cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
An ethological-social learning theory of the development of altruism: Implications for human sociobiology

Abstract This paper presents an ethological-social learning theory of the development of human altruism. Central to the theory is the idea that altruism is a biological system involving the interaction of cognitive, affective, and perceptual processes. These affective processes are viewed as depending crucially on biologically based predispositions to respond to social stimuli, especially parents, during development, and as crucially affecting social learning processes central to altruism. Cross-cultural and historical evidence are discussed indicating associations between the degree of genetic relatedness in societies and familial affective relationships and it is argued that cultural controls on altruism have operated by manipulating the affective environment during development. Understanding the mechanisms underlying human altruism is necessary in order to properly investigate the flexibility, control, and genetic bases of altruism.
A Novel Mechanism of B Cell–Mediated Immune Suppression through CD73 Expression and Adenosine Production

Immune suppression by regulatory T cells and regulatory B cells is a critical mechanism to limit excess inflammation and autoimmunity. IL-10 is considered the major mediator of B cell-induced immune suppression. We report a novel mechanism for immune suppression through adenosine generation by B cells. We identified a novel population of B cells that expresses CD73 as well as CD39, two ectoenzymes that together catalyze the extracellular dephosphorylation of adenine nucleotides to adenosine. Whereas CD39 expression is common among B cells, CD73 expression is not. Approximately 30-50% of B-1 cells (B220(+)CD23(-)) and IL-10-producing B (B10) cells (B220(+)CD5(+)CD1d(hi)) are CD73(hi), depending on mouse strain, whereas few conventional B-2 cells (B220(+)CD23(+)AA4.1(-)) express CD73. In keeping with expression of both CD73 and CD39, we found that CD73(+) B cells produce adenosine in the presence of substrate, whereas B-2 cells do not. CD73(-/-) mice were more susceptible to dextran sulfate sodium salt (DSS)-induced colitis than wild type (WT) mice were, and transfer of CD73(+) B cells ameliorated the severity of colitis, suggesting that B cell CD73/CD39/adenosine can modulate DSS-induced colitis. IL-10 production by B cells is not affected by CD73 deficiency. Interestingly, adenosine generation by IL-10(-/-) B cells is impaired because of reduced expression of CD73, indicating an unexpected connection between IL-10 and adenosine and suggesting caution in interpreting the results of studies with IL-10(-/-) cells. Our findings demonstrate a novel regulatory role of B cells on colitis through adenosine generation in an IL-10-independent manner.
Does gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB) have a role in the treatment of alcoholism?

Alcoholism (alcohol abuse and dependence) is a chronic disorder affecting both brain and behavior that has worldwide public health consequences. Primary goals for alcoholism pharmacotherapy include mitigating withdrawal, maintaining abstinence and reducing the severity of relapse, usually in combination with behavioral treatment or self-help groups. Currently, only three medications for the treatment of alcoholism are approved for use in the USA—disulfiram, acamprosate and naltrexone—and the efficacy of each is modest at best. In this context, the recent Cochrane Review of the use of gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB) for the treatment of alcoholism is a welcome addition to the literature (Leone et al. , 2010). The Cochrane Collaboration is a group of >27,000 volunteers in >90 countries who prepare, maintain and make accessible systematic reviews of the effects of healthcare interventions tested in randomized controlled trials (RCTs), with the goal of helping clinicians to make well-informed decisions about health care. Cochrane Reviews have a reputation for stringent assessment methods and generally cautious conclusions. In this case, the authors conclude that, despite some limitations, there is enough evidence to recommend GHB's use both for treating alcohol withdrawal and for preventing relapse. In fact, they argue that GHB is more effective than either naltrexone or disulfiram, the current mainstays in alcoholism pharmacotherapy. GHB, or as a pharmaceutical product, sodium oxybate, is a pharmacologically intriguing short-chain fatty acid structurally similar to the inhibitory neurotransmitter gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) and is approved for treatment of alcoholism in Italy. GHB is a weak agonist at the inhibitory GABAB receptor and a potent agonist at the newly characterized …
The programmer selection interview

Many organizations have very elaborate techniques for selecting new employees. Most of these are screening processes to select applicants who will eventually be given the opportunity of an interview with a program project manager or supervisor. This interview is frequently the final determining factor in the selection process of a new computer programmer. Unless the interview is conducted in a manner that is both fair and revealing, a course of action will be begun that will be difficult to change at a later time. With the cost of personnel now being the most expensive item in program development projects, this personnel selection decision is now more critical than ever before.
Paving the way: Multifunctional nest architecture of the Rock Wren

ABSTRACT Some avian species augment nest cups by building associated architectural structures that may mitigate predation, parasitism, and/or hatching failure. Because effective nest construction is integral to reproductive success, architectural structures associated with nests are predicted to provide functional benefits. Rock Wrens (Salpinctes obsoletus) stereotypically augment their soft cup nests with a pavement of stones, apparently incurring considerable energy costs. We quantified Rock Wren stone use and measured how stones occlude nest cavities. We examined whether Rock Wrens adjust individual stone-carrying effort in response to nest cavity opening size and tested 3 hypotheses about the benefits of cavity occlusion: (1) stones ameliorate temperature fluctuations and improve nest thermoregulation; (2) stones improve nest microclimates by keeping them dry; and (3) stones have the potential to reduce nest predation by alerting incubating females when predators approach. We found that individual nes...
Maternal cyclin B levels "Chk" the onset of DNA replication checkpoint control in Drosophila.

In many animals, early development of the embryo is characterized by synchronous, biphasic cell divisions. These cell divisions are controlled by maternally inherited proteins and RNAs. A critical question in developmental biology is how the embryo transitions to a later pattern of asynchronous cell divisions and transfers the prior maternal control of development to the zygotic genome. The most-common model regarding how this transition from maternal to zygotic control is regulated posits that this is a consequence of the limitation of maternal gene products, due to their titration during early cell divisions. Here we discuss a recent article by Crest et al.1 that instead proposes that the balance of Cyclin-dependent Kinase 1 and Cyclin B (Cdk1-CycB) activity relative to that of the Drosophila checkpoint kinase Chk1 determines when asynchronous divisions begin. BioEssays 29:949–952, 2007. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
The Gender Pay Gap: Concrete Indicator of Women's Progress Toward Equality

A male–female earnings gap has persisted through the last half century. Attempts to explain the disparity by attributing it to gender differences in work patterns reveal the unexamined assumption that male work patterns should form the basis of comparison. The gap affects full- and part-time workers and appears within racial/ethnic groups, educational levels, and occupations, and across countries. Forecasting analyses show no convincing evidence that the gap is narrowing. Although the causes of the gender pay gap are complex, data on women's lower pay within educational levels and occupations and data on women's dramatically lower recognition in domains where their talents and achievements are equal to men's (e.g., literary awards) implicate the undervaluing of work associated with women. Approaches to narrowing the gap are discussed. As psychologists, we should address this problem because our expertise bears directly on the issues and because our discipline is increasingly populated by women.
Are Bikeshare Users Different from Regular Cyclists?: A First Look at Short-Term Users, Annual Members, and Area Cyclists in the Washington, D.C., Region

In recent years, bikeshare systems have spread throughout the United States. Despite the increase in systems and users, little is known about how bikeshare member demographics and travel patterns compare with those of traditional bicyclists. To bridge the gap, this study investigated bikeshare system user travel behavior and developed a profile of user demographics through the comparison of short-term (1 day) users and annual members of Capital Bikeshare (CaBi) in Washington, D.C., with profiles of area bicyclists. Data originated from a Washington, D.C., regional household travel survey of 2007-2008, an intercept survey of short-term CaBi users, and an online survey of annual CaBi members. The analysis compared gender, race and ethnicity, age, and student status, as well as socioeconomic status across the surveys. The comparison included trip purpose, helmet use, and travel modes for trips that were replaced by bikesharing. Profiles of CaBi and area cyclists differed with respect to many demographic and ...
Prenatal Origins of Neurological Development A Critical Period for Fetus and Mother

A rapidly accumulating literature indicates that the prenatal period must be taken into account if we are to understand development of the central nervous system (CNS) across the life span. Evidence now suggests that intrauterine signals influence brain structure and affect cognitive function and emotional and physiological stress regulation in the offspring. Furthermore, prenatal hormone exposures are critical for priming the maternal brain for the challenges of motherhood and have implications for the mother’s brain structure and function that may last the rest of her lifetime. Just as the reciprocal nature of the parent–child relationship must be understood during the postnatal period, in order to understand the persisting influences of the intrauterine environment on neurodevelopment, the effects of the prenatal environment on both fetus and mother, as well as their reciprocal influences, must be appreciated. This is critical because the same hormones that program fetal development are those that shap...
Hint and run: accelerating XPath queries

XML documents are often represented as DOM structures or trees. In some instances, due to the complexity of queries, XPath queries are better evaluated by traversing these structures rather than using summarization indexes. A requirement for the optimization of document navigation, is to efficiently decrease the number of traversed nodes. The optimization task is more difficult when the query framework allows a syntax that enlarges the search space, such as wildcards and descendant queries. To reduce the overhead of query processing, many database systems supporting XML rely on indexes. Such indexes are typically not able to adapt to memory restrictions or workload changes. A secondary data structure that uses little storage space and tunes itself to address hot spots in processing, can therefore be beneficial. In this paper, we propose a first method for creating, using, and maintaining selective signatures called hints to aid in the navigation of XML documents. Hints form a flexible data structure for pruning the search space, that can be used on its own or it can complement existing indexes. The amount of hints used is variable, and it depends on the storage limitation set a priori, and on the efficiency of the hints. Our experiments show that hints can improve the efficiency of navigational XML query processing by a large margin while using only little extra memory.
Recurrence, retreatment, and rebleed rates of coiled aneurysms with respect to the Raymond–Roy scale: a meta-analysis

Background and purpose The Raymond–Roy grading scale is used for aneurysm coiling with only limited data on its validity. The scale was developed based on the extent of initial aneurysm occlusion from 1 to 3. However, the model usefulness in evaluating recurrence, retreatment, and rebleeding is unknown. Our goal was to perform a meta-analysis to evaluate the predictiveness of the Raymond scale. Methods We performed a systematic review of the English literature for aneurysm coiling which reported the initial embolization results, based on the Raymond–Roy grading scale, and the respective recurrence rates, retreatment rates, and rebleed rates. This yielded data for 4587 aneurysms. We conducted a Bayesian random effects meta-analysis to evaluate the outcomes with respect to the reported initial embolization results. Results We found the Raymond scale to be predictive of retreatment, with statistically higher rates of retreatment with higher initial Raymond grade. Furthermore, we found a higher probability of rebleeding for initial grades 2 or 3 versus grade 1, which approached significance. The rebleed rates were probably affected by monitoring and treatment of recurrence. However, although there was a trend towards higher recurrence rates with initial grade, this was not statistically significant. Conclusions The modified Raymond–Roy scale appears to provide reasonable predictive value for treated aneurysm, especially for the clinically more important aspects of retreatment and rebleed rates.
Detection of low-dose CT reconstruction artifacts using a bi-modal approach

Low-dose Computed Tomography (CT) has the benefit of exposing patients to less radiation. However, low dose CT requires special reconstruction techniques to improve the clarity of the image. Unfortunately, these special reconstruction techniques often cannot remove all of the low-dose artifacts. It is important to recognize these artifacts else we run the risk of obscuring important detail or adding false features. In this work, we present a simple scheme which allows us to detect these artifacts. Our technique applies to the specific low-dose CT strategy in which the number of X-ray views taken from the patient is reduced. The first step uses directional interpolation in the low dose sinogram to add more views. While the image created from this interpolated sinogram does not have any artifacts it lacks significantly in clarity due to blurring. Our scheme then compares this image with the image created directly with a low-dose CT reconstruction technique which has better detail but also some remaining artifacts. The comparison reveals these artifacts which we then remove by simple pixel replacement.
Corner Foam Versus Flat Foam: An Experimental Comparison on Cushion Performance

Most cushion structures used in the industry are end caps, edge or corner foam. The bearing area and thickness of the cushioning obtained from cushion curves apply, in principle only, to flat foam because the specimens used to develop the cushion curves are flat foam samples. This study is aimed at finding the difference between the two foams in stress–strain relationship and dynamic impact. A hysteresis cycle compression test, in conjunction with digital image correlation techniques, and a shock cushion test were performed to assess the static stress and strain, energy dissipated and maximum acceleration of flat and corner foams. The study found that the static stress of the corner foam that occurred during the compression testing is 23% higher in average than the flat foam, depending on the compression speed. The shock cushion curve of the corner foam showed a similar pattern as the flat cushion curve but was shifted horizontally to the right as a result of the increased static stress. This study recommends that the conventional cushion curve should be shifted to the right horizontally by about 23–35% in order for a packaging designer to apply it for corner foam. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Central mechanisms of acute ANG II modulation of arterial baroreflex control of renal sympathetic nerve activity.

Short-term intravenous infusion of angiotensin II (ANG II) into conscious rabbits reduces the range of renal sympathetic nerve activity (RSNA) by attenuating reflex disinhibition of RSNA. This acti...
Monoaminergic Modulation of Spinal Viscero-Sympathetic Function in the Neonatal Mouse Thoracic Spinal Cord

Descending serotonergic, noradrenergic, and dopaminergic systems project diffusely to sensory, motor and autonomic spinal cord regions. Using neonatal mice, this study examined monoaminergic modulation of visceral sensory input and sympathetic preganglionic output. Whole-cell recordings from sympathetic preganglionic neurons (SPNs) in spinal cord slice demonstrated that serotonin, noradrenaline, and dopamine modulated SPN excitability. Serotonin depolarized all, while noradrenaline and dopamine depolarized most SPNs. Serotonin and noradrenaline also increased SPN current-evoked firing frequency, while both increases and decreases were seen with dopamine. In an in vitro thoracolumbar spinal cord/sympathetic chain preparation, stimulation of splanchnic nerve visceral afferents evoked reflexes and subthreshold population synaptic potentials in thoracic ventral roots that were dose-dependently depressed by the monoamines. Visceral afferent stimulation also evoked bicuculline-sensitive dorsal root potentials thought to reflect presynaptic inhibition via primary afferent depolarization. These dorsal root potentials were likewise dose-dependently depressed by the monoamines. Concomitant monoaminergic depression of population afferent synaptic transmission recorded as dorsal horn field potentials was also seen. Collectively, serotonin, norepinephrine and dopamine were shown to exert broad and comparable modulatory regulation of viscero-sympathetic function. The general facilitation of SPN efferent excitability with simultaneous depression of visceral afferent-evoked motor output suggests that descending monoaminergic systems reconfigure spinal cord autonomic function away from visceral sensory influence. Coincident monoaminergic reductions in dorsal horn responses support a multifaceted modulatory shift in the encoding of spinal visceral afferent activity. Similar monoamine-induced changes have been observed for somatic sensorimotor function, suggesting an integrative modulatory response on spinal autonomic and somatic function.
Science, Pseudoscience, and the Frontline Practitioner: The Vaccination/Autism Debate

This article demonstrates how misinformation concerning autism and vaccinations was created and suggests that social workers may be perfectly poised to challenge pseudoscience interpretations. Utilizing social network theory, this article illustrates how erroneous research, mass media, and public opinion led to a decreased use of vaccinations in the United States and a seven-fold increase in measles outbreaks. It traces the dissemination of spurious research results and demonstrates how information was transmitted via a system of social network nodes and community ties. This article encourages social workers, as frontline knowledge brokers, to counter misinformation, which may lead to significant public health consequences.
The Impact of Litigation on Nursing Home Quality

Government reports indicate that regulations have been ineffective in improving quality of care in many nursing homes. Some analysts feel that litigation against nursing homes may be the result of quality problems that are monitored during the inspection process, some contend litigation merely causes quality problems by diverting financial resources away from patient care, and some argue that litigation is duplicating the efforts of the inspection process. Given that the relationship between litigation and inspection-oriented measures of quality is not clear, this article explores the relationship empirically. When a significant relationship is found, the empirical results suggest that litigation is associated with a decline in inspection-oriented measured quality in the nursing home facing the legal claim. In contrast, litigation against a chain has a very different relationship to firm-level quality, where firms within a chain that is being sued have higher levels of inspection-oriented quality. Our results suggest that legal claims may result from quality problems that go unmeasured during the inspection process. However, more research in this area is warranted.
Estimation of Irrigation Response from Time-Series Data on Nonirrigated Crops

Innovations in equipment have created interest in irrigation in the humid areas of the United States. However, decisions on the economic feasibility of irrigation are hindered because information on irrigation response is not available. A technique is presented (with empirical application) which approximates irrigation response from time-series nonirrigated data.
A Perturbation Model of Raindrop Oscillation Characteristics with Aerodynamic Effects

Abstract An asymptotic analysis with the method of multiple-parameter perturbations has been carried out to examine the basic features of drop oscillations in a uniform flow field. The quiescent drop shape has an oblate deformation resulting from a potential-flow pressure distribution. This equilibrium distortion leads to a frequency splitting that eliminates the so-called mode degeneracies found by Rayleigh for small-amplitude oscillations about an undeformed spherical drop. Our results show that the characteristic frequencies for the zonal (axisymmetric) modes increase whereas those of sectoral modes decrease as the velocity of the external uniform flow increases. This trend agrees with the observational data and the results of the spheroidal model presented by Beard. The fine structure in the frequency spectrum of falling water drops may play a role in mode selection as observed in experiments. In addition, the one-to-one correspondence of characteristic frequencies and oscillation modes provides a the...
Insights on Privacy and Ethics from the Web's Most Prolific Storytellers

An analysis of narratives in English-language weblogs reveals a unique population of individuals who post personal stories with extraordinarily high frequency over extremely long periods of time. This population includes people who have posted personal narratives everyday for more than eight years. In this paper we describe our investigation of this interesting subset of web users, where we conducted ethnographic, face-to-face interviews with a sample of these bloggers (n = 11). Our findings shed light on a culture of public documentation of private life, and provide insight into these bloggers' motivations, interactions with their readers, honesty, and thoughts on research that utilizes their data. We discuss the ethical implications for researchers working with web data, and speak to the relationship between large social media datasets and the real people behind them.
Sub-ambient cold-start emissions reduction using SwRI® PO x catalyst technology

This paper describes the application of SwRI’s cold-start PO x catalyst technology to reduce cold-start hydrocarbon emissions from a US Tier 2 vehicle at −7 °C. A reduction in −7 °C (20 °F) cold-start hydrocarbons will help US Tier 2 vehicles meet the proposed EPA NMOG standards. Improvements in cold temperature hydrocarbon emissions would also be beneficial in many parts of Europe during the winter months. In this work, a total hydrocarbon reduction of 19% was realized at 24 °C, in line with previous results, but only up to 3% at −7 °C. Insufficient oxygen in the engine-out exhaust gas at −7 °C was determined to be the reason why the PO x catalyst failed to significantly reduce HC emissions. Addition of supplemental oxygen to the exhaust during the cold-start, to simulate an adjustment in the engine calibration to less rich operation, resulted in a total hydrocarbon reduction of 18% with the PO x catalysts in place, but no benefit when the PO x catalysts were removed. Hence, the PO x catalyst approach can be used to good effect, even under sub-ambient cold-start conditions.
Thermochemical properties and bond dissociation energies of C3-C5 cycloalkyl hydroperoxides and peroxy radicals: cycloalkyl radical + (3)O2 reaction thermochemistry.

Cyclic aliphatic hydrocarbons are major components in modern fuels; they can be present in the reactants, and they can be formed during the gas-phase oxidation processes. In combustion and thermal oxidation processes, these cyclics will form radicals that react with 3O2 to form peroxy radicals. In this study, density functional theory and higher level ab initio calculations are used to calculate thermochemical properties and bond dissociation energies of 3–5-membered cycloalkanes, corresponding hydroperoxides, hydroperoxycycloalkyl radicals, and cycloalkyl radicals that occur in these reaction systems. Geometries, vibration frequencies, and thermochemical properties, ΔHf 298°, are calculated with the B3LYP/6-31 g(d,p), B3LYP/6-31 g(2d,2p), composite CBS-QB3, and G3MP2B3 methods. Standard enthalpies of formation at 298 K are evaluated using isodesmic reaction schemes with several work reactions for each species. Group additivity contributions are developed, and application of group additivity with comparis...
Diagnosis of Chronic Pancreatitis

During a relapse of chronic pancreatitis, serum amylase and lipase are minimally increased or are completely normal if there is severe destruction of acinar tissue. In far advanced chronic relapsing pancreatitis, these values tend to be uniformly normal. In these circumstances, pain may reflect perineural inflammation or marked ductal distention rather than a severe interstitial inflammatory process. Measurement of the amylase-creatinine clearance ratio is probably not of great help in long standing pancreatitis especially if the serum amylase is normal. In severe chronic pancreatitis, serum isoamylase determination may show a deficiency of pancreatic amylase (p-amylase) indicative of pancreatic insufficiency (see Chapter 6).
Analysis of light quality and assemblage composition on diatom motility and accumulation rate

The photosensitive nature of pennate diatom movement has long been observed, with cells being able to change the direction of their movement depending on the light conditions detected at the tips of the cells. However, much of this evidence is based on observations of cells in isolated, single-species culture, thus devoid of any information regarding inter-species interactions that might occur in more complex assemblages. In this study, we tested light-sensitive diatom motility responses (cell accumulation into light spots and high irradiation-induced direction change) in the absence and presence of other species. In the light spot accumulation assay, each species showed characteristic accumulation rates with regard to light irradiance, wavelength, and presence of other species. In mixed-species assemblages, the relative abundance of different species present in the light spot could be directly modified by changes in ambient light conditions. Diatom cells were also irradiated at their leading or trailing ...
Atypical t(15;17)(q13;q12) in a patient with all-trans retinoic acid refractory secondary acute promyelocytic leukemia:: a case report and review of the literature

A 69-year-old woman developed microgranular acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL-M3) 10 months after receiving adjuvant cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, and paclitaxel for breast cancer. Replicate bone marrow aspirate karyotypes contained a translocation between the long arms of chromosomes 15 and 17, but not at breakpoints typical for APL. Fluorescence in situ hybridization paints and RARalpha/PML cosmid probes verified that the breakpoints on chromosomes 15 and 17 were proximal to both the PML and RARalpha genes; t(15;17)(q13;12). Although the patient received induction chemotherapy and a several month trial of all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA), there was no clinical improvement or hematological remission. We suspect that this patient developed postchemotherapy secondary APL with an atypical t(15;17), which rendered her leukemic cells unresponsive to ATRA therapy.
Assessment of the healthy worker survivor effect in cancer studies of the United Autoworkers-General Motors cohort

Objective The healthy worker survivor effect (HWSE) can affect the validity of occupational studies when data are analysed incorrectly. HWSE depends on three underlying conditions: (1) leaving work predicts future exposure, (2) leaving work is associated with disease outcome and (3) prior exposure increases probability of leaving work. If all these conditions are satisfied, then employment status is a time-varying confounder affected by prior exposure, and standard regression will produce bias. We assessed these conditions for cancer outcomes in a cohort of autoworkers exposed to metalworking fluids (MWF). Methods The cohort includes 31 485 workers followed for cancer incidence from 1985 to 1994. As occupational exposures to straight, soluble and synthetic MWFs are necessarily zero after leaving work, condition (1) is satisfied. Cox models for cancer incidence and for employment termination were used to assess conditions (2) and (3), respectively. Employment termination by select ages was examined to better gauge the presence of condition (2). Results The HR for leaving work as a predictor of all cancers combined and prostate cancer was null, but elevated for lung and colorectal cancers among men. Condition (2) was more clearly satisfied for all cancer outcomes when leaving work occurred by age 50. Higher exposures to all three MWF types were associated with increased rates of leaving work (condition (3)), with the exception of straight MWF among women. Conclusions We found evidence for the structural conditions underlying HWSE in a cohort of autoworkers. G-methods should be applied to reduce HWSE bias in studies of all cancers presently examined.
Valuing Environmental Goods and Services: An Economic Perspective

Nonmarket valuation, i.e., valuing environmental goods and services that are not traded in a market, has been increasingly used in a variety of policy and decision-making contexts. This is one (but not the only) way that researchers and practitioners have sought to define and measure the values that individuals assign to environmental goods and services. The idea of putting a dollar value on protecting the environment has been controversial, but often because the economic approach to valuation has not been well-understood. This chapter provides a nontechnical overview of and rationale for the economic approach to valuation, starting from a broad conceptualization of values versus valuation. It summarizes the economic concept of value and its key features. It then discusses the use of economic valuation in decision making, followed by an overview of the steps involved in the valuation process and important issues that arise in implementing that process. Finally, it identifies and briefly summarizes the principal non-market valuation methods used by economists. In doing so, it sets the stage for the more detailed chapters on theory and methods that follow.
Reduction of Oxygen Vacancy Related Traps in TiO2 and the Impacts on Hybrid Perovskite Solar Cells

One major problem in the application of TiO2 and other oxides as an electron transport layer and optical window in perovskite solar cells (PSCs) is the nonstoichiometric defects related to oxygen vacancies. We report the studies of a TiO2 compact layer annealed in ambient air and in an oxygen environment, and the consequences on planar PSC performance. Chemical analysis and optical studies indicate that oxygen vacancy density can be significantly reduced by changing annealing conditions, leading to higher optical transmission of the TiO2 layer and retarded carrier recombination in the PSC. The carrier dynamics studies found that the electron recombination lifetime was significantly increased. With an improved electron transport layer, the power conversion efficiency of PSCs with a TiO2 compact layer annealed in oxygen was increased from 13.58% to 15.85%, due to a largely enhanced current density when compared to the control PSCs with TiO2 annealed in ambient air.
Synthesis of Mesoporous CoS2 and NixCo1-xS2 with Superior Supercapacitive Performance Using a Facile Solid-Phase Sulfurization.

Synthesis of nanostructured transition metal sulfides is of particular interest in providing new methods to control their porosity and improve their surface area because those sulfides hold promising applications in high-energy density devices. Significant challenges remain currently to prepare metal sulfides having three-dimensional (3-D) continuous mesoporous structures, known to be critical for increasing their active surface sites and enhancing ion transport. We herein present a facile solid-phase sulfurization method to synthesize 3-D continuous mesoporous CoS2, NiS2, and their binary sulfides in a two-step nanocasting using bicontinuous KIT-6 as hard templates. The solid-phase sulfurization taking place at 400 °C yields mesoporous sulfides with highly crystalline frameworks and a stoichiometric ratio of metal-to-sulfur, 1:2 (mol), within 30 min. Elemental sulfur as an inexpensive sulfur source can be directly used for the solid-phase sulfurization of mesoporous oxides of Co3O4, NiO, and their binary...
Physics Basis for a Conservative Physics and Conservative Technology Tokamak Power Plant: ARIES-ACT2

The conservative physics and conservative technology tokamak power plant ARIES-ACT2 has a major radius of 9.75 m at an aspect ratio of 4.0 and has strong shaping with elongation of 2.2 and triangul...
Teleconnection between the climates of the Polar Regions during the last ice age

Abstract. Understanding the well-documented differences between Greenland and Antarctica's paleoclimate proxy time series in terms of the dynamic processes connecting the two Polar Regions would help develop a quantitative theory of polar climate teleconnections. Multiple conceptual models have been proposed to explain the polar climate time series relationship, and to extend Greenland climate records based on the much longer records from Antarctica. Here we compare the most relevant conceptual models proposed to characterize inter-polar teleconnections associated with these time series. We show that the polar synchronization model, which proposes that the climates of the Polar Regions were phase synchronized over most of the last ice age, shows better overall skill across the range of parameter space under test and provides a physical explanation of the polar teleconnection as the mutual synchronization of two nonlinear, coupled oscillators. Phase synchronization results when two or more nonlinear oscillators couple (in this case the two polar climates coupled through the ocean and atmosphere) and therein adjust their (initially different) natural rhythms to a common frequency and constant relative phase. Detailed analyses presented here show that the polar synchronization is a reliable framework to support further studies of polar climate teleconnections.
Praxisbeispiel: Flextronics—Supply Chain Management schafft die Basis

Die Flextronics International Ltd. mit Hauptsitz in Singapur arbeitet weltweit fur viele grose bekannte Markenunternehmen als Anbieter im Bereich Electronic Manufacturing Services (EMS). Mit einem Jahresumsatz von rund 8,6 Milliarden US— Dollar, Fertigungskapazitaten in der ganzen Welt und 48.000 Mitarbeitern positioniert sich das Unternehmen—gemessen am Umsatz—weltweit auf Platz 3. Schwerpunkte liegen in den schnell wachsenden Kommunikations-, Netzwerk-, Computer-, Medizintechnik- und Endverbraucher-Markten. Die globale Prasenz in 25 Landern auf vier Kontinenten und ein Netzwerk von Fertigungsanlagen in den Schlusselmarkten ermoglicht es Flextronics, seinen Kunden die benotigten Ressourcen, Technologien und Produktionskapazitaten fur eine optimale Produktivitat zur Verfugung zu stellen.
PRIVACY ASSURANCE AND NETWORK EFFECTS IN THE ADOPTION OF LOCATION-BASED SERVICES: AN IPHONE EXPERIMENT

The use of geospatially aware mobile devices and applications is increasing, along with the potential for the unethical use of personal location information. For example, iPhone "apps" often ask users if they can collect location data in order to make the program more useful. The purpose of this research is to empirically examine the significance of this new and increasingly relevant privacy dimension. Through a simulation experiment, we examine how the assurance of location information privacy (as well as mobile app quality and network size) influences users' perceptions of location privacy risk and the utility associated with the app which, in turn, affects their adoption intentions and willingness-to-pay for the app. The results indicate that location privacy assurance is of great concern and that assurance is particularly important when the app’s network size is low or if its quality cannot be verified.
School Dropout Prevention

There is no denying that today's students confront multidimensional problems and crises (e.g., misidentification, misassessment, miscategorization, misplacement, and misinstruction). Some of these problems create stressors that force them to drop out of school, abuse and deal in drugs, fail to graduate from school, and become societal problems. Our traditional response has been to ‘discipline the devil out of students’ or send them to jail. In reality, we need to reverse this trend and develop innovative strategies to help students with and without special needs to stay in school and graduate from school. To achieve these desired goals, the comprehensive support model (CSM) is prescribed to utilize the collaborative energies of students, families, schools, communities, and government agencies. In this article, commonsense approaches to preventing dropout and increasing school completion are discussed.
Repeated application of the recursion operator for a new hierarchy of negative-order integrable KdV equations

In this work we use the repeated application of the recursion operator to establish a new hierarchy of negative-order integrable KdV equations of higher orders. The concept of the inverse recursion...
Potential of pyrolysis of spacecraft solid waste for water recovery and plant-growth media production

Abstract Manned spaceflight outside of low-Earth orbit requires significant advances in closed-loop life support systems, especially the recycling of solid and liquid wastes to produce oxygen, food, and fresh water. Here, moderate temperature (400–600 °C) slow pyrolysis was tested to transform a high-fidelity spacecraft solid waste simulant into nutrient-rich crop growth medium for food production in space, while recovering water and carbon dioxide. Qualitative results indicated that water recovered from a simple drying process was of poor quality. Produced biochars approximated the characteristics of saline-sodic soils with P, K and micronutrients, low nitrogen, and no meaningful heavy metals, which suggests applicability as growth media. Before being used as growth media, biochar would likely need to be rinsed to remove sodium and supplemented with a source of nitrogen. If uncatalyzed slow pyrolysis is to be used, observations suggest that the produced volatiles should be directly combusted and water recovered from the flue gas, rather than trying to condense and separate the watery bio-oil product. This proof of concept study determined that low-temperature pyrolysis can be used to generate biochar-based soil, which may support agriculture during spaceflight while recycling nutrients and water from waste materials.
Csf1r or Mer inhibition delays liver regeneration via suppression of Kupffer cells.

Introduction Murine Kupffer cells (KCs) comprise CD11bhi and F4/80hi subsets. Tissue-resident macrophages are known to express the tyrosine kinase receptors colony-stimulating factor 1 receptor (Csf1r) and Mer. However, the expression of Csf1r and Mer on KC subsets and the importance of these tyrosine kinases during liver regeneration (LR) are unknown. Methods KCs from wild-type and Csf1r-GFP mice were characterized by flow cytometry. Partial hepatectomy (PH) was performed in mice treated with clodronate liposomes, a Csf1r small molecule inhibitor or depleting antibody, or a small molecule Mer inhibitor. Sera and livers were analyzed. The function of sorted KC subsets was tested in vitro. Results Mer was specifically expressed on tissue-resident F4/80hi KCs, 55% of which also expressed Csf1r. Mer+Csf1r+ and Mer+Csf1r- KCs had distinct expression of macrophage markers. Csf1r inhibition in mice reduced F4/80hi KCs by approximately 50%, but did not affect CD11bhi KCs. Clodronate liposomes depleted F4/80hi KCs, but also altered levels of other intrahepatic leukocytes. Csf1r inhibition delayed LR, as demonstrated by a 20% reduction in liver-to-body weight ratios 7 days after PH. At 36h after PH, Csf1r inhibition increased serum ALT and histological liver injury, and decreased liver cell proliferation. A small molecule inhibitor of Mer did not alter the percentage of KCs or their proliferation and just modestly delayed LR. In vitro, Csf1r or Mer inhibition did not decrease KC viability, but did attenuate their cytokine response to stimulation. Conclusions F4/80hi KCs are Mer+ and can be subdivided based on Csf1r expression. Csf1r or Mer inhibition each reduces KC cytokine production and delays LR.
Corrupting International Organizations

As the world turns against international institutions, this article reviews evidence of the corrupting of global organizations. The review focuses on three international organizations that emerged ...
Genome‐wide variation in DNA methylation is associated with stress resilience and plumage brightness in a wild bird

Individuals often differ in their ability to cope with challenging environmental and social conditions. Evidence from model systems suggests that patterns of DNA methylation are associated with variation in coping ability. These associations could arise directly if methylation plays a role in controlling the physiological response to stressors by, among other things, regulating the release of glucocorticoids in response to challenges. Alternatively, the association could arise indirectly if methylation and resilience have a common cause, such as early-life conditions. In either case, methylation might act as a biomarker for coping ability. At present, however, relatively little is known about whether variation in methylation is associated with organismal performance and resilience under natural conditions. We studied genome-wide patterns of DNA methylation in free-living female tree swallows (Tachycineta bicolor) using methylated DNA immunoprecipitation (MeDIP) and a tree swallow genome that was assembled for this study. We identified areas of the genome that were differentially methylated with respect to social signal expression (breast brightness) and physiological traits (ability to terminate the glucocorticoid stress response through negative feedback). We also asked whether methylation predicted resilience to a subsequent experimentally imposed challenge. Individuals with brighter breast plumage and higher stress resilience had lower methylation at differentially methylated regions across the genome. Thus, widespread differences in methylation predicted both social signal expression and the response to future challenges under natural conditions. These results have implications for predicting individual differences in resilience, and for understanding the mechanistic basis of resilience and its environmental and social mediators.
The contribution of voltage clamp fluorometry to the understanding of channel and transporter mechanisms.

Key advances in single particle cryo-EM methods in the past decade have ushered in a resolution revolution in modern biology. The structures of many ion channels and transporters that were previously recalcitrant to crystallography have now been solved. Yet, despite having atomistic models of many complexes, some in multiple conformations, it has been challenging to glean mechanistic insight from these structures. To some extent this reflects our inability to unambiguously assign a given structure to a particular physiological state. One approach that may allow us to bridge this gap between structure and function is voltage clamp fluorometry (VCF). Using this technique, dynamic conformational changes can be measured while simultaneously monitoring the functional state of the channel or transporter. Many of the important papers that have used VCF to probe the gating mechanisms of channels and transporters have been published in the Journal of General Physiology. In this review, we provide an overview of the development of VCF and discuss some of the key problems that have been addressed using this approach. We end with a brief discussion of the outlook for this technique in the era of high-resolution structures.
Coherent Multicarrier Receiver for Mobile Acoustic Channels

High data rate coherent communication in acoustic channels are difficult due to the compound effects of motion-induced Doppler and long multipath. To account for these effects, we consider a coherent receiver based on orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) which performs an iterative frequency offset compensation and sparse channel estimation. In mobile acoustic systems, Doppler effect can be severe enough that the OFDM signals experiences non-negligible frequency offsets even after initial resampling. To compensate for these offsets, a practical method based on stochastic gradient is employed. The method relies on differential encoding which keeps the receiver complexity at a minimum and requires only a small pilot overhead. Differential encoding is applied across carriers, promoting the use of a large number of closely spaced carriers within a given bandwidth. This approach simultaneously supports frequency domain coherence and efficient use of bandwidth for achieving high bit rates. After compensating for the frequency offset, a sparse channel estimation method based on a physical model of multipath propagation is used to obtain channel state information for coherent detection. The channel estimation method, referred to as path identification (PI), targets the physical propagation paths in a continuous-delay domain, and focuses on explicit estimation of delays and complex amplitudes of the channel paths in an iterative fashion. Using the experimental data transmitted over a 3–7 km shallow water channel in the 10.5-15.5 kHz acoustic band, we study the receiver performance in terms of data detection mean squared error (MSE) and bit error rate (BER), and show that the proposed receiver provides excellent performance at low computational cost.
Posterior osteotomy techniques for rigid cervical deformity correction

Posterior cervical osteotomies are powerful techniques for the correction of rigid cervical deformity. These include a variety of subtypes including partial facet joint resection, complete facet joint resection, opening wedge osteotomy (OWO), and closing wedge osteotomy (CWO). The partial facet joint resection provides limited lordosis but can be applied across multiple levels and provides bony surface for fusion. Complete facet joint resection can also be performed across multiple segments for a cumulative effect and like the partial facet joint resection requires mobility of the anterior column. The OWO is traditionally performed at C7 and involves complete a complete laminectomy, facetectomy, and pediculectomy with special care to fully decompress the C8 nerve roots prior to osteotomy closure. The osteotomy utilizes a fulcrum of rotation in the middle column with shortening of the posterior column and lengthening of the anterior column with an osteoclastic fracture that must be performed with significant care. The CWO is similar to an OWO with the addition of an osteotomy into the vertebral body that is closed like a pedicle subtraction osteotomy (PSO). The goal of this review article is to summarize posterior osteotomy techniques for cervical deformity correction.