes are located, to inferior lands in nonresidential areas of towns and cities. These practices spatially and socially marginalize mobile home parks while creating conditions that facilitate their redevelopment. When mobile home parks are redeveloped, entire communities are evicted en masse. This article examines how residents in closing mobile home parks engage state power through the public sphere of city council meetings, a primary place where average citizens directly confront political authority. Through a multi-year, multi-sited ethnography of city council hearings on redevelopment projects that closed mobile home parks in three US states—Texas, Florida, and Colorado—I analyze how mobile home park residents encounter state power as they assemble, make claims, and debate municipal responses to their eviction. I consider how marginalized residents perform citizenship differently—as suppliants, as watchdogs, or as self-advocates—and compare the outcomes of these different modes of engagement. I consider the implications for the “communicative turn” in urban governance and show that mere participation—lauded as a major goal of civic engagement—is not enough to produce effective outcomes for evicted residents.
High-Flow Nasal Cannula in Transport: Process, Results, and Considerations

Abstract Objective The current coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic has increased interest in the use of high-flow nasal cannula (HFNC) in the transport setting. The purpose of this report was to outline the clinical workflow of using HFNC in transport and the results of a retrospective chart review of patients undergoing interhospital transfer on HFNC. Methods We conducted a retrospective chart review of all patient transfers using HFNC between January 2018 and June 2019. The primary data abstracted from patient charts included patient demographics, transport distance, HFNC settings including flow rate in liters per minute and fraction of inspired oxygen (F io 2), and vital signs. Results There was a total of 220 patients, 148 pediatric and 72 adult patients. Both pediatric groups experienced statistically significant reductions in heart rate, systolic blood pressure, and diastolic blood pressure. The most common flow rate for both pediatric groups was 10 L/min and 50 L/min for adults. For pediatrics, the most common settings ranged between 30% and 50% F io 2, with the most common setting being 30% F io 2. The adult F io 2 settings ranged from 30% to 100% F io 2, with the 2 most common settings being 50% F io 2 and 80% F io 2. No patients were intubated during the transport encounter. Conclusion Our study provides evidence that HFNC is feasible and tolerated by patients and is an additional option for noninvasive ventilation in transport across the age continuum. Future studies are needed to compare HFNC with other noninvasive modalities that include assessing patient tolerance and comfort as contributing factors and to identify indications and contraindications for use in the transport setting.
Retributive Conflicts and the AHP: The Trading Mechanism

The second kind of conflict is called retributive, with one or both parties harboring ill will toward each other (Saaty, ORiON 4:3–25, 1988). The idea is particularly relevant in long-drawn-out conflicts, which in the end fester and create almost ineradicable resentments. Here a party may be willing to give up much of its demands, if misfortune can be brought to its opponent through some means, including justice as dispensed by the court system. Should the enemy die, they may forgive and forget, or sometimes they may be resentful because they have not extracted their pound of flesh.
COLLISION WITH A CRUSHABLE BOW

Oil tanker collisions and groundings pose the potential for large spills. Currently, the International Maritime Organization and national governments have design standards for tankers that do not account for a vessel's crashworthiness. By using crashworthiness, a vessel can be optimally designed for both weather and extreme loading situations. Minorsky [1] examined the problem of collision damage on a vessel side wall. Using previous collision data, Minorsky generated a simple damage volume to kinetic energy relationship for the safety of reactors on nuclear-powered ships. Since then, many researchers have provided solutions for the extent of damage on a tanker based on an assumption of a rigid bow collision. Such a formulation does not account for the energy consumed by the bow deformation. As a result, the damage extent to the side of a vessel is overestimated. By adding a crushable bow, the final result will allow for a more optimally designed vessel. This paper provides a simple closed-form solution for modeling the collision resistance of the bulbous bow portions of tankers. This closed-form solution can be combined with side collision solutions to optimally design a tanker for extreme loading conditions.
Large-Scale Biometric Multimedia Processing

The field of Biometrics analyses organic signals from people to identify or verify an identity using a combination of physiological, behavioural or cognitive characteristics such as voice, fingerprints, eye color, facial features, iris, handwriting or other characteristics. Large-scale biometric identification systems can benefit from modern optimisation, classification and parallel computation techniques to reduce cost and increase accuracy. This chapter discusses recent and novel developments by the authors in the approaches taken to enable large-scale biometric identification. The authors present an overview of different techniques to perform the tasks of search space reduction, feature selection and parallel processing of biometrics data. Topics covered are: support vector machines and hyperspace transformations for effectively searching extremely large fingerprint databases to identify individuals; evolutionary computing to perform efficient facial feature selection for identification purposes; and cloud and high-performance designs for biometric systems.
Esthetic Smile Design: Limited Orthodontic Therapy to Position Teeth for Minimally Invasive Veneer Preparation

The standards of dentistry are being elevated, with a greater emphasis being placed on esthetics along with functionality. Minimally invasive dentistry has become an essential component in creating restorations that are functional and have increased longevity. In the case discussed in this article, the patient underwent 9 months of orthodontic therapy to correct her improper overbite and overjet, and the spacing of her dentition so the teeth could be positioned for future minimally invasive restorations. Orthodontic therapy was paramount in positioning the teeth so that the future restorations would have ideal axial inclinations and be as minimally invasive as possible.
Residual Gas Conduction Near Liquid-Helium Temperatures

The necessity of being able to measure thermal conduction in low-density gases experimentally is becoming very evident in space and cryogenic hardware. In these application areas, residual or low-density gas conduction often becomes the major mode of energy transfer in thermal insulation. An experimental study was therefore undertaken to examine thermal conduction in the type of environments common to cryogenic hardware. This meant devising an apparatus for measuring residual gas conduction between surfaces of finite size at temperatures near the normal boiling point of liquid helium. The following discussion is concerned with the details of the apparatus for this new method of residual-gas-conduction measurement.
Persuasion Criteria in the Business of Disease Management and Behavioral Health

This chapter describes persuasion criteria in the business of disease management and behavioral health, discussed by Dyer. Disease management is an important area in medicine, measured both by quality of life and by direct measures of cost savings. This chapter discusses that disease management must be marketed to the medical establishment using a business model. The chapter explores disease management and Dyer's proposed business model. It also considers contingencies involved in persuading medical personnel to implement any intervention system coming out of behavioral health. Dyer defines disease management as a systematic series of interventions designed to reduce the suffering experienced by people who have chronic diseases, while also working to maximize the quality of life of these people. Dyer points out that in the past, behavioral health focused on the treatment of “mental health disorders” and not on providing specific technologies designed exclusively for the management of particular symptoms and lifestyle modifications. Behavioral scientists must learn to produce data that are persuasive to medical systems and these data may be different from what is persuasive to a behavioral scientist.
Boundaries for Lesbian Physicians

The author discusses boundary issues for lesbian physicians, including self-treatment, treating friends and family members, and sex with patients.
Distal Humerus Fractures

Distal humerus fractures can be very challenging injuries. Patient’s age, activity requirements, the presence of comminution, and the level of the fracture may increase their complexity. This chapter includes specific information on the epidemiology, the specific challenges these fractures pose, and the favored surgical plan to manage complex articular fractures. Details on exposure, internal fixation techniques, and arthroplasty are provided along with information on postoperative measures and expected outcomes.
Demodulation of PPM for Reed-Solomon coded optical space channel

The paper proposes a delta-max demodulator for Reed-Solomon coded M-ary PPM modulation over optical (laser) channels including satellite-to-satellite and deep-space-vehicle-to-relay-satellite communications. This demodulator is compared with the threshold demodulator currently in use, and the two demodulators are shown to have identical performance in the absence of background noise. The delta-max demodulator is found to outperform the threshold demodulator as the intensity of background noise increases.
Numerical Studies of the 2D Hubbard Model

Numerical studies of the two-dimensional Hubbard model have shown that it exhibits the basic phenomena seen in the cuprate materials. At half-filling one finds an antiferromagnetic Mott-Hubbard groundstate. When it is doped, a pseudogap appears and at low temperature d-wave pairing and striped states are seen. In addition, there is a delicate balance between these various phases. Here we review evidence for this and then discuss what numerical studies tell us about the structure of the interaction which is responsible for pairing in this model.
ANTIGENS OF BORDETELLA PERTUSSIS II. Purification of Heat-Labile Toxin

Banerjea, A. (Rocky Mountain Laboratory, Hamilton, Mont.) and J. Munoz. Antigens of Bordetella pertussis. II, Purification of heat-labile toxin. J. Bacteriol. 84:269–274. 1962.—A mild method of separating heat-labile toxin of Bordetella pertussis from other cellular components is described; it consists of absorbing toxin on a diethylaminoethyl cellulose column and eluting it with a gradient concentration of NaCl. Toxin preparations thus obtained consisted mainly of protein; their toxicity was destroyed by trypsin but not by ribonuclease or deoxyribonuclease.
Experience with Loop Parallelization in javar (A Prototype Restructuring Compiler for Java)

In this paper we discuss some experiences with javar, which is a prototype Java restructuring compiler that supports the automatic conversion of serial loops into constructs that use the multi-threading mechanism of the language to exploit any parallelism in these loops. Expressing parallelism in Java itself clearly has the advantage that the transformed program remains portable. After compilation of the transformed Java program into bytecode, speedup can be obtained on any platform on which the Java Virtual Machine implementation supports the true parallel execution of threads, whereas we will see that the threads only induce a slight overhead on uni-processors.
Tradition and Imagination in Interplay

The Possible's slow fuse is lit by the Imagination. —Emily Dickinson As I sat down for lunch with a longtime colleague in Oak Brook/Chicago during the 2014 Religious Education Association (REA): As...
An Approach to Optimal Guidance of an Advanced Lauch Vehicle Concept

This paper presents an approximate solution for the maximum payload trajectory of a 2-stage launch vehicle using a regular perturbation technique. A zero-order solution for a two stage vehicle based on a flat Earth approximation and negligible atmospheric effect is obtained in closed form. High order correction terms are obtained from the solution of non-homogeneous, first-order linear differential equations by quadrature. This promises a capability for an on-board optimal guidance law implementation.
Algorithms for verified inclusions—theory and practice

Summary In the following basic principles of algorithms computing guaranteed bounds are developed from a theoretical and a practical point of view. Some fundamental theoretical facts are repeated where, for more detailed information, the reader is referred to the literature (e.g. [Ru83], [Ru87] and the references mentioned in these papers). Furthermore practical aspects are discussed, especially how the process of computing a guaranteed result really works out on a digital computer. The verification process is performed by means of checking assumptions of mathematical theorems. This checking process is performed automatically. The various steps from the mathematical theorem down to the practical verification are described in detail. In contrast, standard floating-point algorithms usually deliver good approximations to the solution of a given numerical problem but there is neither a verification or guarantee about the quality of the approximation nor must a solution to the given problem actually exist. There are simple examples where the floating-point approximation is drastically wrong. A programming environment has been developed which allows to specify commands to the computer in mathematical notation. Because the system (preliminary name ABACUS) works interactively, no type specificaiton is necessary at all allowing to specify algorithms like in a math book. ABACUS works right now on IBM System/370 machines under VM operating system. It is planned to have a C version for IBM System/2, SUN work stations and others available by early 1988. Some examples demonstrating the system are presented.
The infrastructure of school culture: Commitment, discourse, efficacy, and sensemaking in Adequate Yearly Progress

While achievement test results lead to after-the-fact AYP results, this research delves into measures behind and beyond test scores, the matter-of-fact workplace norms of schools. Elementary teachers completed items in the VISTAA survey as analysis revealed five constructs of school culture: commitment to student learning, commitment to collegiality, discourse, efficacy, and sensemaking. As a single aggregate factor, defined standard deviation gains in the school culture composite increased the likelihood of attaining AYP by 81%. The results also show positive associations for individual predictors concerning the infrastructure of school culture with the outcome of AYP.
Effects of antigen-feeding on intestinal and systemic immune responses: IV. Similarity between the suppressor factor in mice after erythrocyte-lysate injection and erythrocyte feeding

Abstract Profound antigen-specific suppression of humoral antibody responses to subsequent antigen challenge can occur in mice after oral antigen administration. We previously demonstrated that suppression of antibody responses in mice fed heterologous erythrocytes was mediated by a serum suppressor factor. This soluble factor markedly inhibited antierythrocyte antibody responses after erythrocyte challenge in vivo or in vitro. We now demonstrate a suppressor factor in the serum of mice injected parenterally with an erythrocyte lysate that is indistinguishable by several criteria from the suppressor factor in the serum of erythrocyte-fed mice. The suppressor factor in both erythrocyte lysate-injected and erythrocyte-fed mice has a mol wt of 150,000 daltons, is heat stable, contains Ig determinants, and lacks detectable erythrocyte determinants. Suppression mediated by both factors is antigen-specific, not H-2 restricted, and inhibits IgM responses to a greater extent than IgA or IgG responses. These findings indicate that the production of serum suppressor factors like those seen after antigen-feeding does not require enteric antigen exposure.
Fusion of range and reflectance image data using Markov random fields

The problem of fusion of range and luminance data is addressed. Fusion is accomplished by minimization of an objective function which requires that the observed brightness agree with both the observed range image and a reflectivity model. The performance of this technique is evaluated. >
Sterile empyematous pleural effusion in a patient with systemic lupus erythematosus: a diagnostic challenge

Herein we present a case of a patient with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and a sterile empyematous pleural effusion, a complication not generally associated with SLE. A discussion of the diagnostic and treatment dilemmas follows the case presentation.
A cholesterol-inhibitable cytolytic from the sea anemone Metridium senile

Abstract The tissues of the common North Atlantic sea anemone, Metridium senile , contain an agent capable of lysing mammalian cells. The active substance, metridiolysin, was purified and found to be a protein of molecular weight approx. 80 000 and to be isoelectric at approx. pH 5.0. It is thermolabile and is inactivated by Pronase and subtilisin. The optimal pH for hemolysis is between 5 and 6, and at pH 8.0 or higher the lysin is inactive. It can be dissociated into two subunits of unequal size. Metridiolysin destroys blood platelets in vitro as well as cultured fibroblasts, and is lethal when injected intravenously into mice. It is not lytic for bacterial protoplasts and spheroplasts. Hemolysis is specifically prevented by cholesterol. Erythrocytes from the horse and dog are approx. 100 times as sensitive to lysis as those from the mouse, and erythrocytes from other animals tested are intermediate in sensitivity.
A thermosphere-ionosphere-mesosphere-electrodynamics general circulation model (time-GCM): Equinox solar cycle minimum simulations (30–500 km)

A new simulation model of the mesosphere, thermosphere, and ionosphere with coupled electrodynamics has been developed and used to calculate the global circulation, temperature and compositional structure between 30-500 km for equinox, solar cycle minimum, geomagnetic quiet conditions. The model incorporates all of the features of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) thermosphere-ionosphere- electrodynamics general circulation model (TIE-GCM) but the lower boundary has been extended downward from 97 to 30 km (10 mb) and it includes the physical and chemical processes appropriate for the mesosphere and upper stratosphere. The first simulation used Rayleigh friction to represent gravity wave drag in the middle atmosphere and although it was able to close the mesospheric jets it severely damped the diurnal tide. Reduced Rayleigh friction allowed the tide to penetrate to thermospheric heights but did not close the jets. A gravity wave parameterization developed by Fritts and Lu (1993) allows both features to exist simultaneously with the structure of tides and mean flow dependent upon the strength of the gravity wave source. The model calculates a changing dynamic structure with the mean flow and diurnal tide dominant in the mesosphere, the in-situ generated semi-diurnal tide dominating the lower thermosphere and an in-situ generated diurnal tide in the upper thermosphere. The results also show considerable interaction between dynamics and composition, especially atomic oxygen between 85 and 120 km.
Entangled Photon-Pair Two-Dimensional Fluorescence Spectroscopy (EPP-2DFS)

We introduce a new method, called entangled photon-pair two-dimensional fluorescence spectroscopy (EPP-2DFS), to sensitively probe the nonlinear electronic response of molecular systems. The method incorporates a separated two-photon (‘Franson’) interferometer, which generates time-frequency-entangled photon pairs, into the framework of a fluorescence-detected 2D optical spectroscopic experiment. The entangled photons are temporally shaped and phase-modulated in the interferometer, and are used to excite a two-photon-absorbing (TPA) sample, whose excited-state population is selectively detected by simultaneously monitoring the sample fluorescence and the exciting fields. In comparison to ‘classical’ 2DFS techniques, major advantages of this scheme are the suppression of uncorrelated background signals, the enhancement of simultaneous time-and-frequency resolution, the suppression of diagonal 2D spectral features, and the enhancement and narrowing of off-diagonal spectral cross-peaks that contain informati...
The fungal flora of loganberries in relation to storage and spoilage.

SUMMARY Botrytis cinerea, Cladosporium spp., Penicillium spp., Aureobasidium pullulans, Mucor mucedo, Phoma state of Didymella applanata, Cryptococcus laurentii var. laurentii, C. albidus var. albidus, Candida sake and Sporobolo-myces roseus were consistently present on freshly harvested loganberries. Botrytis cinerea was the main spoilage organism with Mucor mucedo of minor importance. The importance of benomyl-resistant strains of B. cinerea is discussed.
Illustration of complex real-world objects using images with normals

This paper investigates the creation of non-photorealistic illustrations from a type of data lying between simple 2D images and full 3D models: images with both a color (albedo) and a surface normal stored at each pixel. Images with normals combine an acquisition process only mildly more complex than that for digital photographs (and significantly easier than 3D scanning) with the power and flexibility of tools similar to those originally developed for full 3D models. We investigate methods for signal processing on images with normals, developing algorithms for scale-space analysis, derivative (i.e., curvature) estimation, and segmentation. These are used to implement analogues of stylized rendering techniques such as toon shading, line drawing, curvature shading, and exaggerated shading. We also introduce new stylization effects based on multiscale mean curvature shading, as well as fast discontinuity shadows. We show that our rendering pipeline can produce detailed yet understandable illustrations in medical, technical, and archaeological domains.
Determinants of predation risk in small wintering birds: the hawk’s perspective

The small-bird-in-winter paradigm is prominent in the field of behavioral ecology. However, our conceptual understanding of this paradigm is limited by our lack of knowledge about Accipiter hawks. Although Accipiters are the major predators of small wintering birds, we know little about their behavior during the winter. In this paper, we present the first description of the predatory behavior of wintering sharp-shinned hawks (Accipiter striatus), focusing on their selection of prey and attack strategies. We also relate basic prey behavior to the risk of death during an attack. During the winters of 2000–2004, we observed 255 attacks and recovered 112 prey items from 21 intensively radio-tracked hawks. The diet of sharp-shinned hawks in the study was composed primarily of sparrow-sized prey, intermediate-sized starlings (Sturnus vulgaris), American robins (Turdus migratorius), and the occasional larger prey such as mourning doves (Zenaida macroura). Both sexes killed all sizes of prey, although female hawks took significantly more large prey than did males. Small preys under 20 g, such as parids, were largely ignored. This lack of very small prey in the diet of sharp-shinned hawks suggests that we might focus the small-bird-in-winter paradigm on sparrows and intermediate-sized prey, such as robins, as the main prey base of Accipiters at least in North America. In addition, solitary and feeding prey were significantly more likely to be captured during an attack than prey in groups and those not feeding. Our hawk-driven observations provide rare empirical support for the concept that flocking birds are safer than solitary birds and alert birds experience less risk than those preoccupied with feeding.
On energy consistency of large deformation plasticity models, with application to the design of unconditionally stable time integrators

This paper addresses the concept of energy consistency of plasticity models, with the ultimate goal of designing time integrators that are unconditionally stable for large deformation, nonlinear dynamical systems. In the course of the discussion, some attention is devoted to a widely used plasticity model, which we assert has a fundamental thermodynamical problem if its flow rule is not carefully defined.
Adaptive evolution in zinc finger transcription factors.

The majority of human genes are conserved among mammals, but some gene families have undergone extensive expansion in particular lineages. Here, we present an evolutionary analysis of one such gene family, the poly–zinc-finger (poly-ZF) genes. The human genome encodes approximately 700 members of the poly-ZF family of putative transcriptional repressors, many of which have associated KRAB, SCAN, or BTB domains. Analysis of the gene family across the tree of life indicates that the gene family arose from a small ancestral group of eukaryotic zinc-finger transcription factors through many repeated gene duplications accompanied by functional divergence. The ancestral gene family has probably expanded independently in several lineages, including mammals and some fishes. Investigation of adaptive evolution among recent paralogs using dN/dS analysis indicates that a major component of the selective pressure acting on these genes has been positive selection to change their DNA-binding specificity. These results suggest that the poly-ZF genes are a major source of new transcriptional repression activity in humans and other primates.
Molecular engineering of a two-step transcription amplification (TSTA) system for transgene delivery in prostate cancer.

Abstract Gene therapy is founded on the concept that tissue-specific promoters can express heterologous genes for molecular imaging or therapeutic applications. The engineering of cell-specific enhancers to improve potency and the development of two-step transcriptional activation (TSTA) approaches have significantly improved the efficacy of transgene expression. Here we combine these technologies to create a robust, titratable, androgen-responsive system targeted to prostate cancer cells. Our “chimeric” TSTA system uses a duplicated variant of the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) gene enhancer to express GAL4 derivatives fused to one, two, or four VP16 activation domains. We targeted the resulting activators to cells with reporter templates bearing one, two, or five GAL4 binding sites upstream of firefly luciferase. We monitored activity via firefly luciferase assays in transfected cell extracts and in live nude mice using a cooled charge-coupled device (CCD) imaging system. In this system, we found that firefly luciferase expression in prostate cancer cells can be varied over an 800-fold range. We also found that a single plasmid bearing the optimized enhancer, GAL4–VP16 derivative, and reporter expressed firefly luciferase at 20-fold higher levels than the cytomegalovirus enhancer. We discuss the implications of this strategy and its application to molecular imaging and therapy.
Forecasting output using oil prices: A cascaded artificial neural network approach

Abstract Recent evidence suggests that oil prices affect output of the economy in a non-linear complex fashion. However, there is no clear agreement on the unknown functional form. An application of artificial neural network for short-term forecasting of GDP using oil prices and utilizing cascaded learning is proposed. We find that the mean absolute forecasting error and the mean square forecasting error is reduced by applying cascaded neural network relative to conventional artificial neural networks and popular linear models. Results also indicate that the developed forecasting approach is useful and point to the potential of this methodology for other economic applications. Our results are important for improving economic forecasts and introduce oil prices as a strong candidate for future forecasting exercises.
Retinoids or Carotenoids: Is There Another Choice?

Abstract Both retinoids and carotenoids decrease cancer occurrence in selected animal models of carcinogenesis, but the retinoids appear to have more potent activity against a wider variety of tumors. Future use of retinoids for cancer prevention will be limited, however, because of their toxic effects on bone and skin (among other organs). In contrast to retinoids, carotenoids seem to be free of important toxicity and this fact makes them more promising for use in the general adult population. However, the idea that carotenoids have a cancer-preventive effect in humans is based almost entirely on epidemiological studies of diet and serum which could simply reflect the effects of some other dietary constituents. In the search to explain the profoundly lower risk of death associated with eating a diet high in fruits, vegetables, and grains, there is a place for clinical trials testing one specific nutrient, such as β-carotene, against one disease, such as lung cancer, but we should not rely exclusively on these narrowly focused studies. In addition, careful analyses of cohort studies may reveal broad patterns of diet that are associated with lower mortality. These diets can then be tested in clinical trials for their efficacy against a variety of causes of death and disability. For now, the most rational and prudent choice would be to consume a diet high in fruits, vegetables, and grains and not to take either supplemental antioxidants or retinoids until there is clear evidence of their effectiveness and safety.
Policy Responsiveness To the Black Electorate Programmatic Versus Symbolic Representation

The relationship between the black voting age population (BVAP) and legislative responsiveness to black policy interests is explored in the context of the Mississippi House of Representatives. Roll call votes on redistributive social welfare programs are used as a measure of black policy preferences. Since blacks are usually not numerous enough to control legislative bodies and since no redistricting scheme can guarantee a black legislative majority in any state, their policy preferences become public only if supported by a coalition of black and white representatives. We find that the relationship between BVAP and legislative responsiveness is curvilinear, with support lowest among legislators representing districts 25% to 29.9% black. Support for redistributive legislation goes up as BVAP increases and then remains high for districts with BVAPs from 40% to 54.9%. Generational replacement, but not the incidence of poverty in a constituency, is also associated with legislative responsiveness to black poli...
12-Year-old male with Elejalde syndrome (neuroectodermal melanolysosomal disease)

Neuroectodermal melanolysosomal disease, also known as Elejalde syndrome, is a rare syndrome characterized by silvery hair, pigment abnormalities, and profound central nervous system dysfunction. It is similar to the Chediak-Higashi and Griscelli syndromes, although these syndromes are associated with severe immunologic dysfunction. We report on a 12-year-old male with Elejalde syndrome and compare the Elejalde, Chediak-Higashi, and Griscelli syndromes.
The Gas Turbine’s Application in Central Chilled Water and Heating Plants

The author has reviewed the basic design concepts of central chilled water and heating plants and the gas turbine’s application to the concept. Advantages of the central plant are detailed. Available types of equipment are discussed. Gas turbine applications are thoroughly reviewed with comments regarding actual design experience for several large central plants. The importance of heat recovery equipment selection and application has been thoroughly considered. Two large plants, constructed in California, designed under the engineering supervision of author, are discussed throughly with appropriate comment regarding concept, selection of equipment, expansion potential, thermal efficiency as well as other salient features.Copyright © 1969 by ASME
Hierarchic Optimizations For Smoothing And Cooperative Inversion

This paper presents a procedure for minimizing multiple objective functions in tomographic inversion. Applications to tomogram smoothing demonstrate the effectiveness of the procedure. It eliminates the necessity of combining the misfit functions of different hierarchies into a composite misfit function. The procedure should be useful for tomographic inversions, especially when several types of data are to be modeled simultaneously. Assume for simplicity that we have only two objective functions, the data misfit E and roughness R (defined below) of the tomogram. The data misfit E can be the travel time misfit in travel time inversion.
Children of the "Danchi": A Japanese Primary School for Newcomers.

Practices and policies of Japanese schooling for immigrant and marginalised students are examined through the lens of a primary school which serves one of the largest foreign student populations in Japan. Student families include Southeast Asian refugees, South American immigrants of Japanese descent, recent and longstanding Chinese and Koreans, and low-income Japanese nationals. Years of ethnographic fieldwork in several low-income Japanese urban communities preceded this work, consisting of interviews, site visits, historical documentation and professional consultations. Study of the chosen school offers a snapshot of not only the contested terrain of schooling, but also the larger context of these young peoples’ lives: demands on foreign labourers, shifting and constructed identities, laws that both welcome and constrain. In the midst of apparent chaos, this school attempts to respond to the challenges presented by a system ill-prepared to work with children who are ‘different’.
Mercury contamination in free‐ranging great egret nestlings (Ardea albus) from Southern Florida, USA

Between March and June of 1994 and 1995, mercury (Hg) concentrations were determined from 393 blood and 164 growing scapular feathers from 252 great egret nestlings (Ardea albus). Nestlings came from eight colonies located in Water Conservation Area 3 in the Everglades region in southern Florida. The ages of these birds ranged from 1 to 44 d (bill length 1.1 to 10.2 cm). Mercury concentrations in blood and feathers of first-hatched great egret nestlings sampled during 1994 averaged 1.2 {micro}g/g (range = 0.07--3.9) wet weight and 16 {micro}g/g (4.5--40) dry weight, respectively. During 1995, first-hatched chicks had blood and feather Hg concentrations that averaged 0.8 {micro}g/g (0.2--1.7) and 9.7 {micro}g/g (2.3--26), respectively. In both years, Hg concentrations in blood and feathers were significantly correlated, and a significant correlation also was found between Hg in blood and age of the chicks. Blood and feather Hg concentrations differed significantly between years, with higher concentrations during 1994. Birds from JW1 and L67 colonies had the highest concentrations of Hg in blood and feathers. Mercury concentrations did not differ between chicks of different hatch order Mercury in feathers of great egret nestlings from southern Florida are approximately six times higher than when compared tomore » feather Hg concentrations of nestlings wading birds sampled elsewhere.« less
A guide to analysing tongue motion from ultrasound images

This paper is meant to be an introduction to and general reference for ultrasound imaging for new and moderately experienced users of the instrument. The paper consists of eight sections. The first explains how ultrasound works, including beam properties, scan types and machine features. The second section discusses image quality, including the interpretation of anatomical features and artefacts seen in the image. The third section discusses the validity of the data collection procedures, including the effects of stabilizing the transducer and head position, and discusses some methods for stabilization. Section four discusses validation of the ultrasound and stabilization systems. The fifth section presents a sample recording set-up, supplemental information, and normalization strategies for sessions and subjects. In section six are methods of extracting contours from ultrasound images, displaying them, and analysing them. The seventh section considers the tracking of pellets on the tongue surface and the differences between tracking tissue points and continuous surfaces. The last section presents methods, challenges and results of 3D, computerized reconstruction of tongue surfaces. An outline of the paper can be found in Appendix I.
Asset Management: A Sustainable Strategy

New plants are on the horizon! Plans for no less than thirteen (13) Combined Operating Licenses (COL’s) have been announced in 2005 with corresponding submittals to begin by 2007. Several utilities have announced intentions of breaking ground in 2010, meaning that heavy component orders will have to be placed as early as 2007! Industry analysts’ project that 100 new plants will be required in the next 25 years. With an average lead time of 10 years, the bulk of the new plant orders will have to be placed by not later than 2015. This equates to almost 8–9 new plant orders a year!!Copyright © 2006 by ASME
Emergency planning: Be prepared

Scenario-based training for disasters is better than just drawing up a paper plan, say Jennifer K. Pullium and colleagues.
A uniqueness property for the quantization of Teichmüller Spaces

Chekhov, Fock and Kashaev introduced a quantization of the Teichmuller space of a punctured surface S, and an exponential version \({\mathcal{T}}^q(S)\) of this construction was developed by Bonahon and Liu. The construction of \({\mathcal{T}}^q(S)\) crucially depends on certain coordinate change isomorphisms between the Chekhov–Fock algebras associated to different ideal triangulations of S. We show that these coordinate change isomorphisms are essentially unique, once we require them to satisfy a certain number of natural conditions.
Ultrarapid exhumation of ultrahigh-pressure diamond-bearing metasedimentary rocks of the Kokchetav Massif, Kazakhstan?

The diamond-bearing, ultrahigh-pressure Kokchetav Massif recrystallized at eclogite-facies conditions deep in the mantle at 180-km depth at 535F3 Ma, and yet new 40 Ar/ 39 Ar ages suggest that it may have been exhumed to crustal depths (as indicated by closure of mica to Ar loss) by f529 Ma. These data indicate a possible exhumation rate of tens of kilometers per million years, i.e., a rate that is comparable to rates of horizontal plate motion and subduction. D 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Congruent and Incongruent Semantic Context Influence Vowel Recognition

The influence of sentence context on the recognition of naturally spoken vowels degraded by reverberation and Gaussian noise was investigated. Target words were paired to have similar consonant sounds but different vowels (e.g., map/mop) and were embedded early in sentences which provided three types of semantic context. Fifty-eight normal-hearing, young adults were presented with sentences in which acoustic and semantic cues agreed either weakly (neutral) or strongly (congruent) or the cues strongly disagreed (incongruent). One vowel pair (/e/-/ae/) was selected to be easier to recognize than the other (/a/-/ae/). Changes induced in the spectra of the vowels by degradation showed that the impact of reverberation combined with noise was quite different from either condition alone. The recognition performance of participants (n = 26) for isolated word stimuli matched the predictions of the frequency analysis. In sentences the recognition of the vowel was strongly influenced by the subsequent context; perform...
Proteasome Regulation of Dynamic Transcription Factor Occupancy on the GnRH-Stimulated Luteinizing Hormone β-Subunit Promoter

GnRH is the main modulator of LH secretion and transcription of the LH subunit genes in pituitary gonadotropes. The LHbeta gene is preferentially transcribed during pulsatile GnRH stimuli of one pulse/30 min and is thus carefully controlled by specific signaling pathways and transcription factors. We now show that GnRH-stimulated LHbeta transcription is also influenced by the ubiquitin-proteasome system. GnRH-stimulated activity of an LHbeta reporter gene was prevented by proteasome inhibitors MG-132 and lactacystin. Inhibition was not rescued by overexpression of two key transcription factors for LHbeta, early growth response-1 (Egr-1) and steroidogenic factor-1 (SF-1). Increased endogenous LHbeta transcription after GnRH treatment was also prevented by MG-132, as measured by primary transcript assays. To investigate possible mechanisms of LHbeta transcriptional inhibition by proteasome blockade, we employed chromatin immunoprecipitation to measure LHbeta promoter occupancy by transcription factors. Without GnRH, binding was low and unorganized. With GnRH, Egr-1 and SF-1 associations were stimulated, cyclic, and coincidental, with a period of approximately 30 min. MG-132 disrupted GnRH-induced Egr-1 and SF-1 binding and prevented phosphorylated RNA polymerase II association with the LHbeta promoter. Egr-1, but not SF-1, protein was induced by GnRH and accumulated with MG-132. Egr-1 and SF-1 were ubiquitinated in gonadotropes and ubiquitinated forms of these factors associated with the LHbeta promoter, suggesting their degradation may be key for LHbeta proteasome-dependent transcription. Together, these results demonstrate that degradation via the proteasome is vital to GnRH-stimulated LHbeta expression, and this occurs in part by allowing proper transcription factor associations with the LHbeta promoter.
Capabilities of a photodiode array based system for cataloguing the atomic emission spectra of the inductively coupled plasma

Abstract This paper describes a photodiode array based system and discusses its capabilities for cataloguing the atomic emission spectra emitted from an inductively coupled plasma. Dynamic range and line coverage are assessed and compared with those achievable with Fourier transform spectrometry.
Determination of carrier lifetime from rectifier ramp recovery waveform

A charge-control analysis is used to obtain an expression relating the carrier lifetime to the realistic ramp recovery waveform of a p-i-n diode of arbitrary softness. The method is shown to produce a consistent lifetime for different values of forward currents, current ramp rates, and the resultant softness factors. >
Inability of Na+, K+-ATPase inhibitor to cause hypertension in sodium-loaded or deoxycorticosterone-treated one kidney rats

Abstract The role of an endogenous inhibitor of Na+, K+-ATPase in hypertension observed in one-kidney NaCl-loaded rats treated with deoxycorticosterone (DOC) was examined. Ouabain or digitoxin, an exogenous inhibitor of Na+, K+-ATPase, failed to cause hypertension in one-kidney NaCl-loaded rats without DOC treatment or one-kidney DOC-treated rats without NaCl loading. Moreover, neither ouabain nor digitoxin acted additively with a putative endogenous inhibitor of Na+, K+-ATPase to augment hypertension observed in one-kidney NaCl-loaded rats treated with DOC. The results do not support the hypothesis that an endogenous inhibitor of Na+, K+-ATPase plays an important role in the development or maintenance of hypertension in this animal model.
Subjective versus technical risk estimates: do risk communication policies increase consistency?☆

Abstract This paper reports the first comparison of subjective and technical risk estimates for a real source of risk, exposure to radon. The analysis also considers the effects of the information framing for this comparison of risk estimates. The results suggest that the framing of the risk explanations does affect how individuals adjusted their subjective risk perceptions in response to differences in the amount and duration of their radon exposures. Thus, our findings support the need to describe the role of cognitive factors involved in processing risk information within economic models of the formation of risk perceptions.
An efficient synthesis of 3-vinylpyrroles by Stille coupling reaction of 3-iodopyrroles with vinyltributyltin

Abstract Several 3-vinylpyrrolic compounds with different functional groups have been synthesized by Stille coupling reaction of 3-iodopyrroles with vinyltributyltin in 80–92% yields. Under the same reaction conditions it was found that 3-bromopyrroles gave the corresponding product in very poor yield, while 3-chloropyrroles were unreactive.